Over 100 volunteer architects help to set up and facilitate KidsBuild! each year. PHOTO BY THUY BUONOCORE PHOTOGRAPHY
RETHINKING WHAT AN ARCHITECT CAN BE:
AN INTERVIEW WITH DANYSON TAVARES OF THE BSA
Danyson Tavares
Executive Director, Boston Society for Architecture( BSA).
From architecture student and designer to educator, nonprofit leader and now executive director of the Boston Society for Architecture( BSA), Danyson Tavares has built a career that extends well beyond the traditional boundaries of the profession. NEXTGEN student publisher Charli Campbell spoke with Tavares about his own path, the BSA’ s work to introduce young people to architecture, and how the next generation is changing what it means to be an architect.
Charli Campbell: Your career has taken you from studying architecture at Wentworth to working as a designer, teaching, leading YouthBuild Boston, and now serving as executive director of the BSA. Did you always picture your career taking this path, or did your idea of what you could do with an architecture degree change along the way?
Danyson Tavares: Not at all. When I started studying architecture at Wentworth, I thought the path was pretty straightforward: you go to architecture school, work at a firm, become an architect, and design buildings.
What changed for me was realizing that architecture gave me a way of thinking that could be applied far beyond the traditional practice of architecture.
Teaching was probably one of the first places I really understood that. Then at YouthBuild Boston, I saw how architecture, design, and construction could become tools for economic mobility and create pathways for young people who might never have imagined themselves in this profession. Now at the BSA, I get to think about architecture at an even larger scale— how we support the profession, how we engage the public, and how architects can play a bigger role in shaping the future of our communities.
So my career isn’ t what I imagined when I started architecture school, but architecture has been the thread through all of it.
CC: You’ ve spent much of your career creating opportunities for young people to experience architecture and design.
6 NEXTGEN AEC STUDENT EDITION 2026