We are passionate about our Pro Bono work because fundamentally we believe that architects should engage deeply with the communities in which they live and work to help society by utilizing our unique skillsets. With Pro Bono work, Architects have tremendous agency to elicit change, try new ideas, flex different muscles, work at different scales, learn and become more embedded in our communities with work that is tactile, accessible and has enormous impact. Our lives are enriched when we give back and our Pro Bono work makes us better architects. In fact, we think that our Pro Bono work is some of our best work.
When we engage with our Pro Bono clients, we have a very simple contract. Each project must make a difference in the community, and it must be beautiful. We work with multiple Pro Bono clients at any given point in time and recognize that these projects often take time to percolate and come into existence. We are fully committed to our Pro Bono work; it is one leg of the three-legged stool that forms our practice. If you have a Pro Bono opportunity or an idea that you would like us to discuss, please contact us. You never know where it might lead.
Opening later this year, the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, MA is an essay in the tuning of building façades for performance. The aluminum sunshades that veil the building began as a concept tested by scoring Bristol paper. The team utilized tools from all modalities: paper models, CNC-mills, parametric studies, solar analysis, wind and water simulations and full-scale mock-ups to inform the design and drive energy use down. The ultra-high performance building is tracking a 61% reduction in energy use compared to the 2030 baseline.
#earthweek #designalways #buildingscience #performalism #cambridge #bostonarchitecture