BOSTON - Thursday, February 23 - Mayor Michelle Wu today
announced new appointments and leadership to the Boston Civic Design
Commission (BCDC) to bring diverse new voices and
perspectives to shape design outcomes in the City. These appointments are
another step toward the Mayor’s vision of ensuring that design and
development resources are focused on resilience, affordability, and equity.
The changes to the Commission will ensure that the BCDC’s feedback during
its review of projects continues to represent the best and most current
design thinking in our city.
“I’m grateful to this group of leaders for agreeing to serve on the Civic
Design Commission,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “It’s critical that
the Commission represent new and leading voices in the design and
architecture spaces. These new members will provide diverse perspectives
that will help shape Boston’s growth in a way that will ensure both
residents and visitors experience Boston as a City for everyone.”
The individuals announced today represent expertise in national resilience,
as well as experts in the local public realm, and the arts, which plays an
important role in maintaining cultural identities across our neighborhoods.
BCDC review is also a requirement of the Article 80 process, which is
currently being revised to make the process more predictable and
streamlined. The BCDC will continue to play an advisory role to the Urban
Design and Planning staff of the Boston Planning & Development Agency,
who will eventually transition to a new City Planning and Design
Department.
The changes announced today include appointing Mimi Love as Chair and Linda
Eastley as Vice Chair. Three Commissioners will cycle off the Commission
and three new commissioners will join ten existing commissioners who will
continue to serve. New appointments include Laura Solano, Shauna Gillies
Smith, and Catherine Morris. Brief biographies for the new leadership and
new commissioners can be found below.
Biographies
Mimi Love is being appointed as Chair of the BCDC. She has
served as a Commissioner since 2020. She is currently a Principal at Utile
Architecture & Planning, with expertise ranging from complicated
renovation projects to campus master plans. While her experience is broad,
she has a particular interest in adaptive reuse projects that have
complicated programmatic requirements. She is the principal-in-charge for
The Possible Project’s Innovation Center in Boston. She led the Boston
Harbor Islands Pavilion on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Richard Ortner
Studio Building for Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Prior to joining Utile,
Love was an Associate at Machado Silvetti in Boston. Love co-authored Color
Space Style, a reference book on interior design for Rockport Publications.
Linda Eastley is being appointed as Vice Chair of the BCDC. She
has served as a Commissioner since 2009. Eastley is a Founding Principal
and Managing Partner at Eastley + Partners, LLC, with 25 years of
experience in campus planning and large-scale urban design. Eastley’s
project experience has included strategies for university systems,
waterfront and urban district planning, complex development programming,
and site analysis. She is active in the American Planning Association, the
Society for College and University Planning, the Urban Land Institute, and
the Women's Principal Group of the Boston Society of Architects. Eastley
graduated from Cornell University and the Harvard Graduate School of
Design.
Laura Solano, ASLA, is joining the BCDC as a commissioner. She is a
principal and registered landscape architect at Michael Van Valkenburgh
Associates (MVVA), where she has worked since 1991. In 2010, she received
the Boston Society of Architects’ Women in Design Award of Excellence and
was featured in the film “Leaders in the Field: Women in Landscape
Architecture.” She has served on the editorial board of Architecture Boston
magazine and is currently a board member for the Landscape Architecture
Foundation (LAF). Widely regarded as an expert in the field of landscape
technology and sustainability, Solano was also an Associate Professor in
Practice of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School
of Design, where she taught classes in landscape technology for 25 years.
She was awarded the ASLA Design Medal in 2022.
Shauna Gillies-Smith is joining the BCDC as a commissioner. She
is the founding principal of GROUND and oversees the design direction of
all the firm’s projects. Active in both professional and academic spheres,
Gillies-Smith has taught landscape architecture design studios and
technical courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, RISD, UBC, RPI
and Tulane. Currently Gillies-Smith is a Trustee of the Boston Architectural
College and sits on the Advisory Board of the Design Industry Group of
Massachusetts. She has held the roles of Co-chair of the Urban Design
Committee at the Boston Society for Architecture (BSA), both Contributing
Editor and Editorial Board Member of Architecture Boston Magazine and is
the former Affiliate Director on the BSA Board. Her body of work balances
innovative design, elegant detailing, and clever problem solving to create
evocative and welcoming urban spaces. Through her unique command of design
and cross- disciplinary advocacy, Gillies-Smith has become a recognized
national voice in landscape architecture.
Catherine T. Morris is joining the BCDC as a commissioner. She
is the Director of Arts and Culture at the Boston Foundation and Executive
Director of Boston Art & Music Soul (BAMS) Fest. Morris has spent her
career supporting BIPOC artists by producing shows, creating platforms as
well as mobilizing and engaging local audiences to experience the arts from
a Black perspective. She is also the former Director of Public Programs at
the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where she diversified programming, led
teams, and increased access and visibility for local and national BIPOC
artists, collaborators, entertainers and audiences. Catherine has deep
roots in Boston with more than 15 years of special event planning and
community engagement.
The three new appointees and two existing commissioners who will take over
leadership positions will be instated for the April BCDC monthly meeting.
The April BCDC meeting will be the first monthly meeting for the new group
of commissioners and leaders announced today. On February 13, the BPDA
hosted a celebration to acknowledge the service and leadership of the three
outgoing commissioners and thanked them for their meaningful contribution
to design excellence in Boston.
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About the Boston Civic Design Commission
The BCDC provides a forum for the general public and professional design
community to participate in the shaping of the city's physical form and
natural environment. Members of the Commission are seasoned design
professionals with a deep understanding of local context. They are charged
with critiquing the aesthetics of proposed development projects and
ensuring that the projects have a positive impact on the city's public
realm.
About the Boston Planning & Development Agency
As the City of Boston’s urban planning and economic development agency, the
BPDA works in partnership with the community to plan Boston's future
while respecting its past. The agency’s passionate and knowledgeable
staff guides physical, social, and economic change in Boston’s
neighborhoods and its downtown to shape a more prosperous, resilient, and
vibrant city for all. The BPDA also prepares residents for new
opportunities through employment training, human services and job creation.
Learn more at bostonplans.org,
and follow us on Twitter @BostonPlans. |
