News & Events
Mitchell Lecture Series
The Mitchell Lecture Series, hosted by the Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO) department and made possible through the generosity of William Bronson and Grayce Slovett Mitchell, serves as a vibrant platform for thought-leadership, knowledge exchange, and a community of practice across these related disciplines. The series is intended to foreground distinguished invited lecturers whose work intersects with contemporary ideas and practices that advance the field. Mitchell Lecture Series programs are free and open to the public.
What Can(’t) Design Do?, the theme for the 2026-27 Mitchell Lecture Series, explores both the possibilities and limits of design in shaping the world around us. Bringing together leading practitioners and thinkers, the series considers design as a tool for making, questioning, and investigating, one that can challenge contemporary practice, reveal new ways of seeing, and ask where design can make a difference.
Danyson Tavares
Wednesday, September 23 at 4:00 p.m.
LeRoy Neiman Center, 37 S. Wabash Ave.
We are delighted to welcome Danyson Tavares to kick off the 2026-27 Mitchell Lecture series, What Can(’t) Design Do? Danyson is a trained architect, educator, and civic leader whose work explores the intersection of design, community development, education, and institutional change. He currently serves as Executive Director of the Boston Society for Architecture and Architecture in Common, where he is leading a significant transformation of the organizations and advancing a vision for architecture as a public good.
Taking a cross-section through his career trajectory, Danyson will explore who architecture is for and who has the power to shape the built environment. Moving across architecture, community development, building, education, and institutional leadership, he will consider where design ends and power begins, what architecture cannot do alone, and why the profession’s future may depend on our willingness to redesign practice itself.
The 2026/27 Mitchell Lecture Series is curated by Chana Haouzi and Gionata Gatto of the AIADO/HP Department.
