Non-Profit MASS Design Group Wins AIA 2022 Firm Award

The non-profit architecture firm MASS Design Group has won the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) 2022 Architecture Firm Award for Architecture. According AIA, the award was given to MASS because the firm “has worked tirelessly to ignite systemic change in the built environment through its mission-driven process” that includes an emphasis on social issues, a healthy built environment, and community. And they’ve done this while creating critical infrastructure as well as “beautiful and functional buildings.”

The name “MASS” stands for “Model of Architecture Serving Society.” Based in Boston and in Kigali, Rwanda, MASS has more than 200 employees spread across 20 countries, including architects, landscape architects, engineers, researchers, and even writers and filmmakers. The firm’s mission-driven approach is reflected in the company’s work throughout the world. Its portfolio includes the Gun Violence Memorial Project (a traveling exhibition); The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, which is dedicated to victims of lynching in the South; the Museum for Equality in Orlando, Florida; the GHESKIO Tuberculosis Hospital and GHESKIO Cholera Treatment Center in Port au Prince, Haiti; and more.

The firm also has two other companies that support communities in Rwanda: MASS.Built, a construction company that provides local jobs to more than 160 full-time (26% women) and 2,100 contract employees; and MASS.Made, which specializes in furniture, crafts, and other goods made locally from Rwandan materials.

For more information:

American Institute of Architects
aia.org