A B O S TO N A R C H I T E C T U R A L C O L L E G E P U B L I C AT I O N
MAGAZINE
TANIYA NAYAK BAC alumna becomes a household name
BECAUSE OF THE WATER An international collaboration on climate change
DESIGN AND PUNISHMENT Cultural differences in prison systems
SUMMER 2018
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Friends: I have long felt that we, as designers, are uniquely poised to be agents for change. We are curious, inquisitive thinkers who strive to improve life for clients and users. We try, with every assignment, to add beauty to the world. Here at the BAC, we take this a step further—through our commitment to diversity and social justice, we train architects and designers to think bigger about the impact they can have, to see the client as not just an institution, government, or developer, but the whole community their work will serve.
Summer 2018
Editors
Over the past year, the College has given much thought to what we are as an institution, what we stand for, and how to convey that to stakeholders. Central to a new expression of our brand is the idea of professionals who leave their mark by making the world a better place. You can learn more about this and the ways we will be promoting the new BAC brand around the theme, “Stand Out. By Design.” in this issue.
Betsy Butterworth Julie Raynor Copy Editors Madeline Lanois Geoff Whaley Designer Andrew Nasser Contributing Writers
In rethinking our brand, we had conversations with hundreds of BAC students, faculty, and alumni. We were pleased to hear how many of you are making positive impacts through your work—promoting social justice, bringing communities together, creating sustainable environments, improving health and well-being, and introducing new ideas while preserving the best of our cultural heritage. This issue of Practice Magazine showcases a few of the myriad examples of how the BAC community is working, through innovative research, education, and design, to effect positive change.
Photography
The innovative work of BAC students around water has brought recognition to them and the College: the BAC submission to the Boston Living with Water competition won the People’s Choice Award, and the Lynn Museum exhibited “Resilient Lynn”, a project produced by students in the 2016 Architecture Studio III that redesigned the
Roger Farrington
City of Lynn’s waterfront to mitigate the effects of climate change and flooding.
Julie Raynor Bruce Rutter
Stephen Middleton Andrew Nasser
Practice Magazine is published for The Boston Architectural College community. ©2018. Have comments about this issue? Email the editor at communications@the-bac.edu. Update your information by visiting us on the web at the-bac.edu/alumni or emailing us at alumni@the-bac.edu.
Alumnae Jana Belack is using her 2017 John Worthington Ames travel fellowship to study how design can improve conditions for female prisoners, and interior designer and HGTV celebrity Taniya Nayak’s restaurant designs are bringing urban communities together. Faculty are having profound impact as well. Eleni Glekas, director of Historic Preservation, is leading an innovative partnership between the BAC and the National College of Arts in Pakistan to promote cross-cultural understanding, and strengthen both organizations’ educational programs. Aidan Ackerman, the BAC’s director of Digital Media, is exploring ways that virtual reality can be used to make the design process more inclusive. María Bellalta, dean of the School of Landscape Architecture, is an advocate for using water as a narrative to bring social justice into design. I hope as you read these inspiring stories, you will think about the impact of your work and share what you have done with us. So many members of the BAC community are making a real difference—it is time the world heard more from us!
Glen S. LeRoy FAIA, FAICP President, The Boston Architectural College
IN THIS ISSUE
2
2
Stand Out. By Design. The new voice and vision of the BAC
4 Around the College 6 Virtual Reality
10
10
Water and the Future of Urban Design An international collaboration on climate change
15 Paying it Forward
16 16
20
Design and Punishment Cultural differences in prison systems
From BAC to HGTV Taniya Nayak is now a household name
22 Leadership Awards Reception 24 Heritage Conservation Bridge Cultures 26 Winter Scholarships & Awards Reception 28 This Is My Boston
20
29 A Legacy for the Future
CORRECTION In the most recent edition of Practice Magazine (Winter 2018), we included a list of donors to the Howard F. Elkus Scholarship Fund as of September 1, 2017. Due to an editing error we inadvertently left off three donors to the fund: Ms. Jacqueline Liebergott, Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Elkus, Jr., and Harold E. Nash III and Nancy B. Nash. Please accept our sincerest apologies for this omission and thank you for your generosity in memory of Howard.
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 1
Stand Out. By Design. If you were asked to capture the essence of the BAC, what words would come to mind? Practical, diverse, and socially conscious are some of the most common ways people describe our school, but while all true, would they inspire you to apply here, hire one of our grads, or support the mission of the College?
2 PRACTICE | SUMMER 2018
When Betsy Butterworth joined the BAC as its
Articulating this in a few words—the hallmark of a
Marketing + Communications Director in 2016, she
successful brand—was quite a challenge. With the help
was impressed by the school’s commitment to
of Stamats, many options were explored before a
diversity and social justice. Meeting college deans,
four-word solution was found that captured the fusion
faculty, students, and alumni, she was struck by how
of idealism and pragmatism that is the ethos of the
pervasive that commitment was, and how it played
BAC: Stand Out. By Design.
out in the way the school taught, the kind of students it attracts, and the talented, caring professionals it turns out. “There’s something very special in the DNA of the BAC,” said Butterworth. “We all sense it, but clearly, we can do a better job of articulating it.” College leadership knew something had to be done to improve awareness of the BAC and its unique strengths if the college were to continue to thrive. “We’ve invested in people and programs,” says Glen LeRoy, president of the BAC. “We have a great story to tell. Now we need to tell it in simple, powerful ways that people will understand and relate to.”
“Stand Out. By Design. speaks to the aspiration of our students,” says Butterworth. “They want to use their talents to make a difference in the world. And our alumni are living proof that BAC graduates do stand out—everyday, in the work they do, they’re making their visions real.” Rebranding the College is the first step in elevating the BAC’s public profile. A targeted advertising campaign was launched this winter, running in print and digital publications, on the MBTA, cable TV, and on Spotify & Pandora. The campaign focuses on the BAC’s unique education model where students gain
The first step was to issue a Request for Proposal to
practical design experience while studying with the
market research firms to help with the project.
aspirational goal of a meaningful career promised in
Stamats Inc., a higher education marketing research
the line “Stand Out. By Design.” The campaign has
and communication firm, earned the project and
had immediate positive impact for the College—
assisted the Marketing + Communications team with
inquiries by prospective students are up more than
the work ahead.
25% from last year. Over time, the campaign will build
True to the school’s inclusive mission, Stamats and the team began the rebranding process by hosting focus groups with a wide range of stakeholders. Following up on this internal research, a survey was sent to the entire BAC community—over 4,500
greater awareness of the College among prospects, and will also serve to raise the BAC’s image within the design community, facilitating placement of internships, and improving job prospects for recent graduates.
faculty, administration and staff, students, and
Increased public relations is part of the mix, as well.
alumni. While stakeholders agreed that the school’s
Just as this issue of Practice Magazine is dedicated to
practice-based education and professional faculty
the stand-out work of faculty, students, and alumni,
were the BAC’s top attributes, underlying these was
exemplary stories of our people will bepromoted more
something more emotional, something many found
aggressively to design and thought-leader media to
exciting—the idea of a transformative experience.
help the College gain the recognition it deserves.
