Below, you’ll find our insider's suggestions for making the most of a trip to Beantown during AIA25. All addresses are in Boston, unless noted otherwise.

Modern Must-Sees

Designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles, Boston City Hall (1 City Hall Square) is an icon of Brutalist architecture and a building that is both loved and hated by architects (love) and non-architects (hate). — Philip Chen, principal, Annum Architects

There are so many great modern works, from all the post-war Brutalism throughout the city and the many special buildings that dot the various academic campuses, including everything at MIT like Saarinen’s MIT Chapel (48 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge) and Aalto’s Baker House dorm (362 Memorial Dr., Cambridge). But one of our favorites is a deep cut at Harvard: Larsen Hall (14 Appian Way, Cambridge). It’s a wonderful and strange Brutalist brick castle that you often stumble upon, rather than seek out from the canon list of buildings to see. — John Todd, principal, WOJR

A highlight of the Harvard campus is the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (24 Quincy St., Cambridge), Le Corbusier’s only North American Building. — David Croteau, president and principal, Flansburgh Architects

An easy favorite is the John Hancock Tower, now known as 200 Clarendon Street, designed by Henry Cobb. — Jeffry Burchard, managing partner and design principal, Machado Silvetti

Recent modern highlights are MIT’s Rotch Library (77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge) and Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s renovations and expansions of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way), and Harvard Art Museums (32 Quincy St., Cambridge). — Jason Forney, principal, Brunner/Cott Architects

Historic Draws

I keep looking at H.H. Richardson’s Sever Hall at Harvard (25 Harvard Yard, Cambridge) and its beautiful brickwork. —  Eric Höweler, co-founding principal, Höweler + Yoon

Richardson and Olmsted’s Ames Gate Lodge (135 Elm St. North Easton, MA) is about a 20-minute drive outside of the city. — Nader Tehrani, principal, NADAAA

Boston Public Library’s Central Library (700 Boylston St.) designed by Charles Follen McKim. The main reading room is quite amazing. — Stephanie Randazzo Dwyer, partner and design principal, Machado Silvetti

The Great Outdoors: Superlative Green Spaces

The Arnold Arboretum (125 Arborway, Boston), a jewel of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace, is a unique kind of public green space. A museum of plants maintained by Harvard University, it is laid out to tell stories about how we have historically categorized and understood plant relationships. And as a leading research institution, you can walk among priceless specimens from around the world and generations-long living experiments.— Eric Kramer, principal and partner, Reed Hilderbrand

Designed by Olmsted to casually meander around 34 acres, the Riverway features some of the most beautiful pedestrian bridges ever, many of them designed by H. H. Richardson’s firm. — Emily Paparella, principal, Elkus Manfredi Architects

Southwest Corridor Park is a leftover space between Back Bay and the South End turned into a wonderful linear park. — Stephanie Randazzo Dwyer 

Boston Common and the Public Garden are hard to beat. — Jason Forney

Outside the Gallery Walls: Great Public Art

The Embrace, the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Boston Commons (139 Tremont St.) by Hank Willis Thomas, is remarkable. Our Sean Collier Memorial at MIT (32 Vassar St., Cambridge) is also noteworthy. — Eric Höweler

La Grande Voile by Alexander Calder at MIT — Nader Tehrani

Sol Lewitt’s Bars of Color within Squares is always a fun and surprising find just off the Infinite Corridor at MIT. — John Todd

Off the Freedom Trail: Hidden Gems that Most Visitors Might Not Know About 

If you find yourself in the North End, don't miss the neighborhood’s Boston Public Library branch (25 Parmenter Street, Boston). Designed by Carl Koch in 1965, it's an uncanny mix of Arts and Craft masonry coupled with a beautiful, lightweight Felix Candela–like vault which scoops clerestory light inside.  On the interior, you'll see the remains of a sunken reflecting pool where Sheila [Kennedy] and I enjoyed reading when we first moved here, surrounded by submerged tropical philodendrons and books. The denouement awaits in the back, an enormous model of the Pallazzo Ducale in Venice, lagoon and all. — Frano Violich, co-founding partner, Kennedy and Violich Architecture 

Venture through the Prudential Center (800 Boylston St.) and Copley Place (100 Huntington Ave.). It's an interior urbanism that goes almost the entire length of Newbury Street. Super commercial, yes, but an urban phenomenon, nonetheless. — Jeffry Burchard

