What Safdie Architects does

Safdie Architects is a privately-held international architecture and urban design practice founded by Moshe Safdie in 1964 (and established as a formal practice following the 1967 Habitat 67 commission), operating as Safdie Architects, LLC with headquarters in Boston/Somerville, Massachusetts and a regional headquarters in Singapore. The firm employs 101–250 people and executes large-scale architecture and master planning commissions across North America, Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe, spanning cultural institutions (Crystal Bridges Museum, Kauffman Center, Virasat-e-Khalsa), hospitality and integrated resorts (Marina Bay Sands, Singapore EDITION, Mandarin Oriental Residences), transportation infrastructure (Jewel Changi Airport), healthcare (Serena del Mar Hospital, Albert Einstein Education and Research Center), high-density residential (Habitat 67, Habitat Qinhuangdao, Altair Residences, Qorner Tower), and master plans.

The firm's technical competencies center on prefabricated modular construction (Habitat 67's 365 concrete modules), megascale garden integration through stepped profiles and sky gardens, laminated timber arch roof structures, and large-scale public-realam engineering such as the Rain Vortex indoor waterfall system at Jewel Changi Airport. Its designs consistently follow the founding philosophy 'For Everyone a Garden,' integrating nature, daylight, and community amenities into high-density urban environments, supported by an implementation network of executive architects, structural engineers, and landscape architects (RSP, Aedas, Perkins+Will, Buro Happold, PWP Landscape, Coen + Partners).

The business model is project-based professional services revenue from negotiated design commissions acquired via direct client engagement, design competitions, and referrals, with pricing undisclosed publicly. Revenue is generated from architectural and urban design fees on cultural, hospitality, healthcare, residential, transportation, and education projects for institutional, government, hospitality, and real estate development clients. The firm markets through reputation, founder-led public speaking, published monographs, earned media, and industry awards rather than paid advertising, and is led by Founder Moshe Safdie together with five senior partners (Charu Kokate, Christopher Mulvey, Jaron Lubin, Sean Scensor, and Jeff Huggins).

Name

Safdie Architects

Legal name

Safdie Architects, LLC

Website

https://safdiearchitects.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Safdie Architects is a privately-held global architecture and urban design practice founded by Moshe Safdie in 1964, executing landmark cultural, hospitality, healthcare, residential, and transportation commissions across 50+ countries from offices in Boston and Singapore, with revenue generated through project-based professional design fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architecture Design Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (541310), Interior Design Services (54141), Landscape Architectural Services (541320)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Space Planning & Workplace Design (BPAHAKAI), Landscape Architecture & Site Design (BPAHAKAC), Real Estate Development & Feasibility Advisory (Highest-and-Best-Use, Entitlements Support) (BPAJANAC)

Keywords

• Architecture design services
• Cultural institution design
• Urban master planning
• Mixed-use development design
• Sustainable building design

Headquarters

HQ city

Somerville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Architecture Design Services: The firm earns revenue through fees for architectural design services on major projects spanning cultural institutions, hospitality, residential, hospital, education, and urban master plan projects globally. Revenue is project-based, derived from design contracts with institutional clients, hotel operators, developers, and government bodies.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Safdie Architects is a global architecture and planning firm that designs landmark cultural institutions, museums, hospitality and integrated resorts, healthcare facilities, high-density residential complexes, transportation hubs, and large-scale urban master plans. The firm provides professional design services on a per-project commission basis, supported by offices in Boston and Singapore, executing commissions from initial concept through construction administration. Its body of work spans six decades and six continents and is anchored by the design philosophy 'For Everyone a Garden.'

