Group Architecture and Urbanism (GROUP AU) is a project led by partners Tessa Kelly and Chris Parkinson.
Our practice evolved out of the founding The Mastheads, enabled by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2014. That project brought us back to our native Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, and expanded our conception of the role of architect. To create the Mastheads, we acted as designers, general contractors, fundraisers, graphic designers, community organizers, gallerists, education consultants, researchers, historians, and collaborators with partners across the municipal, educational, and academic landscape of the area. Ultimately, The Mastheads became not only an architecture project but a design and literary non-profit organization.
Nine years later, we continue to be architects as community organizers. We ground our projects in local history and heritage, and produce architecture and associated programming that is participatory, celebratory, and that connects us to stories of the past while building a vision for the future.
Tessa grew up in Pittsfield, MA and received a B.A. from Williams College and an M.Arch degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She has taught at the Yale School of Architecture, Williams College, and currently teaches at the Princeton School of Architecture. Chris grew up in Williamstown, MA and received a B.A. from Amherst College and an M.Arch degree from the Yale School of Architecture. He has taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and plays a continued role facilitating affordable housing initiatives in Troy between RPI and the Capital Region Habitat for Humanity.
Our in-house team includes designers Laura Quan and Taelinn Lamontagne. Frequent collaborators include poet Sarah Trudgeon, literary scholar Jeff Lawrence, urban planner Tanushri Kumar, community organizers Tony Jackson and Alisa Costa, building scientist Mae-Ling Lokko, architect Zac Culbreth, and horticulturalist Dorthe Hviid.
Supporters of our work include the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Mass Humanities.
Institutional clients include Williams College, MASS MoCA, The Clark, Roots Rising, Multicultural BRIDGE, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and Hancock Shaker Village.
GROUP AU is a certified woman-owned business (WBE), and was recognized as one of Architectural Record’s Ten International Design Vanguard firms in 2022.
Contact Us:
INFO@group-au.com