Designed by Peabody and Sterns, the Dorchester Heights monument in South Boston recognizes when George Washington fortified the location in March 1776 and succeeded in driving the British troops out of Boston. It’s on a tall hill with views of the water and the city. — Emily Paparella

Black Falcon Avenue in South Boston — Nader Tehrani

Obligatory Tourist Traps: Spots Worth Braving the Crowds to Visit

The Paul Revere House (19 N. Square). What a wall section (rammed earth, deep, and covered in lap siding). — J. Jih, principal, Studio J.Jih

With its narrow alleys, brick row houses, and gas street lamps, Beacon Hill has a historic Boston charm that, living here so long, you forget, is not readily found elsewhere in the U.S. — John Todd

Take a tour of the historic and iconic Fenway Park (4 Jersey St.) or visit Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market (4 S. Market St.)  — David Croteau 

The View observation deck at the Prudential Center — Jason Forney

For Foodies: Top Dining and Drinking Destinations 

Head to Sofra (1 Belmont, Cambridge), a casual bakery-café, here you can actually taste Ana Sortun's delicious Middle Eastern cuisine, because her restaurants are booked months ahead. Try the Turkish breakfast and then take a morning walk in Mount Auburn Cemetery (580 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge) just across the street—it’s an architectural and landscape marvel of the mid-19th century rural cemetery movement and a mecca for urban birdwatchers.— Eric Kramer

Pammy’s (928 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge), hands down. Nothing disappoints. Everything is elevated and impeccably executed but so cozy, friendly, and unpretentious. Our team always seems to find our way back there for an evening together. Start with the house Negroni, and make sure to try their Lumache. — John Todd

Kava Neo-Taverna (315 Shawmut Ave.) is an ideal, summery place in the South End. The authentic Italian charm is felt the moment you step inside of Ristorante Euno (119 Salem St.) in the North End—just imagine when you’re seated and handed a menu. At Peach Farm (4 Tyler St.) in Chinatown, try my favorite: the lobster with ginger and scallions. — Emily Paparella

Designed by Ken Faulk Contessa at the Newbury Hotel (3 Newbury St.) offers Italian rooftop dining with views of the Boston Public Garden in a glam, vintage setting. In the Seaport District, Nautilus Pier 4 (300 Pier 4 Blvd.) is a fusion of Asian, New England, and tapas-style dining in a lively space. Located in a renovated 1908 warehouse in Fort Point, Row 34 (383 Congress St.) is an industrial-chic space with a focus on seafood. — David Croteau

The Delux (100 Chandler St.) between Back Bay and the South End is a tiny neighborhood café— a little moody and fun, and great for a bite and beers with friends. — Jeffry Burchard

The Barking Crab (88 Sleeper St.) in summer. — J. Jih

The Somerville scene is excellent. Try Sarma (249 Pearl St., Somerville); Spoke Wine Bar (89 Holland St., Somerville); Field and Vine (9 Sanborn Ct., Somerville); and Celeste (21 Bow. St., Somerville). For seafood, try the Union Oyster House (41 Union St.), Neptune Oyster (63 Salem St.), and Mooncusser (304 Stuart St.) — Jason Forney

Daytime wandering: Best Neighborhoods to Explore 

Jamaica Plain is easily accessible from the Orange line T. Stroll through the Arnold Arboretum or grab an ice cream at JP Licks (659 Centre St., Jamaica Plain). —Stephanie Randazzo Dwyer

Dorchester for the old school gay bars and amazing Vietnamese food. — J. Jih

Boston After Dark: Picks for the Perfect Night Out on the Town

I would try live music at Wally’s Café Jazz Club (427 Massachusetts Ave.) or The Beehive (541 Tremont St.) or maybe a cocktail at Lucky’s Lounge (355 Congress St.) — Stephanie Randazzo Dwyer

The Museum of Fine Arts’ MFA Late Nites event series. — J. Jih

Take a walk through Beacon Hill and along the Charles River Esplanade. — Jeffry Burchard

New England Road Trip: Out-of-Town Excursions 

An hour north of Boston in Manchester, New Hampshire, you can find two Frank Lloyd Wright houses on the same block! The Zimmerman House is an elegant model of his Usonian architecture while the Kalil House is a much more unique example of his Usonian Automatic in his experimentation with inexpensive concrete modular blocks—only one of seven surviving examples. Reservations are required and tours can be arranged with the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St., Manchester). Of course, if you have more time and plan well, you may also be able to stop by Louis Kahn’s famous, nearby Phillips Exeter Academy Library (200 Main St., Exeter) to make a day trip to see three works by two of America’s best architects. — Tom S. Chung, principal, Leers Weinzapfel Architects

