For our tenth anniversary in June of 2016, Common Boston is teaming up with the BSA Foundation to produce a re-imagined and reinvigorated festival. Based in part on “open house” weekends in cities like New York and Chicago, the 2016 Common Boston festival will offer you unique access to dozens of architecturally and culturally significant spaces and places—many not open to the public, and all for free!

Discover and explore sacred historic sites, sky-high offices, underground entertainment venues, repurposed mansions, hidden infrastructure, unique learning spaces, private parks, and more. In just a single weekend, you can experience all new sites, as well as some of your favorites from the last 10 years of Common Boston.

For a free mobile guide to all the #CB16 sites and schedules, download the Yonward app from the App Store (iOS) and activate the Common Boston guide!

Instagram Photo Contest
The Instagram Photo Contest will launch at the dParty kickoff event on Friday, June 3 and continue through Sunday, June 5 at 11:59 pm. Winners will receive the festival's official t-shirt and two Architecture Cruise tickets for a tour on the Charles River! To enter, take Instagram photos of the dParty celebration or the sites you visit, and tag them using @commonboston, @bsaaia, and #CB16. Prizes will be awarded for Most Liked and Guest Judge Favorite. A selection of entries will also be promoted on Facebook and Flickr.

Volunteer for the Common Boston festival
Common Boston volunteers not only represent a diverse range of design backgrounds—architecture, planning, landscape, interiors, graphics—but also a full spectrum of other industries, such as public policy, community affairs, marketing, education, and business. Volunteers contribute to CB16 in multiple ways, from planning our signature kickoff event, to connecting with your neighbors, to greeting festival attendees during the open house weekend. Learn more about becoming a volunteer here.

Common Boston’s latest Festival Sites include:

Ayer Mansion
Boston Architectural College
Boston Public Library, Central Branch
Boston Public Library, Honan-Allston Branch
Boston Public Library, East Boston Branch
Boston Public Library, Parker Hill Branch
Boston Public Library, Hyde Park Branch
Boston Public Library, Mattapan Branch
BSA Space
Cambridge City Hall
Christ Church Cambridge, the Episcopal Church in Harvard Square
Church of the Covenant
District Hall
Dorchester Heights Monument
Eliot Hall and the Footlight Club
Eliot School of Fine Arts
Emerald Necklace Conservancy and Shattuck Visitor Center
Ether Dome and the Bulfinch Building, Massachusetts General Hospital
Fenway Studios
Fenway Victory Gardens
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
GrandTen Distilling
Hibernian Hall
The Innovation and Design Building
The KITCHEN at Boston Public Market
Loring-Greenough House
Lunder Art Center, Lesley University
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Design and Media Center
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Treehouse Residence Hall
Midway Artist Studios
MIT List Visual Arts Center
Nichols House Museum
Old North Church
Otis House, Historic New England
Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation
Restoration Resources
Strand Theatre
South Street Farm by Groundwork Somerville
Trinity Church
Urbano Project
The Vilna Shul, Boston's Center for Jewish Culture, Inc.
Metropolitan Waterworks Museum
William Clapp House, Dorchester Historical Society
Capt. Lemuel Clapp House, Dorchester Historical Society
James Blake House, Dorchester Historical Society
Y2Y Harvard Square (Site not available)
YMCA of Greater Boston

With thanks to our community partners and neighborhood supporters:
Fenway Cultural District
City of Boston
Boston Redevelopment Authority
National Park Service
Arts Boston
Boston By Foot
Yonward

For information on becoming a Sponsor for the 2016 Common Boston Festival, please click here. For all other inquiries, please email [email protected].

This is a program of the BSA Foundation.

Common Boston is supported by: