Harvard Unveils Design Concepts for Smith Campus Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvard University recently unveiled concepts for redesigning the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center, including formal and informal gathering areas, flexible event and meeting spaces, various eating options, fireplaces, landscaped gardens, and a roof terrace.

The new concepts are the results of engaging students, faculty, and staff, through more than 25 focus groups and almost 6,000 responses to a University-wide survey. The center already houses Harvard’s housing, ID, and parking offices, and will expand to include the FAS Registrar’s Office and ticketing service. New space for student collaboration, such as offices for the undergraduate and graduate councils, may be included, in response to student requests.

Highlights of the proposed changes are creating new spaces for meetings, events, and social gatherings on the 10^th floor – which offers views of Boston, the Charles River, and Harvard Yard – and an open-plan, multi-level common space on the lower level. Planners expect the new Smith Campus Center to be a central meeting point for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. Construction could begin in early 2016, with the new center expected to open in 2018. Much of the building will remain open during construction.

Harvard has retained London-based Hopkins Architects for this project, with Cambridge-based Bruner/Cott, executive architect, and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, landscape architects.

For more information on the Smith Campus Center project, see the Harvard Gazette.

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