Project
The first outcome of PAYETTE’s Downtown Campus Master Space Plan is the renovation of 550,000 SF within one of New Orleans’ most historic buildings: Charity Hospital, a 1938 National Historic Landmark. Abandoned in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina compromised the building’s life support and life safety systems, Charity Hospital will… [...]
The two distinct program elements of the Hengqin Innovation Center – the Conference Center and the Innovation Research Center – are expressed as two complimentary architectural forms: the Jewel and the Mountain. [...]
Located at the heart of the NUIG Campus, the new Humanities and Social Sciences Research Building houses next-generation graduate, post-graduate, and faculty library space dedicated to academic research. NUIG’s vision for the building aspired to facilitate knowledge generation and to foster collaboration in a flexible space dedicated for research. The heart of the building features two “stackless” reading rooms, designed and furnished to enable individual and collaborative scholarship. [...]
Blog Post
Our existing family of exhibition models span the breadth of our project typologies and seek to provide a detailed, though far from exhaustive, representation of projects which illustrate our design and conceptual priorities. Now completed, our latest addition to this collection, the Ragon Institute Exhibition Model, joins the rest of its family. [...]
Last December, amidst the chilly winter in Boston, our team returned to warmer weather at Virginia Tech for our 3rd OpenLAB Studio Exhibition! [...]
Sho-Ping Chin Exhibit fabricated by Payette at WLS 2023. [...]
Our OpenLab Boston team recently returned from a trip to Blacksburg, VA where student work from our Fall 2022 Oasis Studio was exhibited at the Virginia Tech School of Architecture and Design. [...]
Sandrine Héroux, Sophie McKenzie, and Emily Chowdhury are each members of our in-house Fabrication team. Their day-to-day work centers on a simple question: what changes when design becomes something people can physically test? [...]
Each year, PAYETTE embarks on a collaborative effort to make our design services accessible to local communities through the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. [...]
The OpenLAB Studio provides us the opportunity to have a cohort of students integrated within our practice and elevates us to teachers for a new group of young architects. [...]
Today we celebrate our newly promoted Associates / Managers Pt. 2. [...]
It is with great pleasure that we announce the following individuals have been promoted to Associate Principal/Director. [...]
Sandrine Héroux recently joined the ranks of the firm’s licensed architects. [...]
A personal note from Annping Chin, sister of Payette legacy Sho-Ping Chin. [...]
Parke MacDowell looks back on the role of fabrication within the studio this year. [...]
We are deeply saddened to announce that Tom Payette, the founder of our firm, passed away on November 12th, alongside his family after battling a long illness. [...]
We are thrilled to welcome our 13 fourth-year architecture students from Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design for the Center for Design Research OpenLab Boston Studio. [...]
Intern Zicheng (Roy) Zhang shares his experience at a site tour of Payette's projects at Northeastern. [...]
Pages
A practice that functions like a school. We teach, we mentor and we give back to strengthen our firm culture, our profession and our community. We are an Academic Practice that engages deeply with the profession and the academy through our uncompromising commitment to design,… [...]
June 3, 2025 Curated Abstraction: the Design and Construction of the Ragon Institute Exhibition Model March 20th, 2025 Architecture is for people – A conversation between Associate Emily Miyares… [...]
The site for the ISTHMUS Studio project was in Nubian Square in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. Originally the terminus of the Washington Street Isthmus, over the course of its 394-year history, Nubian Square has gone through many transformations: it has changed from farmland to suburb, suburb to city,… [...]
Promoting healing process through nature We think of the hospital as a small city. The analogy is a powerful one, a continual reminder that it is first of all a place of human relationships. We conceive of it as a community of neighborhoods, formed around gardens and plazas-moments… [...]
