Trustees' Message

The history of Boston is reflected in its structures and spaces—in the curves of the Public Library's marble staircase, in the ups and downs of the roof-lines on Commonwealth Avenue, in the twists of the streets between Haymarket and the North End, and in the ribbons of pathways that follow the Charles River on a summer day.

Over the years Boston has grown as ineluctably as the willow branches over the pond in the Public Garden. The city—with its rich neighborhoods, its ebullient street life, its stately public buildings, and its handsome and often controversial skyscrapers—has slowly evolved as its citizens constantly seek to make it their own.

How can we be sure that the "built environment" of Boston and the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts will continue to enhance the quality of our everyday lives—and that its atmosphere and character will be preserved?

The built environment is the result of a planning, design and building process—and the residents of any city are an integral part of that process. It is our diligent insistence that the places in which we live and work be life-enhancing that finally produces a livable city.

The Boston Society of Architects sought to enrich and stimulate that public process when it formed the Boston Foundation for Architecture, which supports individuals and groups seeking to clarify for all of us the influence and value of good planning, design and construction. The goal of the Foundation is to ensure that we cherish our physical legacy—and that we are all active participants in the processes that shape it and re-shape it.