Profile

Crawford Practice is a multidisciplinary design studio founded by architect Robbie Crawford. The work of the Brooklyn-based practice encompasses residences, cultural spaces, and landscapes, and balances practicality and drama in each commission. We believe that spaces must nourish a person both emotionally and physically—and that the best spaces merge memory and fantasy, nature and culture.

To achieve that deep resonance, we approach every project as a conversation that spans big ideas and small details. Our clients often arrive at Crawford Practice with intuitions and aspirations for environments that they are seeking guidance to understand and reimagine. In response, we engage in a process of iterative questioning to reveal deeper needs and possibilities. Articulating a client's motivations, proclivities, and intentions helps establish design parameters and often involves discovering emerging priorities inherent to the project itself. This clarity allows us to thoughtfully assemble the right team of collaborators for each project. Rather than working in isolation, we invite every stakeholder to contribute their expertise throughout the design's development and execution.

Robbie Crawford received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Southern California while working with Griffin Enright Architects as an architectural model maker. Upon graduating in 2002, he moved to Brooklyn where he worked as a designer with Standard Architects. Beginning in 2008, Crawford assisted his wife Tara Donovan and her studio team as she installed her first major museum survey at Boston ICA, Cincinnati CAC, Des Moines Art Center, and MCA San Diego. While continuing to assist Donovan’s studio operations, Crawford began taking on architecture and design projects of his own, and he officially launched Crawford Practice in 2014.

Crawford is a licensed architect registered in the state of New York, a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), has been trained as a Certified Passive House Designer (CPHD) by Passive House International (PHI), a WEDG Associate certified by Waterfront Alliance and is active in the Certificate in Horticulture program at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (BBG).