Halibut Point State Park (Rockport, Mass.) is a former granite quarry that once supplied stone for Boston’s curbs and foundations, now transformed into a state park right on the ocean. The trails loop around the water-filled quarry, passing massive cuts of granite, remnants of old equipment, and views that stretch all the way to Maine on a clear day. In June, the paths are lined with wild blueberries, and you can scramble down the rocks to a small beach for a picnic or just sit and watch the waves crash against the shore. It’s a unique place to reflect on the history, provenance, and labor embedded in the materials that built our cities—and to consider what we’ve taken from the earth, and what it continues to give us in return. — Patricia Gruits, co-executive director, MASS Design Group

Just north of Boston and reachable by public transportation, Rockport and Gloucester are quintessential New England towns with coastal scenery and activities, local history, and great seafood. — Philip Chen

Take a drive out to Lincoln to tour Walter and Ise Gropius’s own home, an integration of Modernism and the New England vernacular. And take a careful look at the landscape. While many discount the Modernist architect’s interest in landscape, the house was sited carefully on the hillside in alignment with historic stone walls running through the site, surrounding trees were planted even before the house was built and align with its structural grid. The screened porch is a gem of a space that creates a rich transparency between inside and out. — Eric Kramer

Drive out scenic Route 2 all the way to the Berkshires towns of North Adams and Williamstown. Spend a day at the Clark Art Institute (225 South St., Williamstown, MA.), not just in the impeccable galleries designed by Tadao Ando, Annabelle Selldorf, and Gensler—make sure you save time for a long walk in the landscape designed by Reed Hilderbrand as well. Hike up Stone Hill for the views and relax on the lawn by the tiered pools of water that reflect the surrounding forests and meadows. — Eric Kramer

Drive to Wellesley College to see the amazing campus. Admire Paul Rudolph’s Jewett Arts Center (206 Central St., Wellesley, MA) and Rafael Moneo’s Davis Museum (106 Central Ave.), as well as Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects’ Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center (21 Wellesley College Rd.) — Eric Höweler

The World’s End hiking trail (Martins Ln, Hingham, Mass) was the almost-location of the United Nations before Bob Moses wrangled it away. — J. Jih 

Editors’ Picks

Armory of the First Corps of Cadets, William Gibbons Preston (101 Arlington St.)
Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, Mecanoo and Sasaki (2300 Washington St., Roxbury)
Christian Science Plaza, I.M. Pei & Partners, Sasaki (Massachusetts and Huntington Aves.)
Community Rowing Boathouse, Anmahian Winton Architects (20 Nonantum Rd., Brighton)
Custom House Tower, Ammi Burnham Young, Peabody & Stearns (4 McKinley Sq.)
The Cyclorama at Boston Center for the Arts, Cummings and Sears (539 Tremont St.)
Harvard Holyoke Center, José Luis Sert (1350 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge)
Harvard Science & Engineering Complex, Behnisch Architekten (150 Western Ave., Allston)
Institute of Contemporary Art, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (25 Harbor Shore Dr.)
John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Walter Gropius and Norman C. Fletcher of The Architects Collaborative with Samuel Glaser (15 Sudbury St.)
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, I.M. Pei & Partners (220 Morrissey Blvd.)
Lindemann Mental Health Center, Paul Rudolph (25 Staniford St.)

Madison Park High School, Marcel Breuer, Tician Papachristou (75 Malcolm X Blvd. Roxbury)
Massachusetts State House, Charles Bulfinch (24 Beacon St.)
MIT Kresge Auditorium, Eero Saarinen (48 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge)
MIT Media Lab, Maki and Associates (75 Amherst St., Cambridge)
MIT Simmons Hall, Steven Holl (229 Vassar St., Cambridge)
Museum of Fine Arts, Art of Americas Wing, Foster + Partners  (465 Huntington Ave.)
Old South Meeting House, Robert Twelves (310 Washington St.)
One International Place, Johnson/Burgee Architects (100 Oliver St.)
Stata Center, Frank Gehry (32 Vassar St., Cambridge)
Symphony Hall, McKim, Mead, and White (301 Massachusetts Ave)
Trinity Church, H.H. Richardson (206 Clarendon St.)

Compiled by Matt Hickman, Dante Ciampaglia, and Matthew Marani