House of the Academy
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Designed to bring together the varied disciplines of its membership in an unconscious process of shared enrichment, the home of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences embodies complex design, challenging materials, and exquisite details.
“The Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of those rare buildings in which the architects, engineers, consultants, and contractors have not only responded to their client's need for space but have collaborated to affect the spirit of the user as well. It is a building of intense delight.”
President
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
This extraordinary project was the winner of the Harleston Parker Medal, Boston’s most prestigious architecture award, established to annually recognize “the most beautiful piece of architecture, building, monument, or structure within the limits of the City of Boston or the Metropolitan Parks District.” Requiring the highest level of quality craftsmanship and attention to detail, this impressive structure features 350-pound doors that swing with a finger’s touch, the melding of structural wood with structural steel, and the combination of Honduran mahogany, glass, and brick with copper stone and woven materials in a single, subtle effect.
Photo Credits: Eric Roth
LOCATION
Cambridge, MA
ARCHITECT
Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects
AWARDS
1980 Boston Society of Architects Export Award, Highest Honor
1980 New York Times Building of the Year
1981 Associated General Contractors Build Massachusetts Award
1981 Interiors Magazine Award for Institutional Design
1982 American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Architecture
1982 Harleston Parker Medal
