On Thursday, February 21, attend the opening reception for the BSA Public Interest: Redefining the Architect’s Role and Responsibility exhibition. The recent lighting installation and downtown revitalization project in Lynn with Beyond Walls is one of six innovative projects that reimagines the architect’s contribution toward the public good. The selected projects offer unique perspectives on the value of a community-engaged design process and the expanding nature of practice while presenting new methods for the profession to design with Boston’s communities.
Beyond Walls is also one of five finalists for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, a biennial prize national design award that recognizes transformative urban places distinguished by their economic and social contributions to America’s cities.
The range of issues addressed in this year’s submissions reflect the evolution of our understanding of placemaking in cities. The five finalists illustrate the shifting role of design in response to the imperatives of social inclusivity and environmental resilience.
RBA founder Simeon Bruner
Payette partnered with MassDevelopment, Patronicity and Beyond Walls to brighten the City of Lynn – one of Massachusetts’ 26 Gateway Cities with installations including murals, vintage signs and dynamic, colorful and programmable LED lighting installations. These once-avoided areas have become vibrant landmarks in downtown Lynn, where people feel safe and welcome.
The exhibition is based on the 2017 winning proposal of AIA Seattle’s Emerging Professionals Travel Scholarship, “Public Interest: Redefining the Architect’s Role in and Responsibility to Society” by Garrett Nelli AIA. In 2017, Garrett traveled to Los Angeles, New Orleans, Alabama, Haiti, Spain, and Italy to catalog how design can be a catalyst for positive societal change.
The opening reception will be held at the BSA Space on February 21, 2019 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM and is free and open to the public.
RVSP here.
Cape Cod Community College’s Frank and Maureen Wilkens Science and Engineering Center is a net-positive energy building designed to transform the heart of campus.
The project approaches sustainability through a holistic and global approach, implementing a range of moves including passive solar shading overhangs, air-source heat pumps, high performance materials with low embodied carbon and the expansion of the range of thermal comfort and lighting power density. Combined with on-site photovoltaics, the project achieves net-positive energy use.
The project’s thermally modified wood rainscreen façade is a study of the modern expression of vernacular Cape Cod architecture while reducing embodied carbon. Early lifecycle assessments identified the immense carbon savings of wood over fiber cement. The design team did not stop there, furthering reductions by peeling back unnecessary finishes like carpet and ceilings. Together, these decisions enabled a 19% reduction in embodied carbon.
#earthweek #designalways #buildingscience #performalism #netpositive #capecodmodernism #capecod #newengland
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