Because of the College’s strong social justice mission, students come to the BAC with idealism, and by applying their ideas in the classroom and on the job, leave with a commitment to use these to make the world a better place, along with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to make that happen.
The BAC’s rebranding efforts have the enthusiastic support of the College’s Board of Trustees. “For more than 30 years I’ve been telling people about what a great experience the BAC was for me, how it changed my life,” says BAC Board Chairman Richard Martini, B.Arch ’84. “I think our new brand will help us all better tell the BAC story and attract students and faculty who are going to make a difference in the world.”
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 3
AROUND the College FACULTY APPOINTMENTS, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND NEWS
ALUMNI ACCOMPLISHMENTS & PROMOTIONS
Eleni Glekas, director of Historic Preservation presented at PastForward, a conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in Chicago in November. She spoke in part of a session called “Knowing What We’ve Got: New Tools for Visual Documentation.” Her talk focused on incorporating technology in historic preservation education, profiling student work, and highlighting the BAC’s practice-based learning model.
Architect Magazine featured Parallax founder John Masotta, B.Arch ’86, for the unveiling of his new project with The Archer School for Girls, Archer Forward, in Los Angeles.
Ben Peterson, director of Practice Instruction and Student Support, was a keynote speaker at the Future Concurrent Design Education conference hosted by the Consortium of Academies of Architecture of the Netherlands in October. His lecture “Perspectives from Away” situated the concurrent educational experience of the BAC in larger social, political, and economic contexts. Ben also collaborated with a number of Dutch academies on how they might explore and define the future of the concurrent educational model for architecture students. Aidan Ackerman, director of Digital Media and faculty in the School of Landscape Architecture, served on Design Museum Boston’s panel at their February 22nd UNITE • Maker Nation: Education to Industry event. Library Director Susan Lewis has retired from the BAC after 43 years. After 24 years as Chief Financial Officer, Kathy Rood, ’17 (Hon.), has retired from the BAC. Mark Virello joined the BAC in September as the new Chief Financial Officer.
David Rifkind, M.Arch ’97, associate professor of architecture at Florida International University, was featured in Architect Magazine’s AIA Feature on Miami’s unique opportunity to revolutionize how Americans handle climate change. Felice Silverman, ’92, MID ’14, FIIDA, participated in the Women in Design Symposium at ABX last November. The day-long event addressed how to achieve gender equity in the building industry among other challenges. Chelsea Blanchard, M.Arch ’16, was featured on New England Home magazine’s website for their guide on historic home restoration. Patrick McKechnie, M.Arch ’17, was featured on the front page of his local paper Ashland Daily Tidings for his thesis project redesigning Medford, Oregon’s Rogue Valley Mall.
Maya Bird-Murphy, M.Arch ’17, Associate AIA, LEED Green Associate, SEED
Maya Bird-Murphy founded Chicago Mobile Makers, a nonprofit organization that offers free and low-cost youth workshops encompassing design, architecture, digital fabrication, basic construction, and place-making in Chicago communities. Maya was recently interviewed on PBS Chicago Tonight about the organization, and Chicago Mobile Makers was selected as a Finalist in the “Urban Design” category of Fast Company’s 2018 World Changing Ideas Awards.
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Laura Shrestha, BDS ’13, M.Arch ’17, presented her thesis work at a February Boston Society of Architects/AIA meeting. Her project “Calming the Sensory Storm: Sensory-Integrated Design within the Built Environment” focuses on a K-12 school building serving students with complex physical, sensory, and cognitive needs for the city of Boston. Congratulations to Stephen Palumbo, M.Arch ’07, AIA, LEED AP, on his new role at SmithGroupJJR. Steve will lead the growth of the Science & Technology Practice in the robust Boston region.
BAC STUDENTS TRAVEL TO CUBA A group of BAC students had an incredible opportunity as part of a History, Theory, and Criticism elective to travel to Cuba at the end of September to study the architecture and history of the country. It was a memorable experience for the students who immersed themselves in Cuban history and design. Pictured are BAC students with fellow students from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA).
Congratulations to Olivia Fragale, MLA ’16, on her new job as landscape designer at Halvorson Design Partnership, Inc. Congratulations to Katie Trice, MIA ’09, who was promoted to associate principal at Fitzgerald Collaborative Group, LLC. Congratulations to Jennifer Newland, M.Arch ’15, Assoc. AIA, who was recently hired as job captain in the Architecture studio at Gorman Richardson Lewis Architects (GRLA). Congratulations to Joseph Gibbons, M.Arch ’14, who was recently promoted to associate principal at Wilson Architects Inc.
BAC EXHIBITIONS The BAC’s latest exhibition, Frameworks and Trajectories: Lessons from Design Practice, celebrated the eight design firms who have committed to be the BAC’s Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL) partners. The firms, Elkus Manfredi Architects, Ellenzweig, Goody Clancy, HMFH Architects, Inc., MASS Design Group, Prellwitz Chilinski Associates, Shepley Bulfinch, and Studio G Architects, Inc. provide guidance, support, and mentorship for our students as they work toward their degrees. The exhibition presented students’ work they have accomplished working in the firms.
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 5
REALITY VIRTUAL Design Tool or Change Agent?
The ability to visualize ideas has always been
Imagine instead that you, the designer, can go into a
essential to successful design. Getting the
world where your idea comes to life—you can walk
proportions of a space right, choosing the best
through it, looking left, right, up, down. You can feel
surface textures—these are basics designers face
the proportions of the space—is it inviting or
every day that require them to mentally put
dwarfing? Is it bright or blinding on a sunny day? If
themselves into their designs. Take the design for
your floor and wall materials don’t feel right, you can
the lobby of a public building: the visualization
try something else, and see the effect all around you—
challenges are compounded when you add different
immediately. Then imagine you’re doing this with your
lighting conditions, traffic flow into and out of the
full design team, walking through the space together,
lobby, and the presence of a few people or a crowd.
sharing ideas in real time. And when you’re ready to
Then consider that there may be others involved in
present to your clients, you can, literally, walk them
the design who need to visualize the concept as well,
through your design and know, with confidence, that
and eventually clients who will need to understand it
they see exactly what you see.
to approve it. As the design process becomes more complex, the accuracy of visualization decreases, and the more people engaged, the less likely they will all have the same perception of a design. Detailed drawings, models, 3-D renderings—these help, but they have their limits.
