The Foundry in Cambridge Receives 2024 Robert H. Kuehn, Jr. Award

Preservation Mass is pleased to announce that The Foundry is the recipient of the 2024 Robert H. Kuehn, Jr. Award.

The Foundry is an adaptive reuse project to build a self-sustaining center for creativity and collaboration for the Cambridge community. It provides a new cultural center for the City of Cambridge together with market-rate and non-profit-rate office space. Its uses address the problems of financial and spatial inequities affecting local artists and creatives by providing access to specialized spaces and equipment for all community members to use. Offering makerspaces, multi-purpose rooms, a dance studio, art studio, performance space, woodshop and culinary lab, the Foundry brings STEAM disciplines under one roof for the Cambridge community with reservable spaces and opportunities for public programming.

The planning and design of this unique civic hub intended to inspire and serve residents of all ages and abilities grew from a broadly inclusive process. Myriad partnerships were formed to include City of Cambridge leadership teams, Cambridge Redevelopment Authority leaders, a Foundry Consortium led by institutions that included Lemelson-MIT and Lesley College and a local Foundry Advisory Committee formed by residents and field experts.

CambridgeSeven worked with these and many other groups to solicit ideas and tailor the design. The Foundry was conceived as a pilot project and remains a singular building type: a City-owned building providing space for arts, culture and workforce training. We hope that the Foundry’s success will inspire other communities in MA to convert aging industrial buildings into much-needed spaces for local artists and arts groups.