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BSA Space Author Series

Brian Vanden Brink
ICONIC: Perspectives on the Man-Made World
Wednesday, May 29, 6:00 pm
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
 

BSA Space Author Series features talented writers discussing their recent publications in the areas of architecture, design and the built environment. Hear authors read from their works, and engage in a dialogue with the author and other audience members. Copies of the publications will be available for sale and signing.

Architectural photographer Brian Vanden Brink's newest collection of photographs, ICONIC: Perspectives on the Man-Made World, represents more than 30 years of work, and each image presented is interpreted as as iconic either for its unique contribution to the field of architecture or for its cultural significance. The photographs are paired with short captions explaining both the architectural importance and the image’s personal meaning to Vanden Brink. Heis passionately interested in American history and Americana and, while several photographs were made in France, England, and Canada, the main thrust of the book is America. Critic Meghan Drueding raves, “this carefully assembled collection doesn’t disappoint.”

Brian Vanden Brink has been photographing award-winning architecture for three decades. His name is synonymous with a respect for design and a passion for light, and his work has been featured widely in a variety of design and consumer publications. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Vanden Brink began his career in photography there more than thirty years ago. Upon moving to Maine in 1978, he began to specialize in architectural photography. Using a large format view camera, and working extensively with natural light, he has photographed dozens of award-winning projects nationwide.

Registration required ($10 for nonmembers, free for members).

Photo of author by Isaac Remsen.

Mayoral Candidates Forum at BSA Space

Wednesday June 5, 8:30 am
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
An exploration of community, development, jobs, sustainability, and livability in our city
Moderated by Renée Loth, ArchitectureBoston editor and Boston Globe columnist

After 20 years, Mayor Thomas Menino will step down at the end of his current term. This leadership transition provides challenges and opportunities for our profession and our communities. Mayoral candidates will explore a variety of topics related to community, development, jobs, sustainability, and livability in our city. Renée Loth, ArchitectureBoston editor and Globe columnist, will moderate the discussion.

The forum will begin at 8:30 am and will last one hour and a half. The news media have been invited to cover the event.The event is free, but space is limited. To attend, RSVP by May 31.

Candidates have been asked to come prepared to answer one opening question:

"Through the planning and design of buildings, architects shape the public and private places in which we work and live. Architects share our communities' deep concerns that the places we live, work and play are safe, healthy, and sustainable. We would like to ask each of you: What are your priorities with respect to issues in this campaign involving the building development, sustaining the environment, transportation, housing, and growth? And what actions will you take in these areas that will enhance the quality of life for the people of our city?"

Current confirmed participants include:

Felix Arroyo

City Councilor At-Large, elected in 2009
Councilor Felix G. Arroyo is a lifelong Bostonian, born in the South End and raised in Hyde Park. He is a graduate of the Boston Public Schools. Arroyo did his undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts/Boston, and completed his master’s degree in Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University. Prior to being elected to the council, he served as a field director at Northeast Action and political director for the Service Employees International Union Local 615. Arroyo shares a home with his wife in Jamaica Plain.

John Connolly

City Councilor At-Large, elected in 2007 Councilor
Councilor John R. Connolly is a former teacher, attorney, and a Boston Public School parent. He received his BA from Harvard University and later earned his JD from Boston College Law School. Connolly currently serves on the board of directors for Meridian Academy and the Board of Visitors for College Bound Dorchester, and is a member of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program—Department of Mental Health Team-Integrated Care Project Community Advisory Group. Connolly was born and raised in Roslindale and lives in West Roxbury with his wife and their children. .

Robert Consalvo

City Councilor, District 5, elected in 2002
Councilor Robert Consalvo is a graduate of Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Xavier University in Cincinnati. Consalvo formerly served on the professional staff of the late senator Edward M. Kennedy in both Washington, DC, and Boston. He currently serves as a corporator of the Hyde Park Savings Bank and is a member of the board of directors of the Hyde Park Board of Trade and the MA 54th Regiment, a group honoring the participation of African-Americans in the Civil War. Consalvo resides in his hometown of Hyde Park with his wife and children.

Mike Ross

City Councilor, District 8, elected 1999
Councilor Ross holds a Bachelor's Degree from Clark University in Worcester, an MBA from Boston University, and a Law Degree from Suffolk University. Prior to his election, he was part of a team that developed the City of Boston's first website, which allowed residents to pay tickets online. The site received the "Best of the Web" award for municipalities by Government Technology Magazine. He has served two terms as President of the Boston City Council and currently assists as chair of the Public Safety Committee. Ross is a resident of Mission Hill.

