Earn LU/HSW | EV123 | 6/5/2025 11:30 am- 1pm | $125 | Register here
Place: Boston Public Library
For 2025, we plan to convene at the Boston Public Library, (McKim Mead and White, 1895; Philip Johnson, 1972) in its remarkable Guastavino Room-- showcasing structural and architectural innovations for which this extraordinary landmark is known. With the Library’s President, a panel of architects and engineers will discuss mission, significance, technical challenges, and future vision for this American landmark—and how this future renewal project relates to libraries nationwide. Located in Boston’s national historic Back Bay neighborhood, facing Trinity Church and the historic Copley Square, the BPL is ideally suited to host our timely discussion of public architecture, public service, and the role of discourse and education in an historic, and changing, context.
Our program will touch on the history of the McKim building—a rare confluence of art, architecture, technology, and collections. We will dig deeper into its significance—through the specific work of immigrant Rafael Guastavino and family as they navigated the prevailing cultural landscape in pursuit of the American Dream. We will learn about the efforts of the BPL as it negotiates the fine balance between modernization, services, and stewardship of significant collections and historic resources. Finally, we will explore broad-reaching implications of these topics as they affect other cultural institutions and their architects. The Guastavino Room is named for its renowned vaulted ceilings, a style designed by the Guastavino family, who worked with Charles McKim to open the unique exposed tiling as a design aesthetic—the interlocking Guastavino terracotta tiles add a majesty to the room that is carried throughout the McKim building. This system revolutionized structural design for decades. Attendees will be able to informally walk through the buildings before and after lunch.
After the luncheon, be sure to attend the Fellows Investiture at 2 PM, just across the street at Trinity Church—an event you won't want to miss!
Speakers
David Leonard
The President of the Boston Public Library
A thriving 177-year-old institution and one of Boston’s and the nation's great educational, cultural, and civic treasures. Prior to his appointment as President, David focused on the completion of the $78 million renovation of the Library’s 1972 modernist Johnson Wing (William Rawn Architects) as well as remarkable new and expanded branch libraries which have garnered awards from the American Institute of Architects, the BSA, and the American Libraries Association. During his time at the BPL David has also served as Director of Administration & Technology, Chief Technology Officer, acting Director of Administration & Finance, and acting Chief Financial Officer. He led the Library’s capital improvement project for the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, worked to modernize the Library’s technology infrastructure—including the migration to the new Integrated Library System and deployment of new pay-for-print systems system-wide—and oversaw master planning and design for the renovation of the Central Library in Copley Square.
Ann M. Beha FAIA
Architect
Ann is the founder of Ann Beha Architects, now Annum Architects, and is recognized as a national leader in preservation, adaptive reuse, and contemporary design for historic settings. Known for championing legacy in dialogue with contemporary expression, Beha explores new identities for historic resources, welcoming a broader community to reconsider expand the definitions of design heritage—modernism and post-modernism, vernacular buildings, and lesser-known American architects and design advocates. As a Visiting Professor of Design at Yale she engages students with historic settings and contemporary interventions, serving libraries, cultural, and educational resources. Ann received both the Honor Award and the Women in Design Award from the Boston Society for Architecture, was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard, and received her M. Arch. from MIT. Currently, Ann is consulting with the Boston Public Library on the rehabilitation of their McKim Building, as the institution endeavors to provide contemporary services to patrons within the context of that building’s historic fabric.
John A. Ochsendorf:
Professor of Architecture and Civil & Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Founding Director, Morningside Academy for Design
John is an engineer, educator, and designer on the MIT faculty since 2002. Trained at Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Cambridge, he is known for creative research at the intersection of structural engineering and architecture. Ochsendorf and his students have contributed to numerous design projects, including the Mapungubwe Interpretive Centre, the Sean Collier Memorial, several projects at the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture, and multiple sculptures with leading artists. He served as the Director of the American Academy in Rome from 2017-2020, and as the founding director of the MIT Morningside Academy for Design since 2022. Ochsendorf was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to Spain (2000), a Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome (2007) and a MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (2008). At MIT, he was named a MacVicar Fellow in 2014 for exceptional teaching and he received the Gordon Y. Billard Award for exceptional service in 2016. A renowned authority on the work of Rafael Guastavino and family, Professor Ochsendorf is the author of Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile.