A Home for Future Generations
Funded by the sponsors of Mass Save through a Community Education Grant, the City of Framingham and the Town of Natick have commissioned two complementary, participatory public art projects (one in Framingham and one in Natick) that connect with the theme of Our Energy Future. Our Energy Future is about the role each of us plays in achieving greenhouse gas emission reduction goals in our homes and buildings. This participatory public art project will amplify the importance of collective action towards a more sustainable future.
A Home for Our Future Generations uses creativity to spark environmental awareness through two home-shaped public installations in Natick and Framingham that invite people to approach sustainability as an attainable goal.
Two 8×8 ft walls hold interior murals on energy conservation, while the exterior becomes a community-made mosaic of painted shingles created in over thirty workshops across Framingham and Natick. The shingle wall mosaic features data exemplifying an “Energy Conservation Journey.” The project addresses energy conservation steps in a home, such as installing insulation, window upgrades, heat pumps, efficient appliances, and solar energy to lower carbon emissions. An AR component connects viewers to incentives and expert guidance, empowering and encouraging community action toward a sustainable future.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Resource List
Making Our Communities a Home for Future Generations
The City of Framingham and the Town of Natick are proud to work with residents and businesses to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions.
Together they share the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, and each have sustainability staff and appointed committees working to make this happen.
Framingham and Natick are designated as Green Communities by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and have already reduced energy use from municipal buildings by more than 20% from their baselines. In doing so, the municipalities regularly leverage Mass Save programs to assess the performance of municipal buildings and to pay for energy upgrades.
To learn more about municipal efforts, visit:
Resources for your Home’s Energy Conservation Journey:
Start by visiting MassSave.comto schedule a no-cost energy audit and learn about incentives/ rebates
Use the MABI tool to learn how specific upgrades to your home can reduce emissions and improve efficiency
Get free coaching on heat pumps from neighbors volunteering with the HeatSmartAlliance.org
Use EnergySage to quickly estimate your home’s solar potential and savings
Find clean energy contractors that can help at GoClean.MassCEC.com/installers
We are loving What if we get it Right? by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a refreshing take on the climate crisis
The meaning behind the colors
The color-coded shingles show how a Metrowest home can reach zero emissions over time by taking actions supported by Mass Save and the state’s solar program.
Using an artistic interpretation of data from the MIT Sustainable Design Lab’s Massachusetts Building Inventory tool (MABI), the shingles show how a MetroWest home’s emissions change after installing insulation, upgrading to efficient appliances, switching to heat pumps, and adding solar panels.
Red, orange, teal, and blue shingles show how emissions decline with each energy improvement. Purple shingles, which show emissions avoided, grow with each action until a home reaches net zero.
Each shingle features a hand-painted community response to a question about the future.
Red and orange shingles warn about a potential future in which we don’t take action, and the issues that are causing and being caused by climate change.
Teal and blue illustrate ideas for attainable ways to cut carbon emissions, and purple imagines what is possible if we achieve net zero.
Each response is unique and inspired by the community member’s vision for the future.
artist team
Photo by Dana J. Quigley
Byggmeister is a 43-year-old worker-owned residential remodeling company committed to serving as an exemplary steward of existing homes. We treat every renovation project as an opportunity to make homes more comfortable, durable, and energy-efficient because better-performing homes are better for the people living in them and for the planet.
Shachmut Photography
Julia Csekö and Raquel Fornasaro are Brazilian-American visual artists and educators committed to socially engaged, community-centered public art that bridges aesthetics, education, and participation. Both are award-winning professionals with extensive exhibition histories in galleries, museums, and public spaces. Csekö brings deep public art experience, including her 2024 Salem Public Artist in Residence role, and several completed commissions, with large-scale murals currently on view in Boston and Jamaica Plain. Her work often highlights language, democratic participation, and co-creation. Fornasaro’s multidisciplinary practice integrates storytelling, ecological consciousness, and community engagement, including a painted piano for Newton’s Artful Pianos and a heart sculpture for Framingham’s Many Cultures, One Heart, both on view. Together, they combine complementary strengths to create impactful, socially responsive public art.
Thank you to the exXpert Byggmeister building team
sneak peek of installation
Public Engagement
We’ve completed over 30 public engagement sessions in Framingham and Natick, where community members painted siding shingles incorporated into the final piece!
Event Partners
Thank you to the following organizations for hosting art-making opportunities:
Framingham
Danforth Museum, Keefe Tech, Framingham Public Library, Walsh Middle School, Potter Road Elementary School, Callahan Center, Framingham High School, Town Employee Activity Framingham, Stapleton Elementary School, Harmony Grove Elementary School, Brophy Elementary School
Framingham
Natick
Morse Institute Library, Walnut Hill, Wilson Middle School, Natick Community Organic Farms (Craft Movie Night), Natick Community-Senior Center, Hemenway Elementary School, Memorial Elementary School (Maple Magic), Natick Teen Center, First Congregational Church, Lilja Elementary School
Natick
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