Charlotte Golar Richie

Senior vice president at YouthBuild USA
Charlotte Golar Richie has a bachelor of arts degree from Rutgers University, a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, and an MBA from Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Management. She currently serves as the senior vice president for public policy, advocacy, and government relations for YouthBuild USA. For five years, she represented the 5th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where she chaired the Joint Committee on Housing and Urban Development. She then served as cabinet chief of housing and director of the department of neighborhood development for the City of Boston. She later became senior advisor for federal, state, and community affairs in Governor Deval Patrick’s administration. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Richie has lived for 26 years with her husband in Dorchester. They have two grown daughters.

Bill Walczak

Community leader and Vice President of Shawmut Design and Construction
Originally from New Jersey, community leader Bill Walczak has been living in Boston for 40 years. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts/Boston and is a current board member of the University of Massachusetts Boston Alumni and Friends and the CEO of Codman Square Health Center, a multiservice center he founded in the 1970s. Walczak is also a Senior Fellow at Boston University Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership. He is a resident of Savin Hill, where he lives with his wife.

BSA Space Author Series

Dr. Ellen Weiss
Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee: An African American Architect Designs for Booker T. Washington
Wednesday, June 26, 6:00 pm
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
 

BSA Space Author Series features talented writers discussing their recent publications in the areas of architecture, design and the built environment. Hear authors read from their works, and engage in a dialogue with the author and other audience members. Copies of the publications will be available for sale and signing.

Join Dr. Ellen Weiss, professor emerita from the Tulane University School of Architecture, for a discussion and book signing for her newest monograph of Robert Taylor, Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee: An African American Architect Designs for Booker T. Washington. This insightful work documents Robert Taylor’s great challenges as a student at MIT in the late nineteenth-century and, more importantly, his role as the first professionally trained African American architect. Taylor achieved greatness as a pioneer in his field, especially in the Jim Crow era, as an instrumental instructor and mentor at the Tuskegee Institute, and as a talented designer and campus planner helping Booker T. Washington achieve his educational vision of racial pride and progress. The book also considers such issues as architectural education for African Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, the white donors who funded Tuskegee’s buildings, other Tuskegee architects, and Taylor’s buildings elsewhere.

Weiss has taught architectural and planning history at several universities, and served on the boards of the Society of Architectural Historians, the Vernacular Architecture Forum, and the Southeast Society of Architectural Historians..

Registration required ($10 for nonmembers, free for members).

Innovations in Lighting Design 

Lighting Control in Schools K–12
Thursday, August 22, 8:00 am
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston

Go further than shading and dimmers! Quality lighting is an important aspect of our daily lives and is often taken for granted. Controlling light properly not only enhances the effect of a space but also helps save energy by using light when and where it’s needed most. In this four-part series, Lutron will explore how light-management systems and equipment allow architects and designers to affect the look and feel, as well as the functionality and efficiency, of any space.

This event is free and open to the public; light refreshments will be provided. RSVP to rsvp@architects.org with “Lighting Design 8/22” in the subject line.

Innovations in Lighting Design

Introduction to Residential Light Control
Thursday, October 10, 8:00 am
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston

Go further than shading and dimmers! Quality lighting is an important aspect of our daily lives and is often taken for granted. Controlling light properly not only enhances the effect of a space but also helps save energy by using light when and where it’s needed most. In this four-part series, Lutron will explore how light-management systems and equipment allow architects and designers to affect the look and feel, as well as the functionality and efficiency, of any space.

This event is free and open to the public; light refreshments will be provided. RSVP to rsvp@architects.org with “Lighting Design 10/10” in the subject line.

Author Series

*postponed*

Alexandra Lange, Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston

BSA Space Author Series features talented writers discussing their recent publications in the areas of architecture, design and the built environment. Hear authors read from their works, and engage in a dialogue with the author and other audience members. Copies of the publications will be available for sale and signing.

Writing About Architecture, released earlier this year, is part anthology, part handbook, and employs essays by some of the best architecture critics of the 20th century to assess how to write effectively and critically about the contemporary city. At a time when the architectural critic may be considered an endangered species, Alexandra Lange’s work has been called essential reading for both students and practitioners alike.

Alexandra Lange is a journalist, critic and architectural historian based in Brooklyn. She is a contributing editor at New York magazine, and a contributing writer and blogger at Design Observer. Lange also teaches architectural criticism in the Urban Design & Architectural Studies Program at New York University.

Registration required ($10 for general public, free for members).

View past programs at architects.org/programs-and-events/past-programs.