Castle Village

Our congratulations to MIT professor John Ochsendorf, who was retained by Castle Village to advise us on the stability and maintenance of our retaining wall, for winning a 2008 MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as a “genius” grant. Ochsendorf, 34, is a structural engineer and architectural historian who studies building techniques from the past and identifies ancient technologies that can be applied in contemporary construction. He has focused on masonry vaulting in ancient Rome, fiber suspension bridges in the Inca Empire, and newly designed energy-efficient domes in England. “In the 21st century,” he said, “as we’re faced with climate change and diminishing natural resources, our buildings may look more like buildings from the past.”