On March 13th from 6-8 pm at the Center for Architecture in NYC, please join us as we kick off the Seeking Abundance Conversation Series, featuring Alan Ricks, Co-Executive Director and Founding Principal at MASS. Additional speakers to be announced soon!
Blending a book talk with a film screening, this evening celebrates the release of Seeking Abundance while exploring the intersection of architecture, landscape, and ecology through regenerative practice, multidisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement. Together, we’ll rethink how we design, work, and care for the places we inhabit- reframing abundance as a shared, place-based practice grounded in equity, imagination, and ecological stewardship.
RSVP in our bio!
@sierralakinbainbridge has been teaching us at @massdesigngroup since the very beginning that buildings and nature aren’t separate.
And stewardship isn’t only about the site we build on — it’s also about the landscapes our materials come from… and the species living within them.
In her latest talk (link in bio) she shares that nothing in an ecosystem acts alone. A single seed sets off a chain of interdependence — water, soil, microbes, plants, people — holding up health in every sense of the word.
In this opening reflection for Session 3: Flourishing at Abundant Futures / Live, Alan Ricks, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of MASS sets the stage for the final session of the day by grounding the audience in MASS’s mission and long-term vision for design as an act of care.
Drawing on 15 years of nonprofit practice, Alan reflects on how architecture can move beyond scarcity thinking toward abundance, creating places that foster well-being, belonging, dignity, beauty, and joy. He outlines MASS’s model of research, catalyst projects, and knowledge-sharing, and highlights how design can intervene where markets and politics often fall short.
Watch the full opening now on YouTube, linked in our bio.
This recording was made possible through our partners at @gbhforumnetwork
@atcha123 got me into triathlons last summer and after doing a few sprints last summer signed up for the North Carolina Ironman 70.3 mile race as one of those unrealistic new years resolutions. This summer was able to do five triathlons across Massachusetts and a couple half marathons in preparation. @cristina.delacierva has supported all along the way, including schlepping the kids to all these places so they could cheer at the finish line and steal my participation medals and occasional age group podium awards. And everyone made it down to Wilmington this past weekend, including my parents, so that they didn't miss me in a neon galaxy cat tri suit crossing the finish line...
Excited to be hosting Abundant Futures Live this November 10 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.
@massdesigngroup is bringing together over 300 leaders in health, conservation, community development, philanthropy, design, and more to highlight initiatives charting a more abundant future.
Stay tuned for registration and announcements about the exciting speaker lineup.
SEEKING ABUNDANCE: Design, Ecology and a Flourishing Planet
By MASS (Sierra Bainbridge + Alan Ricks)
@massdesigngroup@alanricks
Edited by William Richards @williamrichardseditorial
Graphic Design by Fred Swart @dieateljee
Coming Fall 2025
Regenerative design is a way of building that heals our planet and our communities by halting biodiversity loss, reversing climate change, and improving social equity. Over the last decade, the nonprofit design practice MASS has proven that we can yield positive social, environmental, and economic results through a series of projects in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Seeking Abundance argues for reducing the harm our building activities wage in our environments and that we can—and must—help people and the planet thrive together. The proof? MASS’ projects represent a coherent and replicable philosophy that responds to local ecologies and transforms lives. This groundbreaking new book, co-edited by Sierra Bainbridge and Alan Ricks, examines how the power of multidisciplinary collaboration, regenerative practices, and community engagement can actively contribute to a healthier, more harmonious world.
View through the oculus of the brise soleil that draws upon the local craft tradition of imigongo and the historical King’s Crown for its pattern. The University of Rwanda Regional Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering is a seven story passively ventilated academic building designed with @akt_ii and @transsolar_klimaengineering
Accomodations for patients and their accompanying family members coming for cancer treatment infusions. One phase of many over the last fifteen years at Butaro. With a modest budget we didn't include the volcanic stone and worked with the masons to instead create these arches that also curve in plan, creating a curved hallway and seating areas. Opened in 2019.
Butaro Doctor's Housing was our first design build project completed in 2012. Fast forward to today and the verdant maturing landscape creates an oasis of respite as it was initially imagined.
Sunset at the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorillas Fund. Rewilded landscape grown in and full of life. At least 50 different bird species enjoying the landscape and wetlands in one evening.
