Justice is Beauty: The Work of MASS Design Group

Can a well-designed school enhance learning Can the floor plan of a hospital improve health outcomes Can a memorial promote healing within society

MASS Design Group is a nonprofit architecture firm whose work seeks to answer questions such as these, committed to the idea that architecture is never neutralit either heals or hurts. The firm's body of work reflects the belief that design can, and should, improve people's lives.

Over the last decade, MASS Design Group's projectsfrom schools and hospitals in Rwanda to a cholera treatment center in Haiti, to a healthcare center for homeless people in Bostonreflect its mission to research, build, and advocate for architecture that promotes justice, healing, and human dignity. In 2018, the firm made headlines for its first major project in theUnited States: The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, which commemorates more than 4,000 victims of racially motivated lynching.

The 3,000-square-foot exhibition introduces MASS Design Group's extraordinary portfolio, including completed buildings, proposed projects, and applied research initiatives. Photographs, videos, renderings, and models convey the firm's groundbreaking approach to its architectural projects examining how the firm's nonprofit status enables it to take on ambitious projects that traditional design firms might not, and how its collective organizational structure supports its mission to address society's most challenging problems through socially conscious design strategies.