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 their own creative lives. Within our firm, the studio provides the same opportunity to pause the constant stream of decisions and dial into new questions and explorations. Together we have walked and sketched in search of new observations to uncover about the diverse neighborhoods of Greater Boston. Each year, OpenLAB has provoked a rich discourse of discovery.
“One of the seven goals of the CDR is the integration of the academy and practice. There is no better place to situate a coterie of twelve students to work in and observe the process of design in genuine experiential learning. It is a place where performance criteria co-mingle with cultural forces, producing works of use, surprise, impact, and wonder. The team of PAYETTE professionals and participating faculty provide an opportunity for practice-based research transforming student’s future work to one of intellectual depth, technical expertise, and the patient and iterative search for beauty.”
Robert Dunay, FAIA, ACSA
Distinguished Professor
Endowed Professor of Architecture, Emeritus
Senior Research Fellow, Center for Design Research
The 2025 OpenLAB Boston studio work will be exhibited at Virginia Tech Monday, March 2nd through Wednesday, March 4th.
Please join us for the following events on Monday, March 2nd:
11:00am - Lecture with Parke MacDowell
1:00pm Lobby talk with Kevin Sullivan
This year’s studio identifies seven sites along the frayed edges of Boston’s Greenway. The Greenway is a one-mile-long linear park running through the heart of the city, reconnecting downtown Boston with its waterfront. Many of the parcels along its edges remain undeveloped and present mute, blank facades to the public realm. Addressing and repairing these edges through acts of infilling, layering, grafting, framing, and placemaking is the core focus of the studio—SUTURE.
IN THE STUDIO
We teach the students in both a formal class structure and as desk-mates, making them feel part of the team by integrating them into our collaborative culture. This really immerses them into the daily culture of the firm. The format of reviews mirrors PAYETTE’s own workflow: sketch session online with Mural, informal desk crits, alcove conversations and more formal reviews. Nearly 50 members of the firm participate in the OpenLAB, serving as mentors, design critics and lecturers, offering feedback and knowledge sharing throughout the process.
DESIGN REVIEWS
2023 URBAN INLAY Final Review
2023 URBAN INLAY Midterm Review
2022 OASIS Final Review
2022 OASIS Midterm Review
2021 NEXUS Final Review
2021 NEXUS Midterm Review
annual exhibit of student work
The annual student exhibition, hosted at Virginia Tech, includes a collection of drawings and models showcasing each student’s semester at PAYETTE. Throughout the week, a series of workshops and lectures with students across the School of Architecture and Design are focused on themes of fabrication, computation in practice and also include a skillshare on techniques for clarity in digitally modeled drawings. The workshops engage with architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and industrial design students ranging from undergraduate to graduate students.
2023 URBAN INLAY Exhibition
2022 OASIS Exhibition
2021 NEXUS Exhibition
field trips
We venture far each semester: traveling to recent PAYETTE projects, like Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Chestnut Hill project, as well as important local buildings and campuses. The willingness of our students to explore and adventure lead them to encounter new perspectives that will shape their practice far into the future. Following each tour, it has been fascinating to see how the tours informed the students’ project work, often incorporating inspiration from each field trip into their designs.
