Andrea Leers '64 Among Winning Architects; Alumnae Valley Named Runner Up

The Harleston Parker Medal was recently awarded by The Boston Society of Architects (BSA) in its annual honor to recognize “the single most beautiful building or other structure” built in the metropolitan Boston area in the past 10 years.

The winning project was The MIT Media Lab by Maki and Associates in association with Leers Weinzapfel Associates, where Wellesley College art history major Andrea Leers ‘64 is principal and cofounder. Leers' organization was the first woman-owned firm to receive the American Institute of Architecture Firm Award, the organization’s highest honor.

The BSA also named Alumnae Valley at Wellesley College (by Michael van Valkenburgh Associates) among three runners-up for the medal. The two others were Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley (William Rawn Associates, Architects) and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Addition in Boston (Renzo Piano Building Workshop with Stantec).

In 2006, The Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center at Wellesley College (Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects) received the Harleston Parker Medal. Also in 2006, Alumnae Valley received the American Society of Landscape Architects’ General Design Award of Excellence.

The BSA, a chapter of the American Institute of Architects, is a nonprofit professional-service organization established in . The Harleston Parker Medal award was established in 1921 by J. Harleston Parker in memory of his father. The aim of the award was to “stimulate the appreciation of good architecture by the public, and give public recognition by the city to architects who have succeeded in doing... exceptionally good work.”