Outgoing Harvard President, Drew Faust, took some time to reflect on her favorite spaces on campus. She shared with The Harvard Gazette the places, times, and ways Harvard marked her, including times of joy, laughter, sorrow, and poignancy. From the recently-renovated Lavietes Basketball Pavilion to the Smith Campus Center currently under construction, Bruner/Cott is responsible for many of Faust’s favorite and most memorable spaces during her ten years as president. The following 360° videos will allow you to experience these projects through her eyes.
Lavietes Basketball Pavilion
“I remember very soon after I became president, attending a women’s basketball game and celebrating with them my ascension to female power.”
First constructed in 1926, Lavietes Pavilion is the second-oldest active basketball facility in the United States; a major goal of the project is to celebrate the intimacy and historic charm of the building and showcase the history of Harvard Basketball and Harvard Athletics. Bruner/Cott has been a part of the growth of the Lavietes Pavilion since its first renovation in the 1980s when it was the Briggs Athletic Center. Read more.
Memorial Hall
“It’s hard for me to believe that this wonderful building and that wonderful space was left almost to disuse.”
In collaboration with Venturi, Scott Brown, Bruner/Cott restored the historic shell and upgraded the building to contemporary standards. The restored space boasts hammerbeam trusses, stained glass windows, stenciled ceiling details, walnut paneling, new flooring and custom-designed furniture. Bruner/Cott was responsible for the entire 15,000 sf food service operation, including a total kitchen redesign, new serveries, and Loker Student Commons on the lower level. Read more.
Knafel Center (Radcliffe Gymnasium)
“Radcliffe alums not only used that balcony as a track, they had to learn how to lower themselves on a rope from the balcony onto the floor because it was believed that it would be important for women to know how to use a rope to get out of a burning building.”
Radcliffe Gymnasium was designed in 1898 by McKim Mead & White as a gym for students at Radcliffe College. The reinterpreted gymnasium is now a lecture and event salon for the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in Radcliffe Yard. The Gymnasium’s versatile, multi-use spaces are popular with the entire Harvard community. The large second-floor lecture space — used every day for informal gatherings and study — can be easily converted into a formal setting for social events, with full provisions for catering. The upper-level former running track is now a “walking and talking” track for discussions and informal viewing of presentations and lectures. Read more.
Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center
“A university-wide space, in which people could bump into each other, share ideas, find spaces in which to have meetings for their organizations and groups, and embody the sort of unity that I felt would strengthen the university.”
The 1960-65 Holyoke Center by Josep Lluis Sert in Harvard Square is undergoing a major transformation to attract and mix the varied constituencies within the university – faculty, undergraduates, staff, graduate students, and engaged visitors. Bruner/Cott is working with the Harvard client team and design architect, Hopkins Architects of London on extensive programming and sensitive transformation of this campus icon. Construction work, including façade restoration, additions, and interiors, began in the spring of 2016 and is slated for completion in 2018. Read more.
To read the entire Harvard Gazette article, click here. Congratulations to Drew Faust on a wonderful career at Harvard University!