Schedule of Events
Morning sessions will be virtual, and afternoon sessions will be in person at the BAC and available virtually. We welcome all local guests to join the BAC Talks Reception for networking with alumni, students, and BAC friends before enjoying our keynote speaker.
8:00AM | Architectural Design Forecast in the Year 2100 
Speaker: Arlen Stawasz, B.Arch'13, LEED AP ND, CPHC, DGNB, RELi AP, EU Regional Resilience Leader, Gensler Europe
Location: Virtual
The design profession is under high demand to respond to a radically changing world. Global challenges such as climate change, refugee displacement, carbon emission expansion, and biodiversity loss are putting significant stress on our cities and communities. Designers have a critical role to play in these conversations for future development, and there are technological solutions, as well as a shift in government regulations that is making an impact. Come and learn about the Design Forecast over the next century, and innovative solutions at our fingertips that are influencing our design thinking.
9:00AM | Future Digital Technologies in Architecture: AI, Immersive, and BIM 2.0
Featured Speakers:
Jason Arndt, RA, LEED AP, Founding Principal, Zephyr Architects, Adjunct Professor, BAC
Dr. Mahesh Daas, President and ACSA Distinguished Professor, BAC
Randy Deutsch, FAIA, LEED AP, Clinical Associate Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Architecture
Nirva Fereshetian, Principal, CIO, CBT Architects
Location: Virtual
In this session moderated by Anthony Frausto-Robledo, B.Arch'96, AIA, LEED AP, Founder and Publisher, Architosh.com, and Evan Troxel, NCARB, Founder and Producer, TRXL.co, our expert panelists will discuss three areas of technology destined to change the future of digital practice. We will highlight both pedagogical and practice challenges, confront aspects that appear broken, and offer perspectives for an improved future in the field of architecture and design. Both academic and professional work will be shown by panelists that illustrate the session's focus.
10:30AM | Improving US Healthcare: What We Can Learn From the World
Speaker: David Deininger, B.Arch'84, Healthcare Facility Masterplanning Consultant, 2dplanning
Location: Virtual
The United States faces a healthcare crisis, but there are numerous innovative and effective strategies employed by other countries that merit consideration as potential solutions to our challenges. David Deininger will discuss how we might improve our own healthcare policies by looking at other successful nations.
10:30AM | The One Architect in the Room
Speaker: James Vaseff, B.Arch'71, Retired
Location: Virtual
James Vaseff has dedicated his career to public service under a private payroll, navigating the unique position of being "The Only Architect in the Room." Throughout his tenure, he has served two principal clients: the employer and a diverse portfolio of projects. Each project requires patience and humility while harnessing unique expertise, skills, and sense of ownership to yield exemplary results.
Explore a compelling case study from 1982, delving into the early redevelopment of a mainstreet town, Tifton Georgia.
11:00AM | Leading with Intercultural Integration
Speaker: Mani Ardalan Farhadi, B.Arch'95, Associate AIA, Senior Planner, Stanford University, School of Medicine
Location: Virtual
*This lecture was approved for 1 LU|HSW AIA CES credit.
There is a symbiotic relationship between how the environment influences behavior & culture (architectural sociology), and how in turn our culture impacts architecture (what I’m calling intercultural integration). With my own hybrid identity and ethnic mélange, created from Eastern and Western influences, I will talk about how cultural knowledge can be developed. Taking it one step further, we can explore how that relates to social justice and a sense of belonging.
11:30AM - 1:00PM | BREAK IN DAY
If you are local, use this time to travel to the BAC to enjoy the afternoon lectures in person and network with fellow BAC community members.
1:00PM | Resilience Design in Transit Infrastructure*
Speakers:
Isra Banks, M.Arch'16, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, Senior Architect, Gannett Fleming
Huzefa Irfani, AIA, Director of Architecture, Gannett Fleming
Location: Cascieri Hall and Virtual
*This lecture was approved for 1 LU|HSW AIA CES credit.