6 PRACTICE | SUMMER 2018
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 7
Welcome to Virtual Reality. While primitive forms of virtual reality (VR) have been around for decades, advances in VR software and significant reduction in cost have made VR design applications relatively affordable and easy to use. Adoption in the design professions is taking off. A 2017 study by Chaos Group, a leading computer graphics company, found that 28% of architects were currently using VR in their work, and 28% were experimenting with it. Because of cost issues in the past, large firms are leading the way, with 62% already using VR and 21% in the experimental stage. David Morgan, B.Arch ’17, got involved with VR while an undergraduate. For his thesis project he studied the use of virtual space, and impact it has on our physical space. His instructor, Colin Booth, B.Arch ’10 brought him into the firm where he worked, Sasaki Associates, to apply VR technology to different design projects within the firm. Morgan had a natural curiosity towards how technology and fabrication effects our built environment and was encouraged to pursue an intensive study of VR, eventually landing a job at Sasaki right after graduation supporting the VR specialists in their Strategies Group. “It’s amazing how quickly you can put this software to use,” says Morgan. “Right out of the box, with the goggles on, you snap right in and see what your design looks like. You don’t get the same level of polish you would with renderings, but you benefit from real time spatial analysis.” Morgan helps Sasaki designers host virtual tours of projects they’re working on, and has seen how effective it can be to have designers point out to their team, inside the virtual building, key aspects of their work. Morgan believes that at the pace that 8 PRACTICE | SUMMER 2018
firms like Sasaki are experimenting with and adopting the technology, VR will quickly become a normal part of design firm workflow. “Of course you have some hold-outs,” says Morgan with a laugh. “Some old-timers have told me VR could be a crutch. I understand that’s what hand-work carpenters said when they invented the first table saw.” Aidan Ackerman, the BAC’s director of Digital Media, is certain VR will play an important role in design going forward. “It’s taking off in the profession,” he says, “but it’s still not something most students can afford. We want to make this a democratic resource that everyone can learn and use.” Ackerman is partnering with Toronto-based VR software company Yulio to bring the technology to the BAC. He believes VR will help students get better feedback on their work, and that feedback will help them improve the quality of their thinking at both the conceptual and the detail level. “We’re concerned, though, that the VR environment can at times be a little too beguiling,” he says. “It may be easy for junior designers to jump to the visual level before they’ve really tackled the fundamental design issues.” He and other educators at the BAC will be closely monitoring how students’ use of VR affects their designs. Ackerman and the leadership of the BAC are considering more than the obvious uses of VR as a tool for visualization among designers and clients. “It’s great for demonstrating multiple options, different perspectives on the same space, before and after,” says Ackerman. “Yes, that helps designers get to better solutions, faster, but we’re looking beyond this—can it be a tool for creating a more inclusive design process? Could it be a way to share ideas across cultures?” Ben Peterson, the BAC’s director of Practice Instruction and Student Support, encourages students to meet and speak with stakeholders.
“When we design with communities as collaborators,” he says, “we need to engage on a level playing field from the very start.” Peterson feels that VR could be a tool for bringing community voices into design decision-making processes, to make them more transparent and ideally more inclusive. “Rather than using VR to sell ideas to users, how could we employ VR as a tool for generating dialogue about altern-ative, imagined possibilities?” he asks. Using VR for community engagement can help increase people’s receptivity to new ideas. Recently students at the BAC used VR to showcase a carless Newbury Street. While skeptical at first, pedestrians and drivers who had the VR experience were much more interested in alternative uses of public space. María Bellalta, dean of the School of Landscape Architecture at the BAC, believes that VR can be a powerful tool for sharing ideas and understanding across cultures. “When we agreed to develop an exhibit on water with Centro Metropolitano de Arquitectura Sustenable in Mexico City,” says Bellalta, “we wanted more than a static exhibit—we wanted to create a dynamic way for visitors to confront circumstances that might be difficult, based on their own prior experiences, to imagine.” Working together, Bellalta and Ackerman designed a VR component to the exhibit so that visitors in Mexico City could have a first-hand feel for issues in Boston and vice versa.
VR can play a role in historic preservation, as well. Eleni Glekas, the BAC’s director of Historic Preservation, can see many applications for her field. “At the simplest level, we can give people access to endangered environments, like the Caves of Lascaux, which have been exactly recreated in VR,” she says. “We can also use VR to show people what historic environments looked like before they were altered or damaged.” One of the challenges facing historic preservation is adapting historic structures for contemporary use. “Repurposing an old building for office or school use,” says Glekas, “might entail substantial modifications for the health and safety of users today. With VR, we can make those needed changes and still preserve the original in a virtual world for users to see and appreciate.” Ackerman believes it’s important for the BAC to challenge thinking about VR. “It’s only natural for people to fall back on traditional uses when they confront something disruptive like VR,” he says. “We want students to see that VR can be more than a better visualization tool, it can be a tool for change. By using it to bring more diverse perspectives into design, to make the process more inclusive, to share ideas across cultures, VR can have a much greater positive impact on the world than people imagine today.”
“We want students to see that VR can be more than a better visualization tool, it can be a tool for change.” Aidan Ackerman, the BAC’s director of Digital Media, Landscape Architecture faculty
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 9
WATER AND THE FUTURE OF URBAN DESIGN Since the dawn of civilization, water has been intrinsically tied to the evolution of cities. Water determined where they were founded; how quickly they grew; the health of urban populations; who among their citizens prospered, and who didn’t. In the decades to come, with the world’s population increasingly concentrated in urban areas—66% by 2050— water will play an even greater role in the health and well-being of humanity.
SPRING 2018 | PRACTICE SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE11 11
“Water is a narrative that tells the story of the social political frameworks of our cities” María Bellalta, the BAC’s dean of the School of Landscape Architecture.
The three factors that will impact our future— climate change, population growth, urbanization—are intrinsically tied to water. With much of the world’s population increasingly crowded into mega cities close to sea level—like Jakarta, Lagos, New York, and Shanghai—rising ocean waters will require investment in massive flood control programs, or population relocation to higher ground. And with fresh water already in limited supply, a planet with 10 billion people will struggle to address the competing water needs of agricultural, industrial, and personal consumption. For most of human history, those with money and influence have sought to control water—to tame it, to tap its energy, to move across it, and to use it to exploit others. Some are starting to view it in a very different light—to see the universal quality of water as a way to bring people together in discussions about our future and find solutions that work from the bottom up.
María Bellalta, dean of the School of Landscape Architecture at the BAC, believes strongly that the narrative of water can begin to redress the imbalance of power and wealth in the world. “Designers are uniquely positioned to promote this dialog through their work,” she says. Water has played a profound role in Bellalta’s personal and professional lives. Growing up in Chile, a nation with extreme conditions—from the arid wastes of the northern Atacama Desert to the fjords and glaciers of the mountainous south—she was aware of how water shaped her country’s growth. As a Boston resident, she’s lived in a transition zone between land and sea, where water, once a medium of commerce and transportation, is increasingly seen as a threat. “Water is something we should all be talking about right now,” says Bellalta. “We need to take the long view, and in doing so, we need to engage everyone in the planning process.”
BOSTON: A WATER CHRONOLOGY Pilgrims move from site of Charlestown to the Shawmut Peninsula to take advantage of a fresh water spring on the Trimountain, enabling the founding of Boston.
Paul Revere rows from the North End to Charlestown to begin his famous ride.
The Commonwealth begins to fill the Charles River tidal flats, creating the first streets in the Back Bay.
1630
1775
1857
14,000 BCE
1652
1802
Glaciers begin their retreat from Eastern Massachusetts.
Boston builds the first municipal water system in the English colonies.
