History

 

“If you begin with people and how they want to use a building, you can translate this into supportive architecture.”

— Harry Ellenzweig, FAIA, Founding Principal

 

Understanding how researchers want to work, how faculty want to teach, and how students learn: this was the foundation on which Harry Ellenzweig began his practice in 1965, and on which our firm continues to build.

Harry’s initial commissions with MIT and Harvard University launched the firm’s focus on science research and teaching facilities. Now after more than 55 years, the Ellenzweig practice has completed projects for more than 100 colleges and universities across the country, as well as for medical schools, medical research institutions, and corporate research firms.

Our work has earned a national reputation for innovative, technically sophisticated designs—buildings that are highly sustainable and functional, yet also humane and uplifting for their users. Innovations and advancements pioneered by our firm range from the all-glass fume hood, developed in the interest of student safety and which quickly became industry standard, to the largest installation of filtering fume hoods in the world, to the first WELL Gold-certified building in the United States.

We continue to be inspired by Harry’s conviction that architecture is a way of building community and enhancing the public well-being. And we carry on his enthusiasm for innovative design that integrates new materials and new technologies in the interest of improving and preserving our world.