Practice as Project Lecture: William Rawn and Sam Lasky

William Rawn and Sam Lasky, principals at William Rawn and Associates, presented on key projects that narrate the firm’s development since 1983, now employing dozens of designers and achieving numerous professional recognitions.  Rawn spoke about how to get work, how to get more work, and how to get the kind of work you want.  Using his firm to explain, they pointed to their commitment to work in the civic realm.  Rawn discussed his reluctance to publicize early residential work, for fear that he would become exclusively a residential architect.  Winning the competition for Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood helped William Rawn and Associates to continue work in the performing arts, and to focus on institutional clients.  Having completed projects for dozens of institutions including Harvard University, Northeastern University, Amherst University, Brandeis University, Wheelock College, Johns Hopkins University, SUNY Albany, Stanford University, Yale University, Phillips Exeter Academy, the Milton Academy, and others, Rawn explained the advantages of working with institutional clients from an architect’s perspective, as well as the opportunity they provide to work on many different building types.  Students engaged Rawn and Lasky in discussion about defining points in an architect’s career.

William L. Rawn III, FAIA, LEED AP, is the founding Principal of William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc., of Boston, which has developed a national reputation for the design of a range of major public buildings, cultural facilities, and college and university projects.

William Rawn is a graduate of Yale College, Harvard Law School, and the MIT School of Architecture. Rawn has been a GSA Peer since 1998, and served on the MIT Visiting Committee for the Department of Architecture from June 1996 until June 2006. He has also served on the Harvard Graduate School of Design Visiting Committee since 2006, and the Boston Civic Design Commission since 1994. Before becoming an architect, Rawn was an attorney at a large Washington D.C. law firm and served as Assistant Chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Boston campus.

Samuel M. Lasky, AIA, LEED AP, is an Associate Principal at William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc. where he has worked since 1998. Prior to joining William Rawn Associates, Mr. Lasky gained extensive experience in affordable housing. He has been largely involved in the firm’s residence halls projects, including Northeastern University’s West Campus Residence Halls and Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science and Residence Hall. Other large-scale projects include his work on the Federal Courthouse and W Boston Hotel and Residences.

Mr. Lasky has taught in the Core Program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design on several occasions. He is a graduate of Yale University and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Mr. Lasky was a recipient of the 2008 AIA Young Architects Award.

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