Mark Pasnik has written the book on Boston‘s evolving architectural identity—literally.
Pasnik, founding principal at over,under and co-author (with Chris Grimley and Michael Kubo) of Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston, will offer his take on “Facades and Regional Architecture” in a presentation at next month’s Facades+AM Boston symposium. “While Boston is often identified as a brick city, its architectural traditions are more complex,” observed Pasnik. The city’s landmark structures include not just brick but also granite and poured-in-place concrete edifices. “Where there is unity is in the thickness, heaviness, and solidity of nearly all of Boston’s most significant buildings,” said Pasnik.
More recent architectural trends, including the elevation of thinness, contradict this legacy. “Some of the most criticized areas of new development in the city have suffered from paper-thin, inelegant, commercial curtain walls, particularly in the Seaport District,” noted Pasnik. (Exceptions include William Rawn Associates and Ann Beha Architects’ high-tech, highly transparent Cambridge Public Library). “However, Boston’s identity, seen in historical and modernist traditions alike, is almost always on the side of having a thick skin,” he remarked.

Hear more from Pasnik and other facades specialists at Facades+AM Boston. Space is limited—register today on the event website.

Boston’s Financial District. (Stefano Montagner / Flickr)