Gateway Office BAC (GO BAC) is a community-based design (un)center accessible to in-person and online students who apply to be Gateway Fellows at the Boston Architectural College. We are organized through The BAC as a 501(c)(3) status as a charitable organization. GO BAC is an immersive practice-integrated teaching, research, and community engagement initiative of Boston Architectural College, the largest independent college of spatial design in New England. Gateway, as an integral part of the BAC (EIN 04-2271070), has a nonprofit tax code designation of 501(c)(3).
All of our work supports building or planning design projects. We believe Practice means becoming part of something bigger than yourself (by way of partnerships, reflection, applied learning, and career growth.) In the context of practice-integrated spatial design education, Gateway Office is the place where BAC students reach or enter something bigger that serves real-world community partners.
Started as an initiative in 2008, and recreated as the Gateway Office in 2021, GO BAC spearheads planning and design projects that develop BAC students’ professional experience while supporting the College’s mission to make design excellence accessible to diverse communities, nonprofits, and municipalities.
Under the supervision of architect Beth Lundell Garver, AIA, NOMA, along with guidance from practitioner faculty and design professionals, students work in multi-disciplinary teams to produce an established set of deliverables to community clients in ways that build their professional knowledge competencies. Through this process, the Gateway Office strives to satisfy three goals:
To provide community partners with access to design services through projects with clearly defined goals and deliverables
To forge sustainable and enduring partnerships with nonprofits, community organizations, municipalities, and
To expand students’ knowledge base through applied learning in research, planning, and design action; engagement with community leaders and stakeholders; collaboration across disciplines; and acquisition of professional experience where growth is measured.
In 2021, Gateway Office was created through an ongoing relationship with architect Beth Lundell Garver, AIA, NOMA. Beth is Dean of Practice and the Director of Gateway Office at the Boston Architectural College. She is a licensed architect in Massachusetts and California with more than 15 years of professional experience in architectural practice. Garver provides direct supervision for all GO projects. In this capacity, she works with practitioner faculty and student teams to manage, supervise, and assess planning and design processes and deliverables utilizing the BAC Student Learning Contract as a guide for knowledge building and reflection.
Gateway Office projects all relate to experience and directly expose students to the practice of architecture. In accordance with the BAC Student Learning Contract, GO projects offer students experience in the following areas:
Core Competencies
Conceptualization (i.e. Programming & Feasibility, Site Analysis, Research, etc.)
Professional Values & Organization (i.e. Conflict Resolution, Teamwork & Collaboration, etc.)
Representation & Technical Tools (i.e. BIM, CAD, written, oral, and graphic communication, etc.)
Concentration Tracks
Design Implementation & Professional Project Delivery (i.e. Planning, Zoning, or Permitting, Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Administration & Observation, etc.)
Practice Management & Design Entrepreneurship (i.e. Business Practices & Operations, Schedule & Work Plan Development, Budgeting/Accounting, Project Management, etc.)
More information on how we evaluate learning in practice at the Gateway Office is enclosed in the Public Interest Design Education Guidebook chapter "Assessing Experiential Learning in Design Education: The Practice Department at The Boston Architectural College" (Routledge, 2019).
past work
