2024 Cascieri Lecture: Janet Echelman

Cascieri Lecture 32: Janet Echelman

April 5, 2024 at Cascieri Hall

Welcome to The Cascieri Lecture in Humanities

It gives me immense pleasure to extend a warm welcome to each of you attending the 32nd annual Dean Arcangelo Cascieri Lectureship in the Humanities. This lectureship, inaugurated in 1992 on Dean Cascieri's 90th birthday, stands as a testament to our institution's deep-rooted commitment to fostering interdisciplinary learning and enriching the tapestry of human experience through the profound mediums of architecture and design.

Over the years, the Cascieri Lectureship has evolved into a pivotal event within our academic calendar, not merely as a tradition but as a vibrant forum for the exchange of ideas that lie at the confluence of humanity and the built environment. It is a space where thought leaders, innovators, and creatives come together to challenge, inspire, and reimagine the potentialities of design and its impact on our collective human journey.

This year, we have the distinct honor of hosting Janet Echelman, an artist whose body of work redefines the boundaries of art, architecture, and urban design. Janet’s creations are not just visually stunning; they are a dialogue with the elements, with culture, and with the communities that engage with them. Her sculptures, monumental in scale yet ethereal in presence, weave together the resilience of urban fabric with delicate nuances of light and wind, transforming public spaces into realms of interactive art, while creating a celebration of possibility.

Utilizing materials that range from the robustness of engineered fibers to the ephemeral beauty of atomized water particles, Janet harnesses the power of computational design software to craft installations that are as much a feat of engineering as they are of imagination. With projects spanning cities across five continents, they are not just art installations but focal points of urban life, creating landmarks that are dynamic, ever-changing, and deeply integrated into the cultural and social narratives of the spaces they inhabit.

Beyond artistic achievements, her journey is a narrative of relentless curiosity and interdisciplinary exploration. From her foundational years at Harvard College to her transformative experiences in a Balinese village, and through her academic engagements at MIT, Harvard, and Princeton, Janet embodies the spirit of lifelong learning and cross-cultural dialogue. Her TED talk, "Taking Imagination Seriously," has reached audiences in 35 languages worldwide, translating her vision into a global conversation on creativity, resilience, and the power of imagination.

As we gather for this year's lecture, we celebrate Janet Echelman's remarkable contributions to the fields of art, design, and urban planning while honoring the legacy of Dean Cascieri, whose vision and dedication continue to inspire our diverse global community to explore the intersections of creativity, design, and humanity.

I invite you to join us in this celebration of innovation, creativity, and the unyielding human spirit that seeks to reimagine our world.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mahesh Daas, DPACSA, President ACSA Distinguished Professor

Cascieri Lecture Series 32: Janet Echelman

Taking Imagination Seriously

Janet Echelman got her start by accident, and now sculpts at the scale of buildings and city blocks. Her work defies categorization, as it intersects Sculpture, Architecture, Urban Design, Material Science, Structural & Aeronautical Engineering, and Computer Science. Echelman’s art transforms with wind and light, and shifts from being “an object you look at, into an experience you can get lost in.”

Using unlikely materials from atomized water particles to engineered fiber fifteen times stronger than steel, Echelman combines ancient craft with computational design software to create artworks that have become focal points for urban life from Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, and Santiago, to Beijing, Boston, New York and London.

Her TED talk “Taking Imagination Seriously” has been translated into 35 languages with more than two million views. Recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, Harvard Loeb Fellowship, Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellowship, and Fulbright Sr. Lectureship, Echelman received the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Visual Arts, honoring “the greatest innovators in America today.” Echelman was named an Architectural Digest Innovator for “changing the very essence of urban spaces” and in popular culture, Oprah ranked Echelman’s work #1 on her List of 50 Things That Make You Say Wow!*

Janet Echelman's 2015 temporary installation installed above the Greenway in downtown Boston

Photo by Bruce Petschek

Cascieri Lectureship in the Humanities

About the Cascieri Lectureship

The Cascieri Lectureship in the Humanities was established by the BAC Alumni Association in 1992 on the Dean's 90th birthday to honor his outstanding and unparalleled contributions to the College and to honor the spirit of volunteerism. Each year, the BAC invites a distinguished speaker to present a public lecture on the many ways in which architecture and design interact with other disciplines and enrich our common life.

32 Years of Inspiring Conversation

Cascieri Lectureship in the Humanities

Janet Echelman

Taking Imagination Seriously 2024

Gilda Barabino

Cascieri 31: (Re)Design: A Vision for the Future

2023

M. Lee Pelton

Cascieri 30: "I Hear America

Singing, The Varied Carols I Hear": Walt Whitman and the Promise of Humanistic Architecture 2022

Sharon Egretta Sutton

Cascieri 29: Each One Inspire One: A Battle Cry for Design Activism

2021

Mahesh Daas

Cascieri 28: Being Human Being Robot:

How Will We _______ Together?

