Campus & Community

Harvard University takes first science, arts steps in Allston

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Site and architectural firm selected for state-of-the-art science complex

Harvard is moving forward to create the new Allston portion of its 21st century campus with the selection of a site and an architectural firm for a state-of-the-art science complex in Allston, University President Lawrence H. Summers announced Feb. 17.

Summers additionally announced plans for the creation of interim arts and culture spaces in Allston as planning for a permanent arts and culture complex in the Boston neighborhood is further refined.

This major step forward, which follows more than three years of planning and consultation, was first announced publicly in a speech on Feb. 17 by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino at the annual meeting of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.

The 500,000-square-foot complex housing the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and a number of other cross-departmental science initiatives will be located on Western Avenue east of the intersection at North Harvard and adjacent to the WGBH building to the south, and will be designed by Behnisch Architects of Stuttgart, Germany, an architectural firm internationally recognized for its pioneering work in sustainable design.

The University is planning to locate a new interim art museum facility in the former Citizens Bank building at 1380 Soldiers Field Road, and will work with the community and city to identify further project space for arts and culture in the near future.

“We are at a seminal moment in what has been a very complex initial planning process for Allston. I want to express my deep appreciation to those within the Harvard community and beyond who helped us reach this moment. We have an extraordinary opportunity to envision and build our 21st century campus and to provide the foundation for centuries of new research and scholarship at Harvard,” Summers said. “While most of our work remains, this is a big first step. We are now in a position to greatly enhance our university and enrich our contribution to the life of our community and region, and by doing so help future generations achieve their dreams.”

Harvard is moving forward to create the new Allston portion of its 21st century campus with the selection of a site and an architectural firm for a state-of-the-art science complex in Allston, University President Lawrence H. Summers announced Feb. 17.
Summers additionally announced plans for the creation of interim arts and culture spaces in Allston as planning for a permanent arts and culture complex in the Boston neighborhood is further refined.
This major step forward, which follows more than three years of planning and consultation, was first announced publicly in a speech on Feb. 17 by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino at the annual meeting of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.
The 500,000-square-foot complex housing the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and a number of other cross-departmental science initiatives will be located on Western Avenue east of the intersection at North Harvard and adjacent to the WGBH building to the south, and will be designed by Behnisch Architects of Stuttgart, Germany, an architectural firm internationally recognized for its pioneering work in sustainable design.
The University is planning to locate a new interim art museum facility in the former Citizens Bank building at 1380 Soldiers Field Road, and will work with the community and city to identify further project space for arts and culture in the near future.
“We are at a seminal moment in what has been a very complex initial planning process for Allston. I want to express my deep appreciation to those within the Harvard community and beyond who helped us reach this moment. We have an extraordinary opportunity to envision and build our 21st century campus and to provide the foundation for centuries of new research and scholarship at Harvard,” Summers said. “While most of our work remains, this is a big first step. We are now in a position to greatly enhance our university and enrich our contribution to the life of our community and region, and by doing so help future generations achieve their dreams.”

artist's conception of Stadium
One of a series of ‘special places’ renderings in the Holyoke Center Allston exhibit showing what an area of the future campus could look like – view of Stadium Way, a possible new road and streetscape improvements near the Harvard Stadium in Allston. (Cooper Robertson & Partners)

“The construction of this 21st century campus in Boston will have a positive transforming effect upon the Allston neighborhood and the city, strengthening the position of Boston as the life sciences capital of the world and increasing the capacity of our economic engine,” said Menino. “And the coming arts and cultural facilities on its Allston campus will enrich and inspire not only students and faculty, but also neighborhood residents as well.”
The Feb. 17 announcement marks the beginning of a multidecade process at Harvard centered around the creation of new forms of collaborations between faculty and departments in the sciences, the arts and the professional schools; new facilities for the School of Education and the School of Public Health; and new undergraduate housing along the Charles River, as well as other amenities to be shared by the Harvard and Allston communities. It also marks the beginning of a physical transformative process in Allston prefaced by several years of work by the North Allston Neighborhood Strategic Planning Framework Process, a collaboration among the Allston neighborhood, the city of Boston and Harvard.

Decisions about academics on the Allston campus will be made in phases as University planning evolves.