In the wake of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, cities like New York and Boston recognized the need for stronger, more climate-resilient transit systems. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) have launched major initiatives to protect their transportation systems against climate change. These efforts involve collaborations with the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries. This presentation will showcase innovative projects that address the climate change challenge to infrastructure elements from a storm hardening/resiliency and architectural/urbanism point of view. At the heart of these initiatives is the deployment of cutting-edge architectural and engineering solutions employed on critical fan plant structures within densely populated locales, ingeniously designed to enhance both the public transportation network and the community surrounding these structures.
1:45PM | From Vision to Reality: Integrating Design Research in AEC Practice*
Speaker: Adrienne Erdman, MDS'17, Director of Design Research, EwingCole
Location: Cascieri Hall and Virtual
*This lecture was approved for 0.5 LU|Elective AIA CES credit.
This lecture will explore the transformative power of design research in shaping the built environment, enabling consideration of multiple perspectives of current and future stakeholders. We'll delve into the evolution of design research and its profound impact on product and service design industries, revealing insights applicable to Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) projects. Learn how design research goes beyond data collection, becoming a conduit for meaningful stakeholder engagement and informed decision-making. Gain an introduction to qualitative and quantitative research techniques, rooted in human-centered and inclusive design principles, to infuse your projects with empathy, creativity, and effectiveness.
2:15PM | Change, hic et nunc: Intersection of Three Landscape Architectural Perspectives
Panelists:
Alexandre Champagne, Ph.D., Faculty Member, Boston Architectural College
Yufan Gao, PLA, ASLA, Faculty Member, Boston Architectural College
Adam Molinski, PLA, ASLA, Faculty Member, Boston Architectural College
Location: Cascieri Hall and Virtual
While almost every facet of the world we inhabit is undergoing rapid transformation at an accelerating pace and with captivating intricacy, landscape architectural practice must negotiate novel relationships between human beings and their milieux. If strategies of radicality announce metamorphosis in theory, the critical moves come from the dialectic between theory and practice. How can the profession find its way and reach its full potential to initiate change, hic et nunc? In this panel, BAC Landscape Architecture Faculty will share their perspectives on how the field begins to answer this question.
3:15PM | Understanding the Next Generation of Business
Speaker: Eric Haydel, MID'12, MSIA'18, Principal and Creative Director, Eric Haydel Design / M-Geough
Location: Cascieri Hall and Virtual
The presentation will address the upcoming wave of workforce members, introducing their requirements and expectations in the professional sphere. We'll explore our collaboration with AI and its potential to enhance our work environments, while also shedding light on key market demands for the future.
4:00PM | Inclusive Design: Designing For, Designing With
Speaker:
Ai Kurokawa, M.Arch’06, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, Principal, isgenuity LLC
Kate Spinelli, MID'11 , IIDA, Principal & Director of Interiors, isgenuity, LLC
Location: Cascieri Hall and Virtual
At the intersection of creativity and diversity is inclusive design. As architects and designers, our design process calls upon us to observe, listen, research, and respond to multiple facets of the human condition. In the physical environments that we shape, our opportunity to enhance the experience of design – to bring joy and wonder, beyond functionality – is heightened as we mindfully include the perspectives of others. Inclusive design involves designing for and incorporating diverse experiences, to expand our widest embrace of the human condition.
5:00PM | BAC Talks Reception
Location: McCormick Gallery
Join us for drinks and light appetizers to close the day and celebrate the alumni, students, and friends who foster such a vibrant, and diverse community.
Speaker: Janet Echelman, Artist and Principal, Studio Echelman
Location: Cascieri Hall and Virtual
How can we design experiential private and public spaces to embody a spirit of innovation, foster spontaneous communities, and engage viewers in new and powerful ways?
Janet Echelman presents ways to harness the creative power of the flexible, the soft, and the transparent in cities around the world. Her experiential sculptures at the scale of buildings have become inviting focal points for civic life, combining ancient craft with the newest design and interactive technology. The result is a communal urban experience that is simultaneously virtual and physical.
Janet’s ingenuity, exuberance, critical eye, and community engagement reminds the design world of America’s long history of creative dynamism, at a time when our ability to project these values carries particular importance.