2020

Mabel O. Wilson

Cascieri 27: Memory/Race/Nation: The Politics of Modern Memorials 2019

Rahel Shawl

Cascieri 26: Architecture and Engagement 2018

James Timberlake

Cascieri 25: Projects, Projectures 2017

Blair Kamin

Cascieri 24: Unlocking the Beauty of Gates 2016

Anupama Kundoo

Cascieri 23: Building Knowledge 2015

Nicole Dosso

Cascieri 22: Innovation of the World Trade Center

2014

Paul Doherty

Cascieri 21: The Legacy of Design Technology

2013

Brendan MacFarlane

Cascieri 20: Stories|Histories 2012

Aart Oxenaar

Cascieri 19: Educating Architects for a Transforming City 2011

Anne Hawley

Cascieri 18: Time Starts 2010

Steve Badanes

Cascieri 17: Jersey Devil: Architect as Artisan 2009

Christy MacLear

Cascieri 16: Preserving the Modern 2008

Janet Marie Smith

Cascieri 15: Out of the Park... 2007

Paolo Soleri

Cascieri 14: The Architecture of Place-The Place of Architecture

2006

Herbert Benson

Cascieri 13: Spirit Matters

2005

Andrew Cuomo

Cascieri 12: Give Me Shelter-Building Communities in Need

2004

Iain Mackintosh

Cascieri 11: Standing Room Only: An Exploration of the Audience's Place, Position and Posture from the Rose of Marlowe and Shakespeare to Fenway Park

2003

Richard Swett

Cascieri 10: Design Diplomacy: The Influence Edge

2002

Jorge Silvetti

Cascieri 9: The Pritzker Architecture Prize: A Juror's Perspective

2001

Jill Medvedow

Cascieri 8: Art in the Public Realm 2000

Michael Dukakis

Cascieri 7: The Politics of Creativity 1999

Norman Leventhal

Cascieri 6: Boston, Past and Future

1998

Robert Brown

Cascieri 5: Teaching Artists, Artists Teaching

1997

Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker

Cascieri 4: Cityscapes of Boston

1996

Christopher Lydon

Cascieri 3: The Jane Jacobs Connection: City Design and Citizen Reality in Boston

1995

Moshe Safdie

Cascieri 2: Language and Ethics in Architecture

1994

H. Morse Payne

Cascieri 1: The Genesis of 10 Towns: Urban Design in 17th Century New England

1993

Board of Trustees

Officers of the Board

Judy Nitsch

Chair, BAC Board of Trustees

Retired and Founding Principal of Nitsch Engineering, Inc.

Marilyn Swartz-Lloyd

Vice Chair, BAC Board of Trustees

City Planner and Former CEO of MASCO

Trustees

Joshua Best

Co-Founder, Best Brothers Development, LLC | AIA | B.Arch'14

Kevin Costello

Founder, CPB2 LLC

Valerie Fletcher

Executive Director, Institute for Human Centered Design

Anddie Chan-Patera

Principal and Co-Founder, A SQUARE DESIGN (ASD) | MIA’18

Shauna Gillies-Smith

Founding Principal, GROUND

Lee Michael Kennedy President & CEO, Lee Kennedy Co., Inc.

Katia Lucic

Associate, Leers Weinzapfel Associates

Nancy Ludwig

FAIA, LEED AP | President, ICON Architecture

David Manfredi

CEO and Founding Principal, Elkus Manfredi Architects

Richard Martini

AIA, B.Arch’84 | COO, The Fallon Company

James Barrett

Secretary, BAC Board of Trustees

AIA, B.Arch'87|Principal, DRA Architects

Richard Strout

Treasurer, BAC Board of Trustees

Principal, PKF O'Connor Davies| CPA

Elizabeth Minnis

AIA, B.Arch’89 | Deputy Commissioner for Planning, Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance

Catherine Offenberg

Principal, CRJA-IBI Group

Srinivas Reddy

S.V.P., Product Supply, P&G Global Grooming Business

Richard Snyder, Esq. Of Counsel, Duane Morris LLP

Kevin Sullivan

Vice President, Shawmut Design and Construction

Kishore Varanasi Urban Design Principal, CBT Architects

John Swift

Principal, Buro Happold | PE | CEM | LEED BD+C

Cheryl Waterhouse

Founding Partner, Donovan Hatem LLP

Bridgette Wallace

Founder and Executive Director, G{Code} House