Product overview

Safdie Architects is an internationally renowned architecture and design firm founded by Moshe Safdie. The firm's portfolio includes landmark built projects across multiple typologies: residential complexes (Habitat 67, Habitat Qinhuangdao, Altair Residences, Qorner Tower), cultural institutions (Crystal Bridges Museum, Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum, Kauffman Center), transportation hubs (Jewel Changi Airport), hospitality and integrated resorts (Marina Bay Sands), healthcare facilities (Serena del Mar Hospital, Albert Einstein Education and Research Center), and large-scale master plans (Serena del Mar, Crystal Bridges expansion). The firm operates as a traditional architecture practice rather than a technology product company, with no SaaS, API, or AI-enabled product offerings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Architecture Design Services Professional architecture design services covering concept, schematic, design development, and construction administration phases for landmark cultural, hospitality, healthcare, residential, transportation, and master plan commissions, delivered through direct project commissions with institutional, governmental, hospitality, developer, and healthcare clients globally.
• Habitat 67 Pioneering prefabricated concrete modular housing project built for the 1967 Montreal World's Fair. 365 prefabricated concrete modules are lifted into place by cranes and connected by rods, cables, and welding to form 158 residences, with each module serving as a load-bearing member and providing high-density housing with private roof gardens and community amenities.
• Marina Bay Sands Hotel and SkyPark Integrated resort development comprising three 57-story hotel towers with 2,600 rooms and the SkyPark — a 2.5-acre rooftop park and infinity pool connecting the towers — plus 1.3 million sq ft of convention facilities and a ground-level public pedestrian thoroughfare. Completed 2010 in Singapore for Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
• Jewel Changi Airport Airport destination development designed as a 1,460,663 sq ft toroidal glass-and-steel dome combining marketplace and paradise garden. Features the Rain Vortex — the world's tallest indoor waterfall at 130 feet — alongside indoor gardens, the Canopy Park, retail, restaurants, and hotel facilities. Opened 2019 at Changi Airport, Singapore.
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Cultural museum complex of 200,000 sq ft set into a forested ravine in Bentonville, Arkansas, featuring pavilions spanning Crystal Spring to create two ponds, with galleries, library, and educational spaces using regional concrete, timber, and fieldstone. Completed 2012 for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
• Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts Performing arts complex featuring a 1,600-seat concert hall and 1,800-seat proscenium theater in Kansas City, with iconic geometric forms and a glass tent-like lobby offering sweeping views. Completed 2011 as a $316 million catalyst for downtown redevelopment.
• Serena Del Mar Hospital Healing garden hospital in Cartagena, Colombia, with Phase 1 comprising 158 beds organized into five finger-like wings connecting to bamboo courtyard gardens and views overlooking a lake. Full buildout will feature 409 beds across 90,628 sqm. Designed in consultation with Johns Hopkins International. Opened 2021.
• Albert Einstein Education and Research Center 23,282 sqm medical education and research facility in São Paulo, Brazil, organized around a vaulted skylit atrium garden with 40 technology-supported classrooms, a 400-seat auditorium, academic laboratories, and research facilities. Completed 2022 adjacent to Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein.
• Altair Residences 69-story luxury residential development of 1.5 million sq ft with 400 units in Colombo, Sri Lanka, featuring an innovative two-leg design in which one tower leans on the other to create cascading garden terraces. The tallest residential building in Sri Lanka, with 55% residential space and 42.5% public space including a waterfront promenade. Completed 2021.
• Qorner Tower 24-story residential tower of 127,014 sq ft in Quito, Ecuador overlooking La Carolina Park, with units staggered in and out to create landscaped terraces, indigenous regional planting, and a dramatic vertical green living wall. Completed 2023.
• Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum 23,226 sqm Sikh heritage museum in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, India, celebrating 500 years of Sikh history with local sandstone cladding and stainless steel roof forms. The complex comprises two structures connected by a 540-foot bridge across reflecting pools. Completed 2011.
• Serena Del Mar Master Plan 140-hectare new civic district master plan near Cartagena, Colombia, organized around a man-made canal 60-70 meters wide, with residential towers of 15-20 stories, mixed-use precincts, pedestrian streets, green corridors, and waterways integrated with mangroves.

