Established in 1977, the mission of Carr Lynch Associates and its successor firms was to create places of value to diverse communities that were socially useful, environmentally sustainable, and beautiful. The firm’s approach to this work was inspired and informed by the principals’ research and teaching at MIT in the Planning Department, now the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP). They considered how individuals perceive and use public spaces, how children and adults understand and navigate cities, what people value in the public realm at various times in their lives, how communities can creatively participate in planning and design, how local ecologies evolve, what engaging visions might achieve, and how change over time can be accommodated. More information about the background, history, and projects of Carr Lynch Associates (CLA), Carr Lynch Hack and Sandell (CLHS), and Carr Lynch and Sandel (CLS) can be found in Placemaking in the Public Realm, a key resource produced in 2023 by former firm principals.

The CLHS collection documents a vast array of projects, from small urban parks to large regional plans, reflecting the breadth of work undertaken by the firm in nearly a half century of practice. The collection consists of thousands of drawings from all phases of design. Especially notable are the hundreds of drawings and renderings by James Sandell, which enabled all participants to visualize CLHS designs and were critical to the success of those projects. Drawings are supplemented by an archive of planning reports, project information sheets, notes, photographs, news clippings, and correspondence. Hundreds of digital files, primarily photographs taken by CLHS principals of projects years or decades after completion, allow for a long-range examination of change and use over time–key aspects of placemaking, planning, and design. Particularly robust is the documentation for the firm’s work on Church Street Marketplace, Burlington, VT (1980–1982), Rockefeller Park at Battery Park City, New York, NY (1987–1992), and the New Charles River Basin Master Plan in Boston, Cambridge, and Charlestown, MA (1991–1995).

Chronological list of projects represented in the collection

Title: Carr Lynch Hack and Sandell Collection

Creators: Carr, Stephen; Lynch, Kevin; Hack, Gary; Sandell, Jim; Hermann, Jean

Dates: 1957–2023

Extent: 3617 drawings, 9 linear feet archives, 30 presentation boards, 1182 digital files

Language: English

Repository: MIT Museum

Reference code: 2023.029

Access: Online and by appointment

Copyright: Works created by the firm are in the public domain

Credit: Carr Lynch Hack and Sandell Collection, MIT Museum, Gift of Stephen Carr, James Sandell, Gary Hack, and Jean Hermann