BAC Student selected as Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow, 2014-2016
Michael Chavez, Master of Architecture Candidate

The Boston Architectural College is pleased to announce that Master of Architecture Candidate Michael Chavez was selected as an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow, 2014-2016.

The Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship, awarded to a select few of the finest, early career architects in the nation, provides opportunities for first-hand training and experience in sustainable community design work. The Fellowship partners these emerging talents with local community development organizations for three years. Under the program's innovative structure, fellows work in the community, forging local ties and expanding the capacity of their host organizations to create sustainable, affordable housing for people of low-income in underserved communities.

"Being an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow will not only significantly expand my capabilities as a designer and community leader but also solidify all the efforts I've been making since I was a young man looking for solutions to improve and empower the environment and people around me," said Michael.

As a Rose Fellow, Michael will work with the Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC Collaborative to spearhead a sustainable, smart growth agenda along the 9-mile Fairmount commuter rail line in Boston, MA. The line runs through some of the City's most impoverished and predominantly minority neighborhoods in Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park. The Collaborative seeks to enhance these communities through developing affordable housing as well as bringing economic opportunities, streetscape improvements, and other amenities to the residents. Michael will increase the organization's capacity to engage its constituent neighborhoods in the design process for the transit-oriented development and will help demonstrate the positive impacts of holistic design on low-income neighborhoods to funders and policy-makers.

Michael will focus not only on housing but also on expanding green space, access to local and healthy agriculture, public art, and commercial space for local businesses, and space for youth organizations and workforce training. He hopes to expand his understanding and skills in how to mitigate gentrification, improve transit equity, design and build in an eco-friendly manner, and help grow a long-term local economy through smart transit-oriented design in the neighborhoods where he will be working.

Originally from Albuquerque, NM, Michael will graduate with a Master of Architecture in January 2014 from the Boston Architectural College. He has worked as the Director of Project Development & Management at YouthBuild Boston for five years and has experience in local firms Boehm Architecture and studio TROIKA. As a LEED AP and with ample experience in the non-profit field, Michael is poised to bring his varied skillsets to helping some of Boston's most underserved communities.

The Master of Architecture (M. Arch) at the Boston Architectural College is a professional degree program that concurrently engages students in design practice and classroom learning. Students draw upon their academic studies and their practical experiences as they develop their understanding and abilities in writing, drawing, speaking and making, and examine the social and cultural contexts of their work. As they advance, students develop personal design philosophies and methods of working while mastering structures and environmental systems. The M. Arch is a first professional degree accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).

See one of Michael's latest written pieces "Field Notes: Things to Consider When Insulating Masonry Buildings."