The Middlesex Canal opens, bringing agricultural products and goods produced at the Lowell Mills to Boston Harbor.
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Bellalta is a proponent of Social Urbanism— considering landscapes from a social perspective, and how they can promote (or hinder) connections between different peoples and be agents for improving the health and well-being for all. She thinks we are entering a time where we will be much more sensitized to the environmental changes occurring, their impact on landscapes and society, and how we can be more inclusive in the ways we address them. She calls this “Our Climate Culture.” To Bellalta, Boston’s booming Seaport District is the very opposite of Climate Culture. She thinks the city and developers were eager to exploit the site quickly, with little consideration for rising sea levels, or how this prime real estate could benefit Boston’s diverse communities. “It’s a classic case of short-term, top-down thinking,” says Bellalta. “Their primary interest seems to have been how to squeeze as much luxury housing and Class A office space into the area as possible.” With coastal flooding a growing concern, Bellalta feels solutions should engage all communities, not just those immediately affected.
The dialog over water, and the search for innovative, inclusive solutions is being woven into the work of faculty and students at the BAC’s School of Landscape Architecture. Three years ago, their submission to the Boston Living with Water international design competition won the People’s Choice Award. The faculty/student design turned the divisive landscape of Fort Point Channel into a unifying element of urban life by using the sounds and smells of the ocean, and the plants and animals that thrive along the shoreline, to reconnect people to water. In 2017, the BAC joined with Centro Metropolitano de Arquitectura Sustenable in Mexico City to present a joint exhibit Because of Water/A Causa del Agua. “The two cities couldn’t be more different in terms of water—Mexico City, built on a marshy lake high in the mountains, is sinking,” says Bellalta, “while Boston, built in and around tidal estuaries, is flooding.” The exhibit showcased the work of the two organizations and demonstrates the power of cross-cultural exchange through a common dialog around water.
Bellalta believes this idea exchange is an opportunity to expose BAC students to the thinking of people in By engaging many perspectives, designers can different cultures. She has organized several student see how choices impact different people, and come trips to Medellin, Colombia, a city that has up with solutions that serve multiple needs. implemented many innovative solutions to make it “Innovative ideas that mitigate the impact of flooding,” “more inviting and life-giving” for its residents. she explains, “can also improve the marine “Going to Medellin has helped our students see how environment, create more public open space, and other countries deal successfully with urban social engage minority contractors and workers in their issues,” she explains. “This helps to get them out of construction.” the Northern mindset of ‘we have the answers to your problems, let us come fix things for you’ and recognize the need for collaboration, as equals,
Plans for Harborwalk, a continuous series of parks and walkways around Boston Harbor, are first conceived by park advocates and the Flynn administration.
A new federal courthouse is built on Fan Pier, kicking off a decades-long building boom in Boston’s newest neighborhoods, Fort Point and the Seaport District.
Tidal storm surges flood roads in the Seaport District.
1984
1999
2018
1887
1985
2010
Landscape Architect Frederick Law Olmstead completes plans for The Back Bay Fens—the first park in Boston’s celebrated Emerald Necklace.
The EPA sues Boston’s Metropolitan District Commission over pollution in Boston Harbor.
BAC launches a Climate Action Plan with its Green Alley Stormwater Recapture Project.
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 13
between cultures.” While in Medellin, the students studied the effects of growing urbanization on water runoff in the mountains around the city, and how Medellin planners were dealing with them. Water has proven inspirational to a number of BAC students and alumni who have engaged in water issues in thesis projects and post graduate professional study. Anahita Kianous, MLA ’15, created a way to mitigate tidal surge floods by designing a system of resilient coastal landscapes that transfer ocean water to wetlands behind the coastal waterfront. The U.S. Army Hydraulic Lab was impressed by her thesis and invited her to consult on a project to test if it could be applied to river basins. The College as a whole has taken up the issue of water through its Green Alley project, the centerpiece of its Urban Sustainability Initiative. In the Green Alley connecting the school’s Newbury Street and Boylston Street buildings, the BAC is demonstrating solutions for geothermal heating and cooling by running water through the soil and gravel fill below the alley, and controlling water run-off through permeable pavement. The College sees this work as much more than a token effort at sustainability—learning from the project is being shared with area planners and designers, in the hope that these solutions can be scaled a thousand-fold across the city. “With our focus on diversity and social justice,” says Bellalta, “water will be an increasingly important theme at the BAC. I look forward to working with a new generation of activist designers who are engaged in this narrative.”
RESILIENT
LYN N
In the fall of 2016, 10 BAC students participated in an Architectural Studio III class on site work and resiliency. The focus of their work? The waterfront of the city of Lynn, 10 miles north of Boston. The class began with research on the impact of sea level rise on the Lynnway (Route 3A) and adjoining property between the water, the highway and downtown Lynn. “Our research focused on the vulnerabilities of the site faced through the ‘SEE’ lenses of resiliency: Social, Economic, and Environmental,” said Noah Geupel, one of class participants. In their research, the students found that sea levels will rise approximately six feet by 2050, and at that level, storm surges would inundate the highway and a number of crucial city services, including the landfill, wastewater treatment, gas, and electrical plants. The students developed a master plan to mitigate the impact of flooding on the area. Their innovative plan included integration of floodable canals and greenways into a new road and pathway plan for the waterfront. During storm surges, the water would be absorbed in the canals and natural meadows. The students’ plan included a number of positive improvements for Lynn residents as well, including connection of existing streets, which had terminated at the Lynnway, to the waterfront; more parks and walkways near the water; a new wastewater renewal plant, including a biofuel generator; and a new school that would act as a symbol of the city’s resiliency and rejuvenation. In the spring of 2017, the students’ work, “Resilient Lynn”, was exhibited at the Lynn Museum.
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Paying it Forward
Staats Family Endowed Scholarship in Architecture
When Jeffrey L. Staats, ’73, AIA, AICP, started his journey in architecture, he had no idea where it would take him or how he would get there. Thanks to the mentorship of two BAC alumni, Russel B. Brown, ’66 and Ronald M. Wood, ’66, and Richard J. Kerr, he found the BAC and a successful career in architecture.
Brown, Wood, and Kerr were critical in Staats discovery of the BAC. After starting as a janitor and working his way up to draftsman for Brown and Wood, they recognized his potential and encouraged Staats to obtain his associates degree from New England Technical College. In his own words, what happened next set the course for the rest of his career, introducing him to the BAC and Dean Arcangelo Cascieri, “those three men took me, an
I won seven national, regional, and state level design awards for my work and have been a full time professor at Roger Williams University for the last 26 years and none of that would be possible without the BAC.”
Over the past few years Staats has reflected on his giving to the BAC and has come to realize that without meeting Brown, Wood, and Kerr, and the support of the BAC, he did not know where he would be right now. By establishing the Staats Family Endowed Scholarship in “The great thing about the BAC is that you get a Architecture he is able to honor their chance. Without meeting Russell Brown, mentorship and impact on his career Ron Wood, and Robert Kerr, and the support trajectory while simultaneously leaving a legacy of his own. of the BAC, who knows where I’d be.”
