History of Art and Architecture

Tristan Whalen studies 19th and 20th-century American architecture. His current research focuses on the art and architecture of Freemasonry and the translation of conceptual and spiritual systems into physical architectural space. 

Tristan holds a BA from Williams College in English, Theatre, and Philosophy, and a MDes with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His final project at the GSD, The Quabbin Reservoireum, proposed a new typological approach to funerary architecture, centered on histories of land erasure, institutional violence, and public memory in the Quabbin River Valley of Western Massachusetts. 

Tristan has worked as a gallery interpreter at the Clark Art Institute and a Graduate Student Lecturer at the ICA/Boston, designing and leading tours of exhibitions featuring contemporary artists from around the world, including Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora; Hew Locke: The Procession; Charles Atlas: About Time; Stanley Whitney: How High the Moon, and Firelei Baez. He has curated and co-curated exhibitions at The Blanc Gallery in New York City, the Kirkland Gallery in Cambridge, and the 2024 Beta Architectural Biennial in Timișoara, Romania.