Cascieri Lecture 32: Janet Echelman
April 5, 2024 at Cascieri Hall
Welcome to The Cascieri Lecture in Humanities
It gives me immense pleasure to extend a warm welcome to each of you attending the 32nd annual Dean Arcangelo Cascieri Lectureship in the Humanities. This lectureship, inaugurated in 1992 on Dean Cascieri's 90th birthday, stands as a testament to our institution's deep-rooted commitment to fostering interdisciplinary learning and enriching the tapestry of human experience through the profound mediums of architecture and design.
Over the years, the Cascieri Lectureship has evolved into a pivotal event within our academic calendar, not merely as a tradition but as a vibrant forum for the exchange of ideas that lie at the confluence of humanity and the built environment. It is a space where thought leaders, innovators, and creatives come together to challenge, inspire, and reimagine the potentialities of design and its impact on our collective human journey.
This year, we have the distinct honor of hosting Janet Echelman, an artist whose body of work redefines the boundaries of art, architecture, and urban design. Janet’s creations are not just visually stunning; they are a dialogue with the elements, with culture, and with the communities that engage with them. Her sculptures, monumental in scale yet ethereal in presence, weave together the resilience of urban fabric with delicate nuances of light and wind, transforming public spaces into realms of interactive art, while creating a celebration of possibility.
Utilizing materials that range from the robustness of engineered fibers to the ephemeral beauty of atomized water particles, Janet harnesses the power of computational design software to craft installations that are as much a feat of engineering as they are of imagination. With projects spanning cities across five continents, they are not just art installations but focal points of urban life, creating landmarks that are dynamic, ever-changing, and deeply integrated into the cultural and social narratives of the spaces they inhabit.
Beyond artistic achievements, her journey is a narrative of relentless curiosity and interdisciplinary exploration. From her foundational years at Harvard College to her transformative experiences in a Balinese village, and through her academic engagements at MIT, Harvard, and Princeton, Janet embodies the spirit of lifelong learning and cross-cultural dialogue. Her TED talk, "Taking Imagination Seriously," has reached audiences in 35 languages worldwide, translating her vision into a global conversation on creativity, resilience, and the power of imagination.
As we gather for this year's lecture, we celebrate Janet Echelman's remarkable contributions to the fields of art, design, and urban planning while honoring the legacy of Dean Cascieri, whose vision and dedication continue to inspire our diverse global community to explore the intersections of creativity, design, and humanity.
I invite you to join us in this celebration of innovation, creativity, and the unyielding human spirit that seeks to reimagine our world.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mahesh Daas, DPACSA, President ACSA Distinguished Professor
Cascieri Lecture Series 32: Janet Echelman
Taking Imagination Seriously
Janet Echelman got her start by accident, and now sculpts at the scale of buildings and city blocks. Her work defies categorization, as it intersects Sculpture, Architecture, Urban Design, Material Science, Structural & Aeronautical Engineering, and Computer Science. Echelman’s art transforms with wind and light, and shifts from being “an object you look at, into an experience you can get lost in.”
Using unlikely materials from atomized water particles to engineered fiber fifteen times stronger than steel, Echelman combines ancient craft with computational design software to create artworks that have become focal points for urban life from Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, and Santiago, to Beijing, Boston, New York and London.
Her TED talk “Taking Imagination Seriously” has been translated into 35 languages with more than two million views. Recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, Harvard Loeb Fellowship, Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellowship, and Fulbright Sr. Lectureship, Echelman received the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Visual Arts, honoring “the greatest innovators in America today.” Echelman was named an Architectural Digest Innovator for “changing the very essence of urban spaces” and in popular culture, Oprah ranked Echelman’s work #1 on her List of 50 Things That Make You Say Wow!*
Janet Echelman's 2015 temporary installation installed above the Greenway in downtown Boston
Photo by Bruce Petschek
Cascieri Lectureship in the Humanities
About the Cascieri Lectureship
The Cascieri Lectureship in the Humanities was established by the BAC Alumni Association in 1992 on the Dean's 90th birthday to honor his outstanding and unparalleled contributions to the College and to honor the spirit of volunteerism. Each year, the BAC invites a distinguished speaker to present a public lecture on the many ways in which architecture and design interact with other disciplines and enrich our common life.
32 Years of Inspiring Conversation
Cascieri Lectureship in the Humanities
Janet Echelman
Taking Imagination Seriously 2024
Gilda Barabino
Cascieri 31: (Re)Design: A Vision for the Future
2023
M. Lee Pelton
Cascieri 30: "I Hear America
Singing, The Varied Carols I Hear": Walt Whitman and the Promise of Humanistic Architecture 2022
Sharon Egretta Sutton
Cascieri 29: Each One Inspire One: A Battle Cry for Design Activism
2021
Mahesh Daas
Cascieri 28: Being Human Being Robot:
How Will We _______ Together?