Quantifiable outcome

• 15 million+ visitors welcomed at Crystal Bridges Museum since 2011, with expansion adding 114,000 sq ft of galleries and public spaces
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Crystal Bridges Museum of American ArtcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 May 2026Safdie Architects is designing a major 50% expansion of the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas — adding 114,000 square feet of galleries, studios, dining spaces, and educational centers. The firm originally designed the museum which opened in 2011 and is now returning for its expansion, deepening a long-standing design partnership.
• Cherokee NationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 April 2026Safdie Architects, in partnership with Anishinabe Design, PWP Landscape, and the Cherokee Nation, is designing the reimagined Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on a 43-acre site. The project will include a new museum, educational and genealogical spaces, communal gathering areas, and a research center.
• Las Vegas Sands CorporationflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSafdie Architects is designing a new $8 billion resort and entertainment complex adjacent to Marina Bay Sands in Singapore for Las Vegas Sands. The project features a 55-storey tower with 570 hotel suites, casino, 15,000-seat entertainment arena, and extensive meeting space, scheduled for completion in 2030.
• Mandarin Oriental InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSafdie Architects is designing Mandarin Oriental Residences in West Palm Beach, Florida — the brand's first standalone residential offering in South Florida with 87 luxury units across 31 stories along the Intracoastal Waterway, opening in 2031. The project is developed in partnership with Great Gulf.
• Great GulfcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGreat Gulf is the developer partner for the Mandarin Oriental Residences West Palm Beach project. The 87-unit, 31-story luxury residential project is the first stand-alone Mandarin Oriental Residences and marks Safdie Architects' first project in Florida.
• RSP Architects Planners & Engineers Pte LtdcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerRSP Architects Planners & Engineers served as Executive Architect for Jewel Changi Airport. The firm has been a long-standing structural and executive architect partner on multiple Safdie Architects projects in Singapore including Jewel Changi Airport and Marina Bay Sands.
• PWP Landscape ArchitecturecoreTechnology or IntegrationPWP Landscape Architecture provided landscape design for Jewel Changi Airport, collaborating on the Forest Valley garden and canopy park elements that define the project's distinctive nature-integrated identity.
• Buro Happold EngineeringcoreTechnology or IntegrationBuro Happold Engineering served as structural and façade engineers for Jewel Changi Airport, collaborating on the innovative Rain Vortex waterfall system, toroidal dome structure, and ETFE oculus. Also structural engineers for Crystal Bridges Museum.
• AedascoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAedas served as Executive Architect for Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort in Singapore, working alongside Safdie Architects as the design architect on this landmark 2.6 million sq ft development.
• Perkins+WillcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPerkins+Will led programming, interior planning, and served as executive architect for the Albert Einstein Education and Research Center in São Paulo in collaboration with Safdie Architects.
• Kerry PropertiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKerry Properties commissioned the Habitat Qinhuangdao project in China — a high-density residential complex designed by Safdie Architects with private terraces and sky gardens, Phase II launched in 2021.
• Indocean Developers Pvt LtdcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndocean Developers commissioned Altair Residences in Colombo, Sri Lanka — a 69-story, 400-unit luxury residential development designed by Safdie Architects, the tallest residential building in Sri Lanka.
• Johns Hopkins InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSerena del Mar Hospital in Cartagena was designed in consultation with Johns Hopkins International and operated by Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá, ensuring world-class medical standards in the healing garden hospital design.
• BNIM ArchitectscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerBNIM Architects served as Associate Architects for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, collaborating with Safdie Architects on this $316 million performing arts complex.
• Uribe & SchwarzkopfminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUribe & Schwarzkopf is the developer, executive architect, and contractor for Qorner Tower in Quito, Ecuador — a 24-story residential tower designed by Safdie Architects with stepping terraces overlooking La Carolina Park.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Herzog & de Meuron: Swiss architecture firm known for cultural and stadium commissions (Beijing National Stadium, Tate Modern, Elbphilharmonie). Comparable to Safdie in iconographic cultural commissions, founder-led brand, and design philosophy-led differentiation.
• Foster + Partners: Global architecture firm founded by Norman Foster with iconic cultural, transportation, and master planning commissions (Reichstag, Beijing Airport, Apple Park). Directly comparable to Safdie in pursuing landmark-scale cultural, hospitality, and urban design projects worldwide with founder-led brand differentiation.
• Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF): Global architecture firm specializing in supertall towers, mixed-use megaprojects, and urban master plans (Shanghai World Financial Center, Hudson Yards). Closely comparable to Safdie in high-density urban typologies and signature commercial/residential commissions.
• Renzo Piano Building Workshop: Global architecture firm led by Renzo Piano with signature cultural and civic commissions (Centre Pompidou, The Shard, Whitney Museum). Comparable to Safdie in cultural institution focus, founder-led brand, and high-design museum/performing arts portfolio.
• BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group): Contemporary architecture firm known for iconographic cultural, residential, and infrastructure projects (Via 57 West, LEGO House, The Spiral). Comparable to Safdie in founder-led brand, signature design philosophy, and high-profile cultural and residential commissions at megascale.
• Zaha Hadid Architects: Iconic architecture firm with globally recognized signature style across cultural, transportation, and residential projects (Heydar Aliyev Center, Guangzhou Opera House). Comparable to Safdie in founder-driven brand differentiation, cultural project portfolio, and award-winning iconic commissions.
• SANAA (Sejima + Nishizawa): Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architecture firm with cultural and educational projects (Louvre-Lens, New Museum, Grace Farms). Comparable to Safdie in lightweight, nature-integrated design philosophy and signature cultural/educational commissions.

Emerging players

• WOHA Architects: Singapore-based architecture firm pioneering tropical high-rise design integrating nature, sky gardens, and public realm (Parkroyal on Pickering, Oasia Hotel Downtown). Closely comparable to Safdie in Asia-Pacific presence and shared philosophy of garden-integrated high-density architecture.
• Arquitectonica: Miami-based architecture firm with signature high-density residential, mixed-use, and cultural projects across the Americas and Asia (Atlantis on Brickell, Vdara Las Vegas). Comparable to Safdie in iconic high-density residential and mixed-use portfolio plus strong Americas presence.

Broad incumbents

• Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM): One of the largest global architecture-engineering firms with megascale commercial, cultural, and master planning projects (Burj Khalifa, One World Trade Center). Comparable to Safdie in scope of mega-projects but at significantly larger scale and with integrated engineering capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/safdiearchitects
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/safdiearchitects

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Safdie Architects