News — Nominal Architecture & Design

We are an architecture and design firm dedicated to crafting delightful and connected dwellings—from the block to the bedroom.

Nominal is a Women-Owned Small Business

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CONFERENCE

October 14, 2026

Planning for Grouth: Housing infrastructure, financing, and design tools to help navigate the rapid changes presently underway in northeast Minnesota.

A conference on housing challenges hosted by Lake Superior Area Realtors & the Carlton County Economic Development Authority. Partner Sam Naylor was a featured speaker, presenting ideas about land use practices, building code reform, and design excellence in middle housing.

PUBLIC EVENT

September 29, 2026

Build a Stronger Practice: The Business of Running a Small Firm

Partner Cadence Bayley, co-chair of the Boston Society for Architects (BSA) Small Practices Network worked on planning the event and was a moderator for the final event panel on “Small Firm Leadership: Lessons from Practice.” Build a Stronger Practice is a full-day program for people running firms of about 1-10 people across the built environment. Four sessions will focus on business development, contracts and insurance, hiring and outsourcing, and the realities of small-firm leadership.

Event Page

PROJECT IN THE NEWS

September 16, 2026

Nominal has been assisting The Loov in Somerville with permitting and space redesign as part of strenghtneing their ability to program and hold events. Their story was featured in the Arts & Culture section of WBUR News. We are excited to work with groundbreaking local organizations in the arts.

Read More Here

PUBLIC EVENT

September 15, 2026

A Boston Foundation conference on Housing, Land Use, and Building Reform. Featuring:

Jonathan Berk on permitting reform, briefing us on his new Boston Indicators report, Delayed by Design: How the Permitting Process Stalls Housing in Massachusetts, to be released at the event. Sam Naylor on building code reform, including his recommendations for small multifamily housing in Massachusetts, drawn from two reports he released with Boston Indicators over the past two years. Amy Dain on comprehensive regulatory reform, including comparison of state reform efforts across time.

Location: The Boston Foundation
Time: 9am to 12pm
Details: Breakfast & Lunch available

Event Recording

INTERVIEW

September 14, 2026

Sam Naylor and Susanne Schindler sat down with Edgar Herwick, Host of the GBH News Curiosity Desk to talk about housing cooperatives, multifamily design, and what Boston can learn from Zurich.

Listen Here
Watch on Youtube

PODCAST

August 6, 2026

Sam Naylor sat down with the hosts of the Most Podern podcast to talk about the role of building codes in blocking well designed small multifamily housing.

Listen on Spotify

Watch on YouTube

REPORT RELEASE

July 14, 2026

On Tuesday, July 14, 2026, Boston Indicators hosted an author briefing on the new report, Unlocking Small Multifamily Housing Through Building Code Reform, in partnership with the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University and Nominal. The report highlights how current building codes limit the construction of small multifamily housing units and how common-sense changes could help address Massachusetts’ housing shortage.

The event was opened by Chris Herbert, managing director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, and Sam Naylor, co-founding partner at Nominal and lead author of the report, presented the key findings. Stephen Smith, executive director of the Center for Building in North America, responded to the findings, placing Massachusetts’ challenges in a national and international context; and Boston Indicators Senior Fellow Amy Dain then led a question-and-answer session with Naylor and Smith.

Event Page & Recording

LECTURE

April 9, 2026

Northeastern University School of Architecture Spring Lecture Series, featuring Sam Naylor.

Location: Behrakis 315
Time: 1:30 pm

PUBLIC EVENT

February 27, 2026

Nominal partner, Sam Naylor, hosted and moderated the event: Using Design Competitions to Improve the Quality of Housing: A Roundtable Discussion. The virtual event was chosted by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing and co-sponsored by the Boston Society for Architecture’s Housing Committee. Featured speakers include: Susanne Schindler, who will discuss her recent working paper about how design competitions can address these shortcomings, ass well as Boston-area practitioners who will weigh in on the issue: Kathleen Evans, Tim Love, Rebecca Tomasovic, and Joseph Zeal-Henry

An edited version of the conversation will be published as part of the next edition of The State of Housing Design book, which will feature similar pieces from two other upcoming Center events.

Event Recording Link

PROJECT UPDATE

January 22, 2026

Our Glen Rd interiors project was finally completed, and expertly photographed by Randy Crandon. See the project page for more images, drawings, and information.

PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENT

August 25, 2025

A site visit and meet and greet hosted by the Somerville Community Land Trust for our new all affordable Triple Decker in Somerville, MA. The gathering celebrated the future of 14-16 Sewall Street — the newest property of the CLT that will transform an empty lot into family-sized, permanently affordable homeownership units. The project is in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston.

Nominal Partner, Cadence Bayley, attended the event and spoke with neighbors and community leaders. Thank you to everyone who joined us and to those helping make affordable homeownership a reality in our city!