Eran Chen AIA (born 22 August 1970 in Be'er Sheva, Israel) is an Israeli-American architect, founder and executive director of ODA (Office for Architecture and Design) since 2007. His firm has won large commissions worldwide (Post Rotterdam, Mazd in Moscow), but the bulk of his work is in New York (including large-scale designs Denizen and 420 Kent).
Biography Eran Chen grew up in Israel. His grandparents were Holocaust survivors. His father was an Air Force engineer. Chen did a 4-year service for the Israeli army (Special Forces unit), and then studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. While studying, he worked two years at David Guggenheim's architecture firm in Jerusalem. He was then hired by a local franchisee of McDonald's and designed 55 of its locations. He graduated in 1999 cum laude and moved to New York.
From 1999 to 2007, Chen worked for the architecture firm Perkins Eastman. He first joined the team working on the Beilinson Hospital in Israel, and then was assigned to competitions for new projects. In 2004, he was made a principal partner, and created a 30-employee studio within the firm.
He founded the architecture firm Office for Design and Architecture (ODA) in 2007. Early work included the renovation of 15 Union Square West, and the interior design of a Trump World Tower penthouse for financier Chinh Chu. He then won the commissions for Eliot Spitzer's 420 Kent and Larry Silverstein's Innovation QNS in Queens. In 2014, the firm won the competition for the large-scale housing development of Hunters Point in Long Island City. In 2024, his firm unveiled the design for 740 Eighth Avenue (The Torch) in New York, a skyscraper crowned with a spiraling ribbon.
Work Eran Chen's signature designs are facades of blocks making a solid foundation and elevating into a destructured block assemblage ("Jenga-style buildings"), often creating cascading balconies, interconnected courtyards, or oversize terraces. He conceives porous buildings with a vertical village approach, where the breathing spaces between the elements are seized to create new interactive opportunities. He cites Richard Meier, Moshe Safdie, Jacques Herzog and Norman Foster as some of his influences.
His work on historic buildings (Post Rotterdam, Book Tower, 10 Jay Street) is a mix of preservation and upbeat modernism.
Select projects
Interior design Trump World Tower penthouse for financier Chinh Chu, New York, NY, USA Tribeca Loft, 39 Lispenard Street, New York, NY, USA
Buildings 15 Renwick, New York, NY, USA 251 First Street, Brooklyn, NY, USA (cascading balconies) 10 Jay Brooklyn, NY USA Hunters Point South, Long Island City, NY, USA 15 Union Square West (old Tiffany's location), New York, NY, USA 740 Eighth Avenue (The Torch), New York, NY, USA Post Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (mixed-use restoration of former Central Postkantoor)
Blocks and neighborhoods Denizen, 123 Melrose Street, Brooklyn, New York, USA (interconnected rooftop courtyards) 420 Kent, Brooklyn (most dwelling units are corner apartments), New York, NY, USA Book Tower, Detroit, USA (restoration of historic office building) Mazd, Moscow, Russia (mixed-use development of former industrial zone)
Other roles
Adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Member of the Council on Vertical Urbanism Since 2024: Member of the Board of Trustees of the Center for Architecture
Awards
2019: American Architecture Award (for 251 1st Street and 10 Jay Street) 2019: AIA Housing Design Awards (for The Rheingold) 2022: NYCxDESIGN Awards 2026: AIA NY Design Award (for Book Tower)
Bibliography
Private life He is married and has three children.
References