Four days. Over 13,000 architects. By day two I knew the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center better than some places I’ve lived, and I spent most of my time walking, which is exactly where you see what actually matters at a conference like this.
The American Institute of Architects brought its national conference to Boston this year, bringing members together to wrestle with real questions: how the built environment responds to climate change, how buildings get preserved without freezing them in place, what it means to build equity into the spaces we all live in. Governor Maura Healey made an appearance and Lake Flato walked away with three project awards, but the moment I kept coming back to was watching a room full of people in a climate resilience session realize they weren’t the only ones asking the hard questions.
One of the best things about photographing a conference like this is the access it gives you to the invisible work, the gap between an agenda and what actually changes someone’s mind. What an incredible four days with an incredible crew. Thank you to the AIA for bringing this to Boston.
