Current Exhibit

In Form: Communicating Boston

Boston Society of Architects "BSA Space" Gallery
290 Congress Street, Boston, MA
Free and Open to the Public
Visit the BSA Space website for hours and directions



Authentic MBTA station signs from Arlington Station are on loan from WardMaps and MBTAgifts. These signs date from the late 1960s and are a result of the "new" MBTA graphic and way-finding standards developed by Cambridge Seven Architects for the MBTA.

From the exhibit webpage:

The experience of the city is never static. Our sense of the urban environment and our ability to navigate its terrain are constantly negotiated, subject to the hidden processes that influence the forms we see. Design plays an instrumental role in this translation. Physical interventions can help or hinder our understanding of a city’s spaces, clarify or obscure its systems of movement and enable or deny the participation of its various publics. By framing the means through which we interpret and engage with our surroundings, designers can reveal the changing aspects of a city’s present, tell stories about its past and speculate on its future.

IN FORM presents a legacy of projects in Boston over the past 50 years envisioned to increase access to the city. Three themes—Legible City, New/Public and Futures—explore how design can shape our understanding of the urban realm, expand its cultural sphere and propose new possibilities for its development. Combining architecture and urban planning with the design of information, exhibitions and events, each of these built and unbuilt projects embodies a particular vision of what Boston is and what it could be.

Past Exhibit

Journeys Through the Mediterranean:
Maps, Guides and Posters from The Golden Age of Travel

Free exhibit runs through January 28, 2012
Grand Circle Gallery, 347 Congress St, Boston, MA

Grand Circle Gallery and WardMaps have teamed up to present Journeys Through The Mediterranean—Maps, Guides, and Posters from The Golden Age of Travel. The exhibition pairs Grand Circle Gallery’s vintage travel posters with WardMaps’ antique pocket guides and maps, transporting visitors back to The Golden Age of Travel on the Mediterranean. Excerpts from turn-of-the-century Baedeker pocket guides place you in the train station in Cairo, or at the entrance to the Parthenon in Athens. You’ll travel through the Mediterranean’s ports-of-call, just as travelers did at the turn of the century. Destinations include Italy, France and the Riviera, Greece, Northern Africa, and Egypt, as well as Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.

One of the displays of special interest is a collection of antique Baedeker travel guides and maps, many of which are rare and sought after by collectors. Though travel guides were not a new invention at the time, Karl Baedeker’s innovation brought travel guides to a higher standard of detail and accuracy. As a son of a book printer, Baedeker was inspired to begin his own publishing company in 1827. After buying another publishing house in 1832 to expand his business, Baedeker discovered a travel guide that had been released through the old company, called Rheinreise von Mainz biss Köln (“Traveling the Rhine from Mainz to Cologne”), which provided inspiration for Baedeker’s first travel guides. Very soon after their first appearance, the red leather cover and gold lettering became a Baedeker trademark, and his status as a pioneer of international travel guides was solidified with the addition of detailed information for a destination’s accommodations, transportation, pricing, and star ratings for attractions.

Join us this winter to travel back in time with Baedeker’s antique travel guides and explore "The Golden Age of Travel” at Grand Circle Gallery!

Grand Circle Gallery Info:

Address: 347 Congress St, Boston MA 02210
Admission: Free

Hours: 
Wednesday: 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Thursday: 11:00 am – 8:00 pm
Friday: 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday: 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
The Gallery will be closed December 24th – 31st

For more information:
Call: 617–346–6459
Email: info@grandcirclegallery.org
Grand Circle Gallery Website
Grand Circle Gallery on Facebook