-Jeffrey Staats, ’73 office boy, up to Boston and introduced me to the people that helped me get my start.” He completed his studies in five years at the BAC and went on to obtain his Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University. Staats followed this with a successful career in architecture practice and in teaching at Roger Williams University, where he is now a professor of architecture, but it all comes back to his time at the BAC. He has continued to use the notes he took at the BAC to supplement his teaching and practice. When asked about this and his career he says, “I went on to Harvard, but it is the chance the BAC gave me that made the last 50 years of architecture possible.
Now, after an award-winning career as a practicing architect and professor of architecture teaching generations of designers, his gift to the BAC will make a significant impact on the trajectory of future designers, just as Brown, Wood, and Kerr’s mentorship impacted his. The Staats Family Endowed Scholarship in Architecture will support students with the highest GPAs entering into their final degree project, and the first scholarship is expected to be awarded in fall 2018. To learn more about establishing a named scholarship, visit the-bac.edu/giving/giving-priorities.
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 15
DESIGN & PUNISHMENT
Prisoner; a mural in an exercise yard at Halden Fengsek (Prison) Norway by Norwegian graffiti artist, Dolk. Photo credit: Jana Belack
There’s a world hidden from everyday life that few of us will ever experience. For something unseen, it’s big: by population it outranks 14 states. While it can be a dark, even terrifying place, there’s nothing supernatural about it. Perhaps to make us feel better about the millions sequestered there, it’s officially known by an innocuous, bureaucratic term: the U.S. Correctional System. Like most college graduates, BAC alumna Jana
Belack found these countries were willing to
Belack, BDS ’10, M.Arch ’16, had no personal
consider new approaches, test them, and implement
experience with the system—until a restaurant
their successes. She was so impressed by their
coworker was sent to prison on drug charges. An
innovative ideas—to place prisons near cities to
innocent 18-year old, Belack went with his mother
foster connections between inmates and society;
to visit him, was disturbed by her experience, and
experimenting with combining male and females in
appalled at the inhuman way her friend was treated.
the same institution, but separating them when
Fast forward 15 years: driving home to Pennsylvania,
proven to hinder rehabilitation; and embracing
Belack saw road signs in Fishkill, NY, warning
technology such as virtual reality—she decided to see
motorists of a correctional institute nearby. Knowing
for herself. Visiting nine Scandinavian prisons was an
one prisoner who was not dangerous got her
eye-opener for a designer. “They’d planned the prison
thinking about the stereotypes we, as a society, carry
experience to simulate a normal lifestyle with small
and how little we know about life behind bars. She
cottages, fully stocked kitchens, comfortable
started to do some research, and what she found
furnishings, and prison guards who acted as mentors,
was not encouraging.
treating each inmate as an individual person!”
There are 2.3 million people in federal, state, and local
she exclaims.
jails. The United States has the highest incarceration
What most impressed her was the impact of the
rate in the world—50% higher than Russia and six
environment on inmate rehabilitation. “In Norway
times that of the UK. While the prison population is
they call it ‘restorative justice’. Here in the United
primarily male, there are more than 200,000
States, we call them ‘correctional institutions’, but
female inmates incarcerated in the United States.
they’re anything but,” she says with disbelief. “The
Belack couldn’t imagine what their experiences were
abnormality of life in prison makes it difficult for
like, so she began to read the memoirs of
people to re-enter society upon release. They’ve
incarcerated women and the children they left at
been stripped of all responsibility for such a long
home. She was appalled by what she read. “These
period of time, they don’t know how to live
women were treated like worthless, dangerous
successfully with others or how to make decisions
criminals, even for minor infractions,” she says. As a
for themselves. Even the most basic decisions
designer in training, she couldn’t believe the space
such as shopping for groceries and paying bills has
that people inhabited could be so degrading, so
become a foreign concept.”
inhumane. She decided to make prison design the subject for her master’s thesis. Over the course of her study, Belack compared the U.S. prison system with that of the Scandinavian countries of Finland, Sweden, and Norway. She was surprised to find that these countries had followed the U.S. model (once considered a paragon of modern inmate treatment), but had abandoned it when it proved ineffective. “In 1998, the Norwegian
“The abnormality of life in prison makes it difficult for people to re-enter society upon release.” Jana Belack, BDS ’10, M.Arch ’16
Ministry of Justice recognized the growing population and high recidivism rates,” reports Belack, “so they took a bold step—they decided to try something different.”
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 17
Belack believes that redesigning American prisons
Belack believes designers can be the agents to
could have a profound effect on inmates, improving
lead this change. “Architecture has a direct
their chances for leading healthy, law-abiding lives
effect on our behavior and mental health,” she
once released. “The proof is there,” says Belack,
says. “If we put people in cages, like animals, they
“giving them a more normative lifestyle—elements such as mentally stimulating spaces, noise control,
become stressed and their instinct is to lash out in a negative, often violent, manner. The key
privacy, responsibility—improves outcomes
to rehabilitation is a humane approach to prison
for inmates and for society.”
design paired with a mutual respect between guard and inmate. Create a calm, normative
During her thesis research, Belack found that here
environment for prisoners promoting personal
in the United States innovative prison design is
improvement and eventually we’ll see a system
rare and only recently becoming a topic addressed
that does truly rehabilitate people.”
in architectural education and design firms. Her mission is to change that. Knowing now how important it is for young designers to understand how their spaces can affect the user, she feels a strong sense of personal obligation to publicize her findings and spread this knowledge through lectures and teachings. As the recipient of the BAC’s prestigious 2017 John Worthington Ames travel fellowship, she’s continuing her study, looking for innovative programs in the United States and Canada. You
PUNISHMENT VS.
RESTORATIVE
JUSTICE
can follow her scholarship work at the website she created, designandpunishment.com. “The BAC has been very supportive of my research,” says Belack. “I’m excited they’ve given me the opportunity to introduce the concept in a design workshop!” Along with colleague Rand Lemley, B.Arch ’17, she’ll
UNITED STATES
NORWAY
teach the BAC’s first-ever design workshop focused on prisons this fall. All of this is preparatory for a book she’s writing that will be a visual representation of the prison
ADULT INCARCERATION RATE
666/100,000
74/100,000
design problem versus innovative solutions she’s found to be proven beneficial to inmates’ rehabilitation. “I’m hoping to open people’s minds to the issues plaguing prison facilities and
ANNUAL SPENDING PER INMATE
$32,000
$80,000
get others thinking about how they, as design professionals, can solve this problem.”
