Alumnus Architect Behind Barclays Center, Uber Headquarters Highlights Power of Dickinson Education
Chris Sharples
Chris Sharples returns to campus to discuss architecture and the global firm he founded
video by Joe O'Neill
“To create great architecture, it’s about creating a great public-realm experience—it’s about people,” says Chris Sharples ’87 (art & art history), founder and principal at SHoP Architects, the firm behind such structures as Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, San Francisco’s Uber headquarters and Washington, D.C.’s Midtown Center.
Chris Sharples ’87 was back on Dickinson’s campus recently to speak with students about a career in the architecture field, and he compared its many facets to his Dickinson education.
“It’s all built on collaboration,” he says, “And … Dickinson created these tools for us: You don’t want to silo your thinking. You really want to take advantage of the liberal-arts state of mind to take advantage of all the different disciplines and draw them into how you go about solving really challenging problems.”
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Published December 17, 2021