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Faculty

George Thrush, FAIA

Professor and Director

617-373-4637

George Thrush is Director of the School of Architecture at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. His articles include "Ring City: Civic Liberalism and Urban Design" and "Boston's New Urban Ring: An Antidote to Fragmentation". His work seeks to connect transportation, urban design, and civic image in an increasingly privatized economic arena. He received his B.Arch. from the University of Tennessee in 1984, and his M. Arch. from Harvard University in 1988. In 2005, his work was celebrated with his entry into the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows.

Area of Research: His research, practice, writing, and teaching all revolve around contemporary urban issues in architecture. The School he heads focuses on design solutions for Boston's "post-industrial landscape" of former transportation infrastructure and other difficult sites. He is among the primary authors of a comprehensive regional transportation and development proposal for the Boston metropolitan area called The New Urban Ring.

An abbreviated version of his CV is below:
Master of Architecture, Harvard University, 1988
Bachelor of Architecture, University of Tennessee, 1984
Registered Architect, Massachusetts, 1989
Member, American Institute of Architects, 1992
AIA Young Architect's Award, American Institute of Architects, 1996
Member, College of Fellows, American Institute of Architects, 2005

Director, School of Architecture 2005-
Northeastern University

Refereed Articles:

"Ring City: Civic Liberalism and Urban Design", 1996
AppendX Magazine #3, Spring, 1996, pp. 124-146
Graduate School of Design
Harvard University

"Boston's New Urban Ring: An Antidote to Urban Fragmentation" , 1996
ACSA Proceedings, Spring, 1996, pp. 384-392
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
Washington, DC

"Ethics and Efficacy" 1995
GSD News, Fall, 1995, p. 12
Graduate School of Design
Harvard University

Non-Refereed Articles:

“Thinking Public in a Private Age”, 2004
Proceedings, XV Bienial de Archtectura de Quito
Colegio de Architectos de Ecuador
Quito, Ecuador

An Unsettling Look at the Future 2004
Op-Ed Piece , The Boston Globe (3/29/04)
A critique of the attitudes underlying the expansion of Harvard University’s campus across the Charles River, and into Allston, MA. The piece addresses the design particulars of Machado and Silvetti’s new One Western Avenue Dormitory for the Harvard Business School at the gateway to the new campus.

What the City of Boston Needs is More People, 2000
Not More Open Space
Op-Ed Piece , The Boston Globe
on environmentalism, urbanism and open space, (12/25/00)
(subsequently featured on the Center for Urban and Regional Policy’s
website as the featured article in February, 2001.

Millennium Project Is Good For Boston 1998
Op-Ed Piece , The Boston Globe
on Turnpike Air-Rights Development Project, (12/3/98)
Advocates a tall building in the Back Bay, connected to a low
scale in-fill set of structures crossing the turnpike.

"Long-Term Planning Needs an Urban Ring to It",
The Boston Business Journal, Commentary , June 2-8, 1995, p.13
This piece argues for using the urban ring as the paradigm
for all major physical planning in the city and environs.

"The "Urban Ring" could join Boston and the Megaplex" 1995
Op-Ed Piece , The Boston Globe, (6/27/95)
This piece argues for considering the infrastructure
of the city before deciding how and where to place a
new Megaplex (convention center and/ or football stadium).

"On Deviancy", 1994
A Conversation between George Thrush and Darell Fields, (editor)
AppendX Magazine #2, Spring, 1994, pp. 143-147
Graduate School of Design
Harvard University

"The Need for a Center: Politics, Morphology, and the Ring",
The New Urban Ring (catalogue), April, 1994, pp.17-21
Urban Design Charrette Series, Document #2
Northeastern University

"The Charrette Process: Architecture, Urban Design, and Politics",
Catalogue , December, 1993, pp. 4-13
Urban Design Charrette Series, Document #1
Northeastern University

"Art and Architecture Department Sponsors First
Northeastern University Urban Design Charrette",
Chronicle, Spring 1993, p.8
College of Arts and Sciences
Northeastern University

Creative
Productivity

Academic
Presentations

Pan-American Bienial Presentation October, 2004
“Thinking Public in a Private Age”
Proceedings, XV Bienial de Archtectura de Quito
Colegio de Architectos de Ecuador
Quito, Ecuador

Conference Introduction April, 2004
“How Deep is the Ocean ?”
Introduction to Conference
Urban Housing and the Legacy of Modernism: Europe & America
Department of Architecture
Northeastern University

National Conference March 2003
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA)
Louisville, KY
Session Chair
“Urban/ Suburban Geography, Demography, and Design”
w/ Milton Curry, Cornell & Emily Talen, University of Illinois- Champaign