(Top left) The canteen which is a multipurpose facility where offenders dine, staff can hold meetings, and large group gatherings are held at Suomenlinna Island Prison off the coast of Helsinki, Finland. (Top right) Outdoor weight lifting and recreation area, Helsinki Maximum Security Prison, Finland. The outside area is used only in the summertime and the clients can spend many hours here. The summers in Helsinki are brief so inmates are given extra liberties during this season. (Bottom) Rodjan prison in Mariestad, Sweden, an open prison for male inmates. Pictured here is the reception and staff building (yellow) and a typical cottage where offenders live. The only security fences here are meant to detain the dairy cows and goats. Photo credit: Jana Belack
AVERAGE LENGTH OF PRISON SENTENCE
8 years
8 months
AVERAGE COST OF A PRISON SENTENCE
$256,000
$54,000
5-YEAR RE-ARREST RATE
77%
20%
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 19
From BAC to HGTV
TANIYA NAYAK IS NOW A HOUSEHOLD NAME. American cities, once something people fled from, are definitely on the rebound. Ambitious, creative people are pouring into places like Austin, Nashville, and San Francisco. Construction cranes wherever you look, warehouses turned into condos overnight, restaurants opening every week—these are the cues that tell visitors that cities are thriving places to live and work. But for longtime residents, every gain can mean a loss—a neighborhood bar sacrificed to new construction, a local sandwich shop squeezed out by rising rents. The question of how to balance these two competing needs—creating something new, while respecting the legacy of the past—is a challenge that interior designer and BAC alumna Taniya Nayak, MID ’03, embraces. Growing up in Boston, with an architect father who taught at the BAC, and now with her own practice in the Greater Boston area, she’s acutely aware ofthe impact of growth on its diverse communities.
Taniya Nayak is a nationally known interior designer. The Boston-based alumna has hosted shows on HGTV and ABC Family. She is shown here in one of her latest restaurant endeavors, Yellow Door Taqueria 20 PRACTICE | SUMMER 2018
Take her and her husband’s new restaurant in Dorchester, Yellow Door Taqueria. For years the site had been a neighborhood institution—the kind of local place where people had once gone to fill their prescriptions, chat with the pharmacist, and linger over an ice cream soda with the kids almost a century ago, followed by an iconic antique shop for the last two decades. Wiping that sweet memory away and starting afresh didn’t seem right to Nayak. Instead, she and her team dug into the site’s history to see if there were elements of the old apothecary and antique shop she could use to give soul to a contemporary restaurant.
“
I dove right into my studio classes and thought ‘now this is where I belong!’
There’s a reason why Nayak is a celebrity among designers—through the artful mix of old and new, her creations manage to be both fresh and familiar. Step into the Yellow Door Taqueria, with its vibrant blue stools, Mexican pottery, neon signs, and old cabinets retrofitted into the bar wall, and you feel immediately welcomed and energized. It’s a place where Dorchester natives, couples from diverse backgrounds, and resident condo dwellers in the restored Baker Chocolate Factory can mingle and all feel equally at home. The Yellow Door Taqueria is just the latest in a string of successes for Nayak. A household name in restaurant design after more than a decade hosting shows on HGTV and the Food Network, Nayak is branching out into other areas. “I guess I’m going at this a little backwards,” she says with a chuckle. “Most designers start with homes and move on to commercial space.” She’s worked recently with a number of well-known sports figures, including Patrice Bergeron, Cam Neely, and Jason Varitek. Nayak is not one to rest on her laurels. “I’m always vision boarding my life,” she confides. “Right now I’m working on a line of wall coverings, and a countertop line called Elements Surfaces. Then there’s a book— I’m playing with ideas—maybe not in the next year or so—but I know I have one in me.” While Nayak grew up immersed in the world of design and always assumed she’d have a creative career, she decided to play it safe and got a bachelor’s degree in marketing. A brief stint in sales convinced her she needed to return to her first love. Knowing the reputation of the BAC from her father’s involvement with the school, she went online and checked out the Interior Design Master’s program, liked what she saw, and enrolled the weekend of her career epiphany. Her first impression of the BAC? “It was a blast!” she exclaims. “I dove right into my studio classes and thought ‘now this is where I belong!’” Nayak’s time at the BAC had a profound effect on her as a designer. “My teachers helped me stop thinking literally; be open to finding an inspirational source, like the old apothecary and the antique shop; and then play with it until ideas came,” she recounts. Nayak gives the BAC credit for her first job on TV, as well. “The Director of Interior Design at that time, Richard Griswold, told me about a TV show looking for young urban designers,” she says. “I used materials from my school projects in the audition. I’m so grateful to him for that suggestion—that stint on ABC Family launched my career!”
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ADVICE FOR ASPIRING DESIGNERS
BE CERTAIN you love design so much you’d be willing to make sacrifices for it.
LISTEN to people who’ve been in the business—you’ll learn a lot from their experiences.
FIND AN INSPIRATION source for every project and let it guide you.
START BY SKETCHING — it will open you up. There’ll be
plenty of time later to work out the details on a computer.
MAKE SURE everything you do, down to the smallest detail, has purpose.
USE SOCIAL MEDIA to promote your personal brand. Instagram is great because it’s so visual.
BE GRATEFUL when you’re struggling. Hard times will make the good ones feel even better!
Gratitude is very important to Nayak. She says “thank you” every morning when she wakes up—for her family, her career, and for being able to do what she loves. SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 21
(From left to right): Stephen Martyak, Brandy H.M. Brooks, Jill M. Rothenberg, Jan Harrington (who accepted the award given to Gerald Couto posthumously), Anahita Kianous, and Ralph Jackson
Leadership Awards Reception On January 17, the BAC honored alumni at our annual Leadership Awards Reception. Held at the BAC in Cascieri Hall, we congratulate this year’s esteemed recipients. Brandy H. M. Brooks, BDS ’06 Distinguished Alumni in Service After the BAC, Brandy went on to Suffolk University where she received a Masters in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management. Brandy is an activist, educator, facilitator, and designer who has spent more than 10 years working on social and environmental justice. Her areas of focus include community organizing and empowerment; community-based design and land use planning; and food justice and food sovereignty. She was the founding executive director of the Community Design Resource Center of Boston, served as the Greater Boston regional director for The Food Project, and currently works as the leadership development organizer for Progressive Maryland. During her career, Brandy has been committed to supporting the right to self-determination for urban communities of color and communities with low income levels. She has served on many local and national nonprofit boards and planning committees. She has also served as an instructor or guest lecturer at the BAC, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She continues to share her expertise at local and national events presenting on community design, community-based food systems, cooperative development, and community organizing. Brandy’s civic and professional leadership has been recognized through many awards and fellowships. Her award timeline began in 2006 as a student where she received the President’s Commendation for Distinguished Service from the BAC. She was later recognized as a Next American Vanguard alumna. She 22 PRACTICE | SUMMER 2018
received a Summer Public Policy Fellowship with the Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston and a Moakley Public Policy and Public Management Fellowship with the Center for Public Management at Suffolk University. Most recently, in 2015 she became an Environmental Leadership Program Senior Fellow and became a New Economy Maryland Fellow. Today, she lives with her family in Silver Spring, MD. Gerald Couto, ’70 Distinguished Achievement Award Gerald “Jerry” Couto attended the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated from the BAC in 1970. He was a registered architect who practiced for 54 years. He ultimately ran his own firm, Dream House Designs in Framingham. He also served in the Marine Corps and later the reserves. Always active in his community, for years Gerald assisted his alma mater, The Boston Architectural College, on the Alumni Board, the Honor & Awards Committee, and spearheaded the By-Laws revision for the Alumni Board. He was often seen on campus and was always present for the Cascieri Lectures. He was a dedicated Framingham community leader, serving as the chair of Framingham’s Historic District Commission and received Framingham’s 2017 Preservation Achievement Award. Recently, the Framingham Historic Commission voted to name their Annual Award, “The Gerald Couto Award for Excellence in Architectural Restoration”. Gerald recently passed away after a battle with cancer. His funeral saw him surrounded by his BAC family and his beloved beret.
