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'Beauty matters': MASS Design Group featured on 60 Minutes

2022-09-07T13:13:00-04:00

Lesley Stahl: Do you think that COVID will change architecture for everybody? Michael Murphy: Everyone around the world is going through a shift in their understanding of the buildings around us. That they may make us sicker, that they could make us healthier if they were better designed.

MASS founding principal and executive director Michael Murphy discussed the curative father-son restoration project that led to his enrollment at Harvard and subsequent experience with the firm’s award-winning early Butaro District Hospital project in Rwanda, which helped cement the place of air flow as one of its three simple design mandates long before the impacts of COVID-19 were noted across the industry.

Murphy's desire to give back to his hometown of Poughkeepsie through various retrofit projects is also highlighted along with a site visit to the in-progress Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture campus, which comes well-appointed with furnishings created by Managing Director Christian Benimana's MASS.Made studio in Kigali. “Beauty matters,” Murphy told 60 Minutes host Lesley Stahl finally about the approach that led to last year's AIA Firm Award win. “Spaces...

There's more to architecture than having vision. How one man's loss is transforming perspectives

2019-01-14T16:58:00-05:00

For many architects, much of one's work depends upon the visual possibilities where space can transform. Often overlooked, many designers forget what it is like to design buildings and structures for the blind or hearing impaired. Universal accessibility and inclusive design methods are being discussed more and more within the architecture community. Educators, advocates and architects like Chris Downey use their experience and skillsets to transform the perspectives of architecture for the visually impaired.

Chris Downey speaking to architecture students at the University of Arkansas Image © uark.edu

he main lobby at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Polytrauma and Blind Rehabilitation Center in Palo Alto, Calif., one of Downey’s first major projects after he lost his sight. Photograph courtesy of John Boerger Image © ncsu.edu

In a recent 60 Minutes interview with Leslie Stahl, Downey shares with the public how the loss of his sight helped him become more aware of what it mea...

Check out these quotes from Peter Marino's '60 Minutes' episode

2017-04-04T17:05:00-04:00

Over the years, we’ve done stories on all sorts of people, but to our knowledge we have never done one on a late middle-aged man who dresses in biker gear with visible tattoos and sterling-silver skull rings. And certainly not one who also happens to be fluent in French and advanced mathematics. No, Peter Marino is one-of-a-kind.

60 Minutes did a special on the leather-clad architect Peter Marino, which they then transcribed and put online. The interview was conducted by Steve Kroft.

Some choice quotes from the episode:

On his infamous look:

"It’s a decoy."

"Thinking out-of-the-box goes along with dressing out-of-the-box and living out-of-the-box. If you want to come up with a really original design idea and you want to capture a whole new design direction, perhaps the best way to arrive at that is not by acting and thinking and doing like everybody else. That’s all."

On his work:

"Design-wise, I look at everything. If I don’t personally design it, I’ll review it. I’m kind of creative director of the firm."

On working with his (primarily exceedingly wealthy) clients:

"I like my clients. All of my clients say, 'Peter. You’re talented. But, your best virtue is your discretion.' They really don’t want to be talked about."

"If they need to be treated a different way, no one’s told me. I remember when I was meeting certai...

60 Minutes profiles Bjarke Ingels, the "Starchitect"

2016-03-14T18:16:00-04:00

The culture at BIG is intense but in off-hours, blowing off steam dressed as your favorite comic book hero isn't uncommon. That's the boss armed with a gun full of tequila. Bjarke Ingels: The way we work is maybe unlike certain architects that have a very particular style where it is the auteur. It has to be the design principal who makes the strokes of genius. I don't have to come up with the best idea. It is my job to make sure that it is always the best idea that wins.

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