The Architect Selection Committee, chaired by David Rokoff, was formed during in 2005 to recommend an architect to the congregation. The committee undertook an extensive review of the literature and texts related to sacred space; contacted many other congregations across the United States to discover the processes by which they selected their architects; established the criteria to be used in the selection process; drafted a “Request for Qualifications”, prepared a list of potential architects based on recommendations, referrals and previous expressions of interest;  interviewed many architectural firms; checked references and recommended the selection of William Rawn Associates to the congregation during the TBE May 2006 Annual Meeting.

 

William Rawn Associates, Architects, in Boston, formed in 1983, has completed a large number of projects, ranging from complex urban buildings to college campuses, from performing arts facilities to affordable housing. Recent large-scale urban planning projects include an overall campus master plan and architectural design of the West Campus Residential district at Northeastern University in Boston, a 440-room urban hotel in downtown Boston, and the master plan and building design of a new Headquarters and Studio Campus for DreamWorks in Los Angeles.

 

William Rawn Associates is committed to buildings participating in the civic or public realm–buildings in the city or buildings in important public landscape settings (like Tanglewood). We believe that successful architecture, through the active engagement of its civic context, fosters the values of diversity, meritocracy, and participation that are fundamental to the American democratic experience.

 

William Rawn Associates is very proud of the design recognition it has received, including eight Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects in the last twelve years:

 

• 2005 Honor Award in Regional & Urban Design: Northeastern University West Campus Master Plan, Boston, MA

 

• 2004 Honor Award in Architecture: Northeastern University West Campus Phase One, Boston, MA

 

• 2000 Honor Award in Regional and Urban Design: The Village of Park DuValle;

 

• 2000 Honor Award in Interior Architecture: Seiji Ozawa Concert Hall at Tanglewood;

 

•1996 Honor Award in Urban Design: West Main Street Corridor Urban Design Plan for the University of Virginia and the City of Charlottesville;

 

•1995 Honor Award in Architecture: Seiji Ozawa Concert Hall at Tanglewood;

 

•1994 Honor Award in Architecture: Charlestown Navy Yard Roughhouses, an affordable housing development on Boston's historic waterfront;

 

•1993 AIA Urban Design Award of Excellence (forerunner to Honor Award): Back of the Hill Row Houses, an affordable housing development on Mission Hill in Boston.

 

In the past fifteen years, William Rawn Associates has won over fifty national, city, state, and regional AIA Awards. Our projects have been featured in Architectural Record, Architecture, The Boston Globe, TIME, Newsweek, The New York Times, and major national and international design publications.

 

Additional information about William Rawn Architects can be found at: http://www.rawnarch.com/index.html