Architecture Fringe at Harvard
Last month, Neil, Myself and M joined Andy in Boston for a week, to take part in facilitated talks and events, as part of our current provocation ‘Reciprocity’ and the Loeb Fellowship programme, which Andy is currently undertaking at Harvard Graduate School of Design. It was also an opportunity to catch up with our stateside colleagues and meet some of the local cultural organisations while here.
We arrived Sunday night into Boston Logan International, well prepared for the -14°C temperatures and 20 inches of snow. We dropped our bags off at our airbnb and powered through the jetlag to meet the rest of the Loeb Fellows and watch the Super Bowl at Doebele House. A really lovely evening sharing wonderful food,our not-so-up to speed rules of the game and the love for Bad Bunny’s spectacular half time show.
Monday was an opportunity to top up on coffee, get our bearings and see some of the architectural delights of both Harvard and Boston, including the Graduate school of Design itself, the Carpenter Centre (Le Corbusier’s only Northern American building) and the Isabella Stewart Gardener’s museum. We explored the Back Bay, seeing the Boston Public library with the Philip Johnson extension and happened across the wonderful ‘Revolution! 250 Years of Art & Activism in Boston’ Exhibition. We also walked around the South End neighbourhoods, an early example of Victorian row style neighbourhoods and community parks. We then made our way back up to Beacon Hill, then ending up in the North End for the evening.
On Tuesday, we met with Bree Edwards, Director of ArtLab, where we had a tour of the building and introduction into how the ArtLab operates and their relationship with Harvard and the Loeb Fellowship. We also met with Loeb / ArtLab Fellow Jacek Smolicki, an interdisciplinary Artist who founded the Walking Festival of Sound and is currently carrying out part of his residency at Artlab. It was great to hear about his career path so far and share our stories of founding each festival. In the afternoon, we met with Leo and Marguerite from the Boston Public Art Triennial, who were generous with their time and shared their experiences of co-ordinating a city wide public art triennial. We ended the day with dinner back in Cambridge and an evening of theatre with the Salooney Tunes at The Hasty Pudding.
Wednesday was mainly preparation for our first event of the week with Mae-Ling Lokko and Mireia Luzárraga. Joining us from Yale and Columbia GSAPP, they were invited to discuss their work and the reciprocal connections that occur within their practice. It was a fantastic evening, being able to gain insight into the fascinating work they are doing and being able to share this with Harvard GSD’s staff, students and members of the public. There is a recording of the presentations and conversations for those that would like to watch it here.
Thursday was another event day for us, with guests Sarah Whiting, Karen Nelson, Bree Edwards, Joseph Zeal-Henry and Jha D Amazi invited to speak about a collective reimagining of how a school of architecture might radically rethink its reciprocal relationship with its hinterland in context to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. Again some wonderful contributions from the speakers as well as those attending, allowing an open conversation about governance, leverage and the general future of architectural education. There is an audio recording, of which we will look to transcribe and share soon.
Our last full day saw us visit M in New Haven, where we continued our architectural tour of some prominent buildings, including SOM’s Beinecke Library, Louis Khan’s Yale Centre for British Art and the Architecture School itself, by Paul Rudolph. We also had the opportunity to see the Vlock Building project which M was a part of last year. A series of rent-free residences for early childhood educators, each one has been delivered to a high standard by students from Yale Architecture School. We ended the day seeing Yale v Dartmouth ice hockey teams in Eero Saarinen’s Ingalls Rink.
Our time spent in the US was energising, productive, and awe-inspiring. We come away wanting to continue the connections we’ve made and conversations we had. Thank you to Andy for arranging a wonderful week-long itinerary of events, to the Harvard Graduate School of Design for hosting our events, to the Loeb Fellows for making us feel so welcome from the offset, our invited speakers and to those who attended and participated in our programmed events.
- Dom Hogston