Fostering Shared Agency Through Making
fabrication at payette
When someone enters our studio, they are immediately greeted by a row of intricately crafted artifacts, abstractions of our work that capture the imagination, inspire curiosity, and demonstrate our attention to detail and rigorous design approach. Architectural Fabrication is integral to our design process at PAYETTE and is how we explore concepts in a real-world setting. We produce physical tools to communicate ideas and invite design agency, both internally and with collaborators.
our workshop culture
Prototypes, models and custom products are designed and fabricated in-house. Through these physical explorations, we learn, synthesize, validate, and create innovative solutions for complex design problems. Having the ability to do so enables swift project iterations and facilitate conveying novel ideas. Our workshop culture is supported by a dedicated fabrication team of architects and designers fueled by a passion for craftmanship.
payettepeople
View
Mar 17
Open
Reminiscing on our two buildings at the National University of Ireland in Galway--the Hardiman Research Building and the Biosciences Research Building. 🍀 #designalways #artofmaking stpatricks
...
#sb_instagram #sbi_load .sbi_load_btn:hover{
outline: none;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 20px 20px #E8E8EB;
}
#sb_instagram .sbi_follow_btn a:hover,
#sb_instagram .sbi_follow_btn a:focus{
outline: none;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 10px 20px #005B8C;
}
Broadening the Role of the Architect
Fabrication Feature: Metal Ceiling for The 105
BLOG POST
Fabrication Feature: Metal Ceiling for The 105
Fabrication Feature: Henqin ICTR Model
BLOG POST
Fabrication Feature: Henqin ICTR Model
architects as makers
Fabrication at PAYETTE is a dynamic initiative. We position our in-house team to leverage our agility and energy for maximum impact in the context of evolving aspirations and opportunities. We make things to support of our broader priorities: How do we make both our architecture and our design process more engaging, thoughtful and beautiful? Fabrication is the key.
enabling the conversation
Presenting design options and reviewing them with clients and builders is optimal when ideas materialize. Scale models and mock-ups are easily understood; having a physical object to review is an accessible means of communication and allows all key clients voices to be empowered to contribute. Similarly, a built prototype will support a novel construction detail or material approach to a builder to facilitate productive discussions.
In-House Capabilities
DIGITAL FABRICATION AND TRADITIONAL MACHINES
PAYETTE's in-house capabilities are powered by state-of-the-art digital fabrication equipment and traditional tools from two locations. Our office is home to a fully equipped model shop with wood working equipment, 3D printers and laser cutters. We teach and welcome all of our staff to use these resources. The second fabrication space hosts our welding equipment, a Bridgeport milling and a CNC router. Our trained fabrication team operates these machines to make models, prototypes and finish custom pieces for PAYETTE's projects.
what we make
At PAYETTE, we build models for a variety of purposes: campus and site planning to understand context, full-scale mock-ups to examine how an element or a space will feel in its final form, detail models to engineer how specific components will come together, custom pieces that preform a function in our final buildings, and exhibition pieces that represent a holistic vision of project with our highest level of craft. A curated selection of work examples is listed in the last section of this page.
Retooling Community Engagement
Serving our communities
As architects and planners, we have agency to shape the built environment and a responsibility to support and guide positive growth with an awareness of the diverse constituencies served by our shared spaces. Our public art projects leverage our in-house fabrication capabilities and our strong community relationships. We build the creative process with stakeholders as our foundation and strive to create inspirational pieces for all together.
retooling education
PAYETTE regularly uses our fabrication resources as an entry-point to introduce local youth to careers in design and construction. We have hosted workshops and internships that use small fabrication projects to teach design skills and foster an affirming connection between the mind and the hand that is especially valuable in our hyper-digital world. This outreach extends into collegiate architectural education through during the fall semester, when host a full studio in our Boston office, where students work side-by-side with our designers and architects.
Selected Work
The following is a curated list of projects that support our workshop culture and engagement within our communities.
Full Scale Work
Healthcare Mock-Ups Part I: Physical Mock-ups
PAYETTE Fabricates Planters at 105 by Breakthrough
Sho-Ping Chin Exhibit: WLS 2023
1:1 – Designing with Mock-ups
Community engagement
Free-for-All: Art and the Built Environment
Dancing Dragon
OpenLAB Studio
Aladdin Set
Winthrop Street Community Garden: Black Panther Commemoration Project
MLK Day of Service
prototypes
Wesleyan: the Story of a Façade
Designing a Nurse Station
Fabrication Feature: Boston Children’s Hospital Needham Façade
Fabrication Feature: NU EXP Ceiling – a Non-Directional Design Direction
Models
Curated Abstraction: the Design and Construction of the Ragon Institute Exhibition Model
When a Diagram Becomes the Model
Exhibition Model : Fifth Xiangya Hospital [...]
In an increasingly digital world, we are equally inspired by physical objects. We believe that hands-on exploration of shapes, textures, materials and details is a critical component of design. payettepeople View… [...]
Students in the OpenLAB program work side-by-side with our designers and architects, reinforcing a holistic curriculum. We engage in deep conversation on design, practice and philosophies for bridging the two with life. This is a chance for students to explore new ways of thinking and making and integrate them into… [...]
In 2022, PAYETTE selected three community partner organizations whose projects represented a range of scales and typologies, from streetscapes to graphic design. PAYETTE volunteers included 23 individuals drawn from multiple areas of our practice. They worked collaboratively with representatives from their partner organizations, arranging in-person site visits and virtual and… [...]
A new pedagogy for architectural education embedded in practice Integrating architectural education with the practice of architecture has always been a signature aspiration for the profession. Each year, OpenLAB Boston provides a unique collaboration between PAYETTE and the Virginia Tech School of Architecture, offering a radical new and effective pedagogy… [...]
Women in Design is an internal employee led group that serves to promote the professional development and advancement of women at PAYETTE through regular dialogues that encourage teamwork, collaboration, and learning in an atmosphere of collegiality. The group includes women professionals with all levels of experience, in all roles, who… [...]
Our Work Invents, Innovates and Inspires. We embrace a practice model based upon collaborative authorship, shared expertise and diverse voices to unleash our collective genius to create boldly original buildings with clear vision, exceptional execution and grounded by the experience of the people they serve. We embrace rigorous inquiry and… [...]
The partners at PAYETTE are pleased to announce the establishment of this annual memorial scholarship to honor their friend, colleague and fellow partner, Sho-Ping Chin FAIA. More information about eligibility and administration of the fund can be found here. RELATED LINKS… [...]
People
Mi joined Payette in 2018 as a Graphic Designer with over six years of experience in marketing and PR firms. She currently leads all of the firm’s project photography, exhibition design and was a part of the design team for the firm’s monograph: Fusion. [...]
Oscar joined PAYETTE in 2023 as a Designer, working from early concept development through focused envelope design on numerous science and healthcare projects for clients such as Salem State University and White Plains Hospital, as well as participating in several design competitions. Oscar moves ideas from concept to execution with… [...]
Originally from Kathmandu, Nepal, Shreeya joined PAYETTE in 2019 and has been an invaluable member of several project teams for clients such as Northeastern University, Harvard University and multiple confidential corporate clients. She brings her diligent and meticulous attention to project work at all phases from design to construction administration. [...]
Sandrine joined PAYETTE in 2020, soon after receiving her MS Arch. degree, where her keen interest in parametric design, complex concrete casting and architectural acoustic performance was explored through fabrication in her thesis. Currently, Sandrine manages our FabLab, shepherding projects of all scales from design through to fabrication. She has… [...]
Since joining Payette in 2004, Diana has been a key team member on healthcare, higher education and research projects. [...]
Parke joined Payette in 2015 after working at NADAAA. During his first few years at the firm, Parke has been an integral part of design teams on a broad range of projects. [...]
Charlie has led teams on technically challenging projects such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology PDSI Project, the Gary C. Comer Geochemistry Building at Columbia University and the Harvard Art Museums 32 Quincy Street Expansion and Renovation. Charlie’s strength lies in assembling teams that work collaboratively to solve complex problems. [...]
Research Projects
While low-emissivity (low-e) coatings have historically only been applied in between panes of glass in order to protect them, this new innovation has opened up a plethora of potential opportunities and research questions with major consequences for architectural practice. In order to understand these phenomena and assess their relative intensity, our practice performed a series physical experiments on different types of IGUs. [...]