Panelist- Special Session
“Urban Design Education- Steering the Discussion”
w/ Ellen Dunham-Jones, Director, Architecture Georgia Tech
and Andrea Kahn, Associate Professor, Urban Design,
Columbia University

National Lecture
“Density and the City: The Next Layer” September, 2003
National Conference on Density
American Institute of Architects/ Boston Society of Architects
Parker House, Boston, MA
September 12, 2003
(other speakers, Douglas Kelbaugh, Dean, University of Michigan, and
Stephanos Polyzoides, New Urbanism founder, San Diego, CA)

Invited Panelist 2003 Housing Presentation on Criteria for Urban Housing
Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
March 12, 2003

4th National Academic Symposium on New Urbanism 2001
Invited Respondent
University of Michigan, February, 2001
Ann, Arbor, MI

"Venturi & Scott-Brown, Lynch, Rowe and
The New Urban Ring" 1998
Gallery Talk at Exhibition, April 3, 1998
School of Architecture
California College of Arts and Crafts
San Francisco, CA

"The Scale of Identity" 1997
Public Lecture, February 24, 1997
School of Architecture
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA

"The Urban Ring" 1996
"Everyday Communities, Everyday Neighborhoods"
National A.I.A. Conference on Regional and Urban Design
Boston, MA
October, 17-20, 1996

"The Scale of Identity" 1996
Public Lecture, October 4, 1996
School of Architecture
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA

"The Scale of Identity" 1996
Public Lecture, September 23, 1996
School of Architecture
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN

"Art, Architecture, and Representations of the City" 1996
Panel Discussion, February 14, 1996
Huntington Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art
Boston, MA

"Boston's New Urban Ring: 1996
An Antidote to Urban Fragmentation"
Presentation to Regional Planning Organization
MoveMASS 2000, April 26, 1996
Offices of Palmer & Dodge
Boston, MA

"Boston's New Urban Ring: 1996
An Antidote to Urban Fragmentation"
National A.C.S.A. Conference
Boston, MA
March 10, 1996

Introduction and Moderator for Session 1996
"Focusing Back on the City"
National A.C.S.A. Conference
Boston, MA
March 11, 1996

"Boston's New Urban Ring as a Location for Public Schools" 1996
Lecture, January 31, 1996
Fourth Semester Architectural Design Studio
Extended Urban Strategies
Professor Darell Fields, Coordinator
Department of Architecture
Graduate School of Design
Harvard University

"Spatial Order and Political Diversity: 1995
The City, the Suburbs, and Boston's New Urban Ring"
Lecture, October 6, 1995
Overview Lecture Series
Professor Niall Kirkwood, Coordinator
Department of Landscape Architecture
Graduate School of Design
Harvard University

"Introduction to the Urban Ring", 1995
Lecture, July 7, 1995
Urban Law and Economic Development
School of Law
Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Michael S. Dukakis
Northeastern University

"Architecture and Politics", 1991
Lecture, November 18, 1991
Education and Criticism Lecture Series
California College of Arts and Crafts
San Francisco, CA

One-Person Harvard University
Exhibitions Gund Hall, Graduate School of Design
May 6- 31, 1996
"Boston's New Urban Ring:An Antidote to Fragmentation"
Exhibition of Research and Design

Regional Urban Design Analysis, History, and Documentation 1995
Urban Design Case Study #1: Melnea Cass Boulevard, Roxbury 1996
Urban Design Case Study #2: MIT / BU Bridge, Boston & Cambridge 1996

Travelling Exhibitions:
University of Tennessee
School of Architecture
September 16- 30, 1996
Northeastern University
Ryder Hall Gallery
November 18, 1996- January 6, 1997
Tulane University
School of Architecture
February 24- March 14, 1997
California College of Arts and Crafts
School of Architecture
March 9- April 14, 1998

Build Boston Exhibition
World Trade Center, Boston, MA
"New England Architects"
November 19-21, 1996
Duffy/ Beard Residence
Cambridge, MA
Travelling Exhibition:
NYNEX Lobby Gallery
125 High Street, Boston, MA
July 7– August 1, 1997

Northeastern University
Ryder Hall Gallery
January 17– February 3, 1995
"George Thrush: Architecture and Urban Design, 1990-1994",
Ocean House Series, Scituate, MA
Ocean House House #1 (Kervick/ Costello House) 1990
Ocean House #2 (The Wall House) 1991
Ocean House #3 (The Crustacean House) 1992
The Bluestone Bistro 1994