Ralph Jackson Selfless Labor Award
Stephen Martyak, BDS ’09 Emerging Designer Award
Ralph Jackson is a strong advocate and enthusiastic member of the BAC community. He has been teaching studios for many years and goes above and beyond in supporting his students with midweek discussions, Friday night check-ins, and attending their presentations in future studios. He is passionate about his work with every one of his students. Several people commented that they were impressed with the incredible discussion and feedback he always contributes during the thesis reviews, really guiding students toward a thoughtful design lens of their project.
Stephen was valedictorian of his graduating class in 2009. After his time at the BAC, he continued his studies at Savannah College of Art and Design where he received his Master of Architecture in 2011.
Ralph received his Master in Architecture degree in 1974 from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and an Associates degree in Architectural Engineering from Wentworth Institute in 1966. He joined Shepley Bulfinch in 1975 and was named Principal in 1990, a position he held until his retirement in 2012. He was elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 1999. Ralph has designed dozens of buildings for colleges, universities, hospitals, courthouses, and libraries. Among his numerous design awards, he has been twice honored by the National Organization of Minority Architects. Most notably, he received the Harleston Parker Award for his work with the Boston Public Library. Anahita Kianous, MLA ’15 Distinguished Alumni in Service
In 2012, Stephen launched the Boston-based studioTYAK [stü∙de∙o∙tak], a multi-disciplinary design studio with a focus on restaurants, entertainment venues, and other social spaces. Within a few short months, his design studio made an imprint on the city with the opening of The Sinclair, a rock club/restaurant hybrid in Harvard Square, and Boston Chops, a steakhouse in the South End. He was named one of Boston’s Hottest Up and Comers by Zagat Boston in their 2013 “30 under 30” list. Other hits include Dram & Draught, an expanding whiskey bar concept in North Carolina; the art-infused amenity spaces at the Watermark Seaport in Boston; and Loretta’s Last Call, Boston’s first country music bar, which was named one of the 21 Best Designed Restaurants in the Country in 2015. Stephen gained his early experience at Flavin Architects, a boutique residential firm in Boston and has collaborated with designers from Paris, New York, and Vancouver. It was later that he discovered his knack for restaurant design and deepened his understanding of the intimate relationship between design and construction while acting as director of design for a Boston-based construction company.
After emigrating to the U.S. from Iran, Anahita enrolled in the BAC. While at the BAC, recent events showing the vulnerability of our coasts motivated Anahita to study the coasts of Revere and East Boston, to look at ways to save lives and improve our coastal resiliency. This work would become her thesis project, and would receive a commendation from the BAC.
Jill M. Rothenberg, ’89 Distinguished Alumni in Practice
Anahita has presented this project to the Committee of Development Department at the city of Revere in August 2015, and also presented her thesis webinar at the U.S. Army Hydraulic Lab in Vicksburg, MI, in July 2016.
Jill attended the BAC from 1986 to 1989 where she studied Interior Design. In addition to her studies at the BAC, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alfred University in New York and is NCIDQ certified.
She currently serves as principal of the Design with Nature & Coast Limited Partnership and is a Milestone member of the American Society of Landscape Architecture.
Jill has been an advocate in hiring BAC students while still completing their degrees, which has helped ADD Inc, now Stantec, lead the path for BAC students to gain practical experience in the work place and graduate in a more advanced professional role.
At the BAC, Anahita was the recipient of the 2015 Landscape Architecture Prize, and her team received the People’s Choice Award for the Boston Living with Water Competition. Prior to this, she met success with many awards and prizes from 1996 to 2007 for her achievements in research, design, and science. Since receiving her first master’s degree in Architectural Design in 1997, Anahita became a member of Code and Standard Organization Construction Engineers. As a licensed architect, in 2008 she established her own design firm known as Boom Aria Memar Co. She says, “we always consider nature within the neighborhoods we design.” Since 2013, she has served as a volunteer member interpreter for the Boston Housing Authority and recently became an instructor at the BAC.
He also serves as an associate member of the BSA, a founding member of Design Museum Boston, and the strategic initiative chair for the Steering Committee of the Young Leaders Council at Fenway Health.
Jill was a principal and the managing leader for the Boston Stantec architecture office. Prior to Stantec, she was a partner at ADD Inc’s Design Practice Group where she developed improved methods and procedures for design, delivery, and management. With responsibilities in Human Resources, Operations, and Practice Technology, her unique perspective guided and supported design teams to holistically impact ADD Inc’s practice. In a previous role as chief technology officer, Jill helped establish the firm at the forefront of using advanced technology in a design firm. Jill served as an Overseer for the BAC from 2006-2017 and was named an Overseer Emerita in June 2017 by the Board of Trustees. Jill frequently speaks at industry events on topics that include BIM, Knowledge Management, and Change Management. Recently, Jill started a new chapter in her career, opening On Center Gallery, an art gallery in Provincetown, following her original and longtime passion of art and design. SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 23
HERITAGE CONSERVATION BRIDGES CULTURES Open any daily newspaper or turn on the news, and there’s a good chance you’ll hear something bad happening in the Middle East: crackdowns in Egypt and Turkey, civil wars in Syria and Yemen, terrorist strikes in Afghanistan and Iraq. This unrelenting, negative coverage has painted a very dark picture of the Islamic world, one that is eroding the once good relations between the United States and its allies in the region. To reverse this trend, the U.S. Department of State, through its embassies in Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan, set up a University Partnership program between American and Pakistani institutions of higher education—partnerships designed to foster cultural understanding and closer relations between peoples. Today there are more than 20 of these partnership programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan on themes ranging from business development to graphic design. In 2013 the BAC was a recipient of such a grant, partnering with the National College of Arts (NCA) in Pakistan, with campuses in both Rawalpindi and Lahore. The goal of the partnership was to promote professional development and expand cultural awareness on the theme of architecture and cultural heritage. The BAC’s partnership is the only one that focuses on historic preservation and architectural design.
Over the next three years, the BAC set up faculty and student exchanges, where Pakistani students studied at the BAC, and where BAC faculty visited heritage sites in Pakistan. Saram Maqbool, an NCA student who participated in one of the three month exchanges at the BAC, was impressed by the hands-on approach to learning he experienced here: “The BAC is much like NCA in some respects, and very different in others,” he said. “I loved the fact that our courses were not only theory-based, but also had a number of field trips and practical applications for us to work on.” While in the United States and Pakistan, students and faculty from NCA had opportunities to experience some of the latest preservation technology, like photogrammetry and 3D modeling, and were eager to share these with colleagues. Based on the success of the first grant, the BAC received a second two-year grant in the fall of 2017 to continue their University Partnership. This new grant will fund faculty collaboration between the two schools to develop heritage conservation electives at the NCA and provide further training in materials conservation and digital documentation techniques. These new courses will be integrated into the NCA’s architectural and cultural studies curricula.
