Design that Gives Back
At PAYETTE, we believe in the importance of contributing and giving back to the communities where we live and work; making design collaborative and accessible to everyone. We engage with, listen to, and learn from these communities. These outlets provide us the opportunity to apply our creative skills, and those of our collaborators, to work for the good of our community. We believe that design has the power to uplift communities, include the disenfranchised, support racial justice and promote equality. We are committed to working toward a more diverse and inclusive society. Our pro bono work ranges from fabricating furniture with local high school students to collaboratively re-energizing forgotten downtown spaces into vibrant gathering places to designing a maternity ward and neonatal care unit for a hospital in Haiti.
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.
Martin luther king jr. Day of service
PAYETTE holds an annual Day of Service on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day where employees dedicate the entire day to planning and designing solutions for the issues posed by community partners. Our volunteers produce numerous sketches, drawings and renderings and engage in collaborative discussions and work sessions with the community partners. This annual program is a wonderful opportunity for us to dedicate our time and creative abilities in support of the communities in which we live and work.
Hands on ENGAGEMENT
Our fabrication capacities at PAYETTE provide us with a unique opportunity to give back through making and teaching. We use our expertise in hands-on fabrication to create detailed solutions tailored to the needs of the community. We explore how physical objects can enhance a sense of togetherness and rethink public spaces, such as parks, streets and sidewalks.
Creative ENGAGEMENT
PAYETTE is a diverse family of creative designers with many different skills. We collaborate with industry partners and community organizations to provide resources for bigger projects. This allows for extensive collaboration, the refinement of design ideas as well as built projects. These projects range from educational videos for MGH’s pediatric care team, a light installation in the city of Lynn, a zero waste community farm in Weston, Massachusetts and the construction of a new hospital in Haiti.