2020
Mabel O. Wilson
Cascieri 27: Memory/Race/Nation: The Politics of Modern Memorials 2019
Rahel Shawl
Cascieri 26: Architecture and Engagement 2018
James Timberlake
Cascieri 25: Projects, Projectures 2017
Blair Kamin
Cascieri 24: Unlocking the Beauty of Gates 2016
Anupama Kundoo
Cascieri 23: Building Knowledge 2015
Nicole Dosso
Cascieri 22: Innovation of the World Trade Center
2014
Paul Doherty
Cascieri 21: The Legacy of Design Technology
2013
Brendan MacFarlane
Cascieri 20: Stories|Histories 2012
Aart Oxenaar
Cascieri 19: Educating Architects for a Transforming City 2011
Anne Hawley
Cascieri 18: Time Starts 2010
Steve Badanes
Cascieri 17: Jersey Devil: Architect as Artisan 2009
Christy MacLear
Cascieri 16: Preserving the Modern 2008
Janet Marie Smith
Cascieri 15: Out of the Park... 2007
Paolo Soleri
Cascieri 14: The Architecture of Place-The Place of Architecture
2006
Herbert Benson
Cascieri 13: Spirit Matters
2005
Andrew Cuomo
Cascieri 12: Give Me Shelter-Building Communities in Need
2004
Iain Mackintosh
Cascieri 11: Standing Room Only: An Exploration of the Audience's Place, Position and Posture from the Rose of Marlowe and Shakespeare to Fenway Park
2003
Richard Swett
Cascieri 10: Design Diplomacy: The Influence Edge
2002
Jorge Silvetti
Cascieri 9: The Pritzker Architecture Prize: A Juror's Perspective
2001
Jill Medvedow
Cascieri 8: Art in the Public Realm 2000
Michael Dukakis
Cascieri 7: The Politics of Creativity 1999
Norman Leventhal
Cascieri 6: Boston, Past and Future
1998
Robert Brown
Cascieri 5: Teaching Artists, Artists Teaching
1997
Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker
Cascieri 4: Cityscapes of Boston
1996
Christopher Lydon
Cascieri 3: The Jane Jacobs Connection: City Design and Citizen Reality in Boston
1995
Moshe Safdie
Cascieri 2: Language and Ethics in Architecture
1994
H. Morse Payne
Cascieri 1: The Genesis of 10 Towns: Urban Design in 17th Century New England
1993
Board of Trustees
Officers of the Board
Judy Nitsch
Chair, BAC Board of Trustees
Retired and Founding Principal of Nitsch Engineering, Inc.
Marilyn Swartz-Lloyd
Vice Chair, BAC Board of Trustees
City Planner and Former CEO of MASCO
Trustees
Joshua Best
Co-Founder, Best Brothers Development, LLC | AIA | B.Arch'14
Kevin Costello
Founder, CPB2 LLC
Valerie Fletcher
Executive Director, Institute for Human Centered Design
Anddie Chan-Patera
Principal and Co-Founder, A SQUARE DESIGN (ASD) | MIA’18
Shauna Gillies-Smith
Founding Principal, GROUND
Lee Michael Kennedy President & CEO, Lee Kennedy Co., Inc.
Katia Lucic
Associate, Leers Weinzapfel Associates
Nancy Ludwig
FAIA, LEED AP | President, ICON Architecture
David Manfredi
CEO and Founding Principal, Elkus Manfredi Architects
Richard Martini
AIA, B.Arch’84 | COO, The Fallon Company
James Barrett
Secretary, BAC Board of Trustees
AIA, B.Arch'87|Principal, DRA Architects
Richard Strout
Treasurer, BAC Board of Trustees
Principal, PKF O'Connor Davies| CPA
Elizabeth Minnis
AIA, B.Arch’89 | Deputy Commissioner for Planning, Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance
Catherine Offenberg
Principal, CRJA-IBI Group
Srinivas Reddy
S.V.P., Product Supply, P&G Global Grooming Business
Richard Snyder, Esq. Of Counsel, Duane Morris LLP
Kevin Sullivan
Vice President, Shawmut Design and Construction
Kishore Varanasi Urban Design Principal, CBT Architects
John Swift
Principal, Buro Happold | PE | CEM | LEED BD+C
Cheryl Waterhouse
Founding Partner, Donovan Hatem LLP
Bridgette Wallace
Founder and Executive Director, G{Code} House
Thank you for joining us this evening! For information about supporting the Cascieri Lecture, please email giving@the-bac.edu 320 Newbury St, Boston, MA the-bac.edu