“We’re all touched by history, and we’re all connected through our heritage, no matter where we live.” - Eleni Glekas, the BAC’s director of Historic Preservation
24 PRACTICE | SUMMER 2018
Takht-i-Bahi, a first century CE Buddhist monastic complex in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in western Pakistan. Photo credit: Eleni Glekas
“While there’s a rich cultural heritage in the area, spanning the early Indus Valley civilizations 5,000 years ago to the current independent Pakistan,” says Eleni Glekas, the BAC’s director of Historic Preservation, “there’s limited experience in heritage conservation in Pakistan, but a growing interest.” Glekas and her partners at the NCA believe the courses will spark interest in heritage conservation, and help to raise awareness for the preservation of heritage sites of all kind throughout the country. As part of the partnership, NCA faculty will be able to take online courses offered through the BAC’s Master of Design Studies in Historic Preservation program and participate in various workshops on digital documentation and materials conservation. Later this year, NCA faculty members will attend the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual conference in San Francisco. Prior to the conference they will spend time at the BAC, where they will participate in a materials conservation workshop run by Rebekah Krieger, a conservator with the U.S. National Park Service and a BAC instructor. This will give the NCA faculty an opportunity to experience the kind of practice-based teaching that the BAC is known for, and consider how these workshops would fit into their own curriculum. “We’re looking at this exchange as a learning opportunity for both schools,” says Glekas. “The field of historic preservation is changing from a focus on individual buildings to community development, intangible heritage, and the urban landscape.” Glekas believes that in this time of increasing polarization, a celebration of diverse heritage is a way to bring people together. “We’re all touched by history,” she says, “and we’re all connected through our heritage, no matter where we live.”
HISTORY IS IN HER DNA Eleni Glekas joined the BAC as Director of Historic Preservation in 2015. Her interest in history started in childhood, when her parents took her back to their homeland each summer to visit family in Greece. “My parents are very proud of our Greek heritage, and made sure we visited historic sites on each visit,” says Glekas. “That’s where my love of history and culture comes from.” Growing up, Glekas became fascinated with cities—how they grew and evolved over time, the mix of people, streets, and buildings she saw in them. This led her to pursue a Masters in City and Regional Planning, and then a Masters in Conservation of Monuments and Sites. Living and working in Boston, with its diverse mix of new and old, plus the opportunities to visit and work in places as diverse as Jordan, India, Pakistan, and Lithuania, has made her position at the College a dream job for her, combining as it does her love of travel, history, cities, and architecture. “Our upcoming trip to New Mexico this summer captures many different aspects of historic preservation,” she says. “To see how three cultures—Anglo, Hispanic, and Native American—collided and combined over time in the backdrop of adobe structures and human settlements of various eras—it is fascinating to me! I think it will be fascinating for our students as well.” Glekas believes historic preservation is an important subject to study. “Heritage can be a way to bring people together if people understand the value of it,” she says. “We need to educate future professionals who will use it for the betterment of humanity.”
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 25
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Winter Scholarships &Awards Reception On January 26, the BAC recognized and celebrated the outstanding academic achievements and professional accomplishments of our students with the annual Winter Scholarships and Awards Reception. Congratulations to all the participants and thank you to the generous donors who make these awards possible.
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5 1 Students receiving recognition for the IIDA NE Fashion Show – Best Red Carpet Look. From left to right, BAC President Glen LeRoy, Genevieve Messina, Sophie Ortel, Kseniia Lukina, Selma Ba-sulou, and BAC Provost Diana Ramirez-Jasso. 2 IPAL Fellowship recipient Hamze Machmouchi, and Diana Ramirez-Jasso. 3 Jenny Elkus and Paula Peña, inaugural recipient of the Howard F. Elkus ’17 (Hon.) Scholarship. 4 William E. Nast Scholarship second place recipient Ryan Spragg. 5 From left to right, Student Scholarship Award recipient Maria Velasquez, and guests Juan Velasquez and Teresa Arrieta.
26 PRACTICE | SUMMER 2018
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10 6 Dean’s Award recipients Imran Mohammed Khan and Ana Carolina dos Santos Vieira, and guestThom Kubli. 7 BAC student Jose Saavedra, Adeline Graves Fournier Sketch Prize second place recipient Miljorie Averion, and BAC student Tuan Truang. 8 President Glen LeRoy, Provost Diana Ramirez-Jasso, and Ross Levine (far right), with Chleck Family Foundation Scholarship recipients (from left) Kishan Patel, Ashlee Ortstadt, Efe Ince, and Arick Dyrdal. 9 Diana Ramirez-Jasso, Glen LeRoy, and David Manfredi with Paula Peña, inaugural recipient of the Howard F. Elkus ’17 (Hon.) Scholarship. 10 Abellys Manon, recipient of the Holly Cratsley, B.Arch ’84 Scholarship, with Holly Cratsley.
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 27
E X H I B I T AT T H E B O S T O N A R C H I T E C T U R A L C O L L E G E As part of their 2018 #ThisIsBoston campaign in celebration of Boston’s running heritage New Balance partnered with the BAC to connect the running communities of the city through an exhibition in the McCormick Gallery entitled “This is My Boston,” from April 13–15. Within the gallery, New Balance expressed the story of the city’s runners through bespoke creative content, featuring portraits and images of runners taken in advance of the weekend and honored the various neighborhoods throughout the city with a series of interactive experiences. The gallery was built out to celebrate the emotion of runners as they work towards their goal race or look to engage in the citywide energy that the race generated. Coinciding with the creation of this exhibit, New Balance also set up a pop-up photo studio throughout Boston and encouraged runners to digitally share their running experience. This exhibition was sponsored by:
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Judy Nitsch, Board of Trustees, Vice Chair, The Boston Architectural College
A Legacyfor the Future My husband, James “Tony” Magliozzi ’62, and I did not have children, but we both had incredibly successful careers. When it came to our estate planning, we talked about what we wanted to do with our money. After leaving some to our family, we knew we wanted to support our alma maters with the remainder of our estates. Tony was not sure about this at first, but came to realize that he would not have had the career he did without The Boston Architectural College. The BAC is poised for great things, but like every institution it faces great changes. In choosing to make a bequest gift to the BAC, Tony and I knew that we would create a long lasting impact on the future of the BAC.
I encourage you to learn more about the 1889 Legacy Society, which recognizes and honors all individuals who provide support for the BAC in their wills, trusts, life income gifts, retirement plans, or other estate planning vehicles. For more information about estate planning at the BAC and the 1889 Legacy Society, please contact Evan Gallivan, vice president of Institutional Advancement, at: 617.585.0285 or evan.gallivan@the-bac.edu.
SUMMER 2018 | PRACTICE 29
320 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02115
Congratulations, Class of 2018!