The first science project responds to a pressing need for new kinds of spaces that facilitate interdisciplinary scientific research at Harvard, and the mounting competitive pressure in emerging scientific fields. The construction of the new science facility, along with an ongoing planning process for Harvard science in the coming decades, will both strengthen Harvard’s leadership role in the sciences and strengthen the position of Boston as the world’s leader in the life sciences.

“We’re very excited about this,” said Douglas Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) and Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences. “David [Scadden, M.D., co-director of HSCI] and I had always imagined that the way to move to make real progress in this field is to bring our scientists together, working right next to each other, sharing both their roadblocks and their breakthroughs in different areas. Moving forward with this complex means planting a stake in the ground, from which we will advance this potentially life-saving science,” Melton said.

Working closely with the city and neighbors, Harvard hopes to break ground on the new building in 2007.

“The development of this new campus will provide opportunities for neighborhood residents and the Harvard community to come together in ways that will strengthen and enhance both,” said Christopher M. Gordon, chief operating officer for the Harvard University Allston Development Group, which oversees the University’s Allston planning and development. “We look forward to working with the Allston community and the city of Boston as the University’s planning process progresses.”

The design firm for Allston
first science

The design firm Behnisch Architects was chosen from among a group of highly regarded national and international design firms. Behnisch Architects scored highly with the selection committee of Harvard science faculty and other advisers in a number of criteria, most notably their expertise designing laboratories for mutidisciplinary research programs, their leadership in environmentally friendly “green” building design, and their experience designing buildings that foster a sense of social interaction and community. Behnisch Architects designed Genzyme Corporation’s headquarters in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, which was recently awarded the LEED platinum rating, the highest environmental rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Stefan Behnisch has been named the lead designer for the Harvard project.

“The selection committee was especially impressed with Stefan Behnisch’s grasp of the difficult challenge of extending Harvard physically into Allston and conceptually into the 21st century while remaining true to the qualities that make the Harvard campus such a treasured place,” said Paul Goldberger, dean of the Parsons School of Design at the New School University, and a member of the selection committee. “We would be excited at the prospect of a Behnisch building anywhere at Harvard, but to have a Behnisch building as the first piece of architecture at Allston bodes especially well for the ambitious plans for this new campus.”

“I am naturally very honored that our office has been given the opportunity to work on such a prestigious commission,” added Stefan Behnisch. “I look forward to pursuing the creative dialogue with the university community, which has commenced during the selection process. I am convinced that together, we can create progressive world-class facilities which contribute towards the future of Harvard, whilst respecting the rich traditions of the existing unique campus.”

Allston and culture

As noted, Harvard’s plans will ultimately include new and permanent facilities to house and exhibit collections from the Harvard University Art Museums and possibly other Harvard museums and arts organizations as well. A portion of an arts and culture complex will constitute a permanent second location for the Harvard University Art Museums, which will continue to occupy their facilities in Cambridge.

An intensive planning process led by a task force of faculty and arts leaders at Harvard is under way to determine the details of program and scale of a permanent art and culture complex.

Speaking of the future permanent facilities and the interim art museum, Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums, said: “We are enormously excited to work with a new audience in Allston in new facilities that will provide far more opportunities for students, faculty and the public to view, study and interact with the Harvard Art Museums collections. These facilities will serve as a powerful new platform for the presentation of our growing collection of modern and contemporary art, and represent an investment in the arts and cultural community in Allston.”

A performing arts facility for Allston is also being considered to provide Harvard student and other music, theater, and dance organizations the additional space needed for rehearsal and performance. More planning is required to determine precisely what kind of performing arts facility will be developed, but it will present public programming as well as provide facilities for students, faculty and visiting artists to develop projects and rehearse.

Progress with Charlesview

In other related developments, Harvard will soon propose an alternative site to Charlesview for their possible relocation. The new potential site tries to address criteria set forth by Charlesview.

The design process for Harvard’s first science building and planning for permanent arts and cultural facilities will progress as Harvard concludes a campus and urban framework for nearly 200 acres of Allston land. This campus framework will include recommendations for building locations and heights, a street and block plan, open space and landscape layout, transportation system improvements and necessary infrastructure networks.

– B.D. Colen contributed to this story