Welcome to The Jenks Center

“Today’s Museums in a Global Culture”

Peter Kuttner

Wednesday, May 29, 7p.m. Pond Room

The Winchester Seniors Association and the Council on Aging are pleased to announce that this year’s Francis P. & Mary J. Brennan Lecture will be held on Wednesday, May 29, at 7:00 p.m. in the Pond Room of the Jenks Center. Winchester resident, Peter Kuttner, president of Cambridge Seven Associates (C7A) architectural firm, will be speaker for the evening. Local residents are familiar with many of the firm’s projects in the Boston area, which include the New England Patriots Hall of Fame, Liberty Hotel, the Boston Children’s Museum and the renovation of the New England Aquarium and Science Museums, Franklin Park Zoo and Discovery Museum in Acton. The firm’s international portfolio includes a Children’s Science Center in Kuwait and a Children’s Museum in Seoul, South Korea, as well as projects in Saudi Arabia and China. For this lecture Mr. Kuttner will speak about his work on museums, and particularly the intersection of museums and culture in a global practice. He will balance insights from his work overseas with updates on the recent and upcoming growth of museums in Boston.

Peter was born in Indiana but went to high school in Turkey where his father worked for General Electric. He attended University of Michigan for both undergraduate and graduate school, and joined C7A a few years later. His first project with them was to design the Porter Square MBTA station in Cambridge. This project marked the launch of Boston’s “Arts on the Line” series. Kuttner himself chose to include Japanese artist Susumu Shigu’s red chaotic motion wind fans high above the station, a familiar sight to drivers along Mass. Avenue.

A Boston Globe article once described Peter Kuttner as “The People’s Architect.” Kuttner is quoted as saying, “All of our projects are public. No speculative office building, no private homes. A lot of our work is concerned with how large groups of people have an experience.” An article from the Baltimore Sun describes Kuttner’s checklist for a job, “It should serve some educational purpose, have a public component, and be beautiful.”

We look forward to welcoming Peter Kuttner to the Jenks Center on Wednesday, May 29. Please join us for coffee at 6:30 p.m. and the Brennan Lecture at 7 p.m.

The Jenks Center will be closed on Monday, May 27, for the Memorial Day Holiday