Chris Johns

Chris Johns is a Founding Partner and leads the Boston studio for ThoughtCraft Architects, an award-winning full-service architecture firm that leverages remote collaboration to balance innovation and spirited exploration with logic and precision. Throughout his career, Chris has created buildings and spaces that enrich communities and improve people’s lives by inspiring wonder and connecting them to each other and their surroundings.

With recent projects like 1943 Dot Ave, a 64-unit mixed-income transit-oriented development in Boston utilizing structural insulated panels, he is focused on expanding the firm’s multifamily portfolio with projects that elevate the quality of workforce and mixed-income housing. Chris is driven to create beautiful, simple, and smart housing solutions with greater density and in close proximity to transit. He leads the firm in rethinking how conventional multifamily housing is built and encouraging clients to use alternative building assemblies such as mass timber and prefabricated or modular components to achieve more sustainable projects. ThoughtCraft is working hard to incorporate these systems into their projects while also exploring unique dwelling unit sizes, types, and configurations to reach these goals.

Chris is a registered architect and NCARB certified. He holds a Master of Architecture degree and an Urban Design Certificate from M.I.T., a B.S. in Design and graduate studies in Building Construction Management from the University of Florida, and an A.A. from St. Petersburg College. Finding joy in the science and art of construction, he has taught numerous design studios at M.I.T. and the Boston Architectural College focusing on tectonics. He has also served as a critic for numerous studio reviews in the Boston-area design schools and has widely lectured on the firm’s work.