Archinect - Features

Bridging Research and Real Estate: MIT's Center for Real Estate Offers a Master's Program That Balances Theory and Practice

2021-10-11T13:05:00-04:00

Pursuing a Master's program is no simple feat. Besides finding the right program and weighing its financial costs, choosing a graduate program also requires time. With plenty of traditional Master of Architecture programs, MIT and its Center for Real Estate offer a unique one-year Master of Science program in Real Estate Development (MSRED).

This intensive graduate program provides a comprehensive approach to traditional real estate and MBA programs. The Center prides itself in preparing its students to "compete in the global market with superior qualifications — providing the research-based expertise necessary to solve complex problems in contemporary real estate." Its 33-year history not only investigates real estate as a practice but also brings a multidisciplinary approach to the field from "design and development to construction, management, finance, and law."

To provide more insight into the program, we connected with MIT's Center for Real Estate to learn more.

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Diversifying the Disciplines: Hacin + Associates on Integrating Multiple Expertises Under One Roof

2021-06-04T10:48:00-04:00

Established in 1993 by architect David Hacin as a traditional architecture firm, Boston-based Hacin + Associates has since grown into an interdisciplinary design practice with more than 30 team members.

We reached out to Hacin for this week's Studio Snapshot to learn more about the incentives for integrating interior design and branding departments, his take on an office size 'sweet spot,' and the importance of fostering Boston's local identity.

WFH Show & Tell: French 2D

2020-04-16T08:43:00-04:00

As the world shifts to a work-from-home (WFH) survival strategy, architects and architectural academics have been forced to learn a variety of new tools and methods to keep moving forward in the face of the growing COVID-19 pandemic. While many in our community are already fluent in this approach to work, due to opportunities brought to us with the internet, in a field that often requires travel and on-site work, many are struggling with not just the technology, but also the lack of personal connection with our friends and colleagues.

In this new series of features, Archinect is sharing some stories from members of our community about their own transitions, with personal experiences and images of what their new work environment looks like.

In this second installment, we're profiling French 2D, a Boston-based practice founded by sisters Jenny and Anda French.

Creating "an Architecture Out of Constraints, Ordering Systems, and Rules" with WOJR

2020-04-10T13:29:00-04:00

WOJR: Organization for Architecture is a six-person "organization of designers" based in Cambridge, Massachusetts led by William O'Brien, Jr. that works holistically across projects, research, and workflows to conceptualize the practice of architecture as "a form of cultural production." O'Brien, a tenured Associate Professor at the MIT Department of Architecture and one of the founding members of Collective–LOK, and his team work to imbue a growing set of conceptual and built projects with an immaculate sense of detail that fuses subtle formal gestures with elemental materiality to produce sumptuous spaces that toy with our expectations of what architecture should be.

For the latest Studio Snapshot, Archinect connected with O'Brien to discuss the intellectual and cultural concepts that drive the practice and its work.

Earning an M.Arch Online: Learning from Karen Nelson, Dean of Boston Architectural College

2020-03-26T12:20:00-04:00

Archinect's Deans List is an interview series with the leaders of architecture schools, worldwide. The series profiles the school’s programs, pedagogical approaches, and academic goals, as defined by the dean–giving an invaluable perspective into the institution’s unique curriculum, faculty, and academic environment.

For our latest installment, and in conjunction with Archinect’s Spotlight on Boston, Archinect spoke with Karen Nelson, Dean of Boston Architectural College (BAC), one of just a handful of American universities that is accredited to offer an online Master of Architecture degree by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).

In our conversation, Nelson highlights the history and specifics of BAC’s online masters program, the make up of the program’s student body, and how this unique academic offering has found increased relevance in recent weeks as distance learning and self-quarantining measures make online education a larger part of the experience of becomin...

Architects. Educators. Sisters. The Boston-Based Duo French 2D Discusses How Blending Practice and Academia Through Exploration Creates Community and Change

2019-01-23T11:18:00-05:00

Through the power of self-funded, self-initiated projects, Anda and Jenny French use their passions in graphic design, academia, and architectural discourse to produce thought-provoking work. As a smaller design firm, the Boston-based duo, French 2D, champion the importance of autonomy and prototyping. As educators, both approach practice and academia by creating opportunities for people to be candid and critical, valuing conversations based on questions of "What is it?" and "Why is it?"

For this week's Studio Snapshot, the sisters talk with Archinect about the importance of preserving a sense of autonomy in their practice, stressing that their approach leans more towards that of an art collective than a traditional architectural firm. Further, Anda and Jenny go on to discuss how the future of architecture is changing as it relates to their involvement in academia and as women in the field.

Trying Something New with Matter Design

2017-04-10T09:00:00-04:00

This week on, Small Studio Snapshots, we talk with Brandon Clifford and Wes McGee of Matter Design - an interdisciplinary studio founded in 2008. Recent finalists of the 2017 AZ Awards, the duo discuss their love of taking on experimental projects, merging the design and making process, and even give us a little background on the history of the architecture studio.

Screen/Print #36: Harvard Design Magazine's "Well, Well, Well"

2015-08-14T10:32:00-04:00

“Well, Well, Well”, the fortieth issue from the Harvard Design Magazine, explores the tricky business of designing for health, and provokes considerations on the flip-side of neglecting to do so.

The Life of a New Architect: Jim Bogle

2014-10-10T12:44:00-04:00

What's working as an architect actually like? Even for students on track to become one, the answer isn't always clear or forthcoming, and for those outside the industry, common ideas about architecture rarely reflect its reality. In this series of articles, "The Life of a New Architect", three architects (two designers and one licensed architect) discuss their transition from student to professional, their changed perceptions of the career and the challenges and joys of their current work.

The Life of a New Architect: Elizabeth Christoforetti

2014-08-28T10:30:00-04:00

What's working as an architect actually like? Even for students on track to become one, the answer isn't always clear or forthcoming, and for those outside the industry, common ideas about architecture rarely reflect reality. In this series of articles, three architects (two designers and one licensed architect) discuss their transition from student to professional, their changed perceptions of the career and the challenges and joys of their current work.