Behnisch Architekten designed the Science and Engineering Complex, a new facility for Harvard University's Allston campus in Boston. It will be the home of the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).
The 497,000-sf building will have a series of research boxes situated above a two-story transparent plinth. Classrooms and teaching labs will be in the plinth’s lowest floors, and isolated research labs will be in its highest floors. Fabrication shops, core research facilities, and a loading dock will be placed in below-grade levels. All levels are connected by a central atrium, which receives daylight from an attached courtyard.
Glass ribbons will wrap around the complex’s lowest levels. The upper boxes will be covered in a screen enclosure that both shields the building from solar heat gain during warmer months and reflects daylight into the interior.
The massing of the building will form a courtyard, which students and staff can use for outdoor recreation and other events.
The school expects 1,600 students and 360 staff members to use the building daily, and it anticipates the building to be open by 2020. Construction will begin this year.
(Click photos to enlarge)
The central atrium and the major entries have multi-story all-glass façades that are shaded by integrated roof planes at varying heights.
The massing of the building forms a new landscaped courtyard space suitable for outdoor recreation and events towards the site’s center.
As the primary home of the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the complex will create public spaces at different scales throughout the building.
The new facility emphasises outdoor space, street activation, and integration with larger public space networks.
Related Stories
| Feb 6, 2012
Siemens gifts Worcester Polytechnic Institute $100,000 for fire protection lab renovation
Siemens support is earmarked for the school’s Fire Protection Engineering Lab, a facility that has been forwarding engineering and other advanced degrees, graduating fire protection engineers since 1979.
| Feb 2, 2012
Fire rated glazing helps historic university preserve its past
When the University embarked on its first major addition since the opening of Hutchins Hall in 1933, preserving the Collegiate Gothic-style architecture was of utmost importance.
| Feb 2, 2012
Next phase of construction begins on Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute
$456 million Institute will be comprehensive heart center for 21st Century.
| Feb 1, 2012
Two new research buildings dedicated at the University of South Carolina
The two buildings add 208,000 square feet of collaborative research space to the campus.
| Jan 31, 2012
Fusion Facilities: 8 reasons to consolidate multiple functions under one roof
‘Fusing’ multiple functions into a single building can make it greater than the sum of its parts. The first in a series on the design and construction of university facilities.
| Jan 27, 2012
BRB Architects designs new campus center for Molloy College
Intended to be the centerpiece of the College’s transformation from a commuter college to a 24-hour learning community, the “Public Square” will support student life with spaces such as a café, lounges, study rooms, student club space, a bookstore and an art gallery.
| Jan 19, 2012
BOKA Powell-designed facility at Texas A&M Bryan campus
The new facility provides programs for the Texas A&M Health Science Center, the Texas Brain and Spine Institute, Mary Crowley Cancer Research Centers, and Blinn College Allied Health programs.
| Jan 4, 2012
Shawmut Design & Construction awarded dorm renovations at Brown University
Construction is scheduled to begin in June 2012, and will be completed by December 2012.
| Jan 3, 2012
New Chicago hospital prepared for pandemic, CBR terror threat
At a cost of $654 million, the 14-story, 830,000-sf medical center, designed by a Perkins+Will team led by design principal Ralph Johnson, FAIA, LEED AP, is distinguished in its ability to handle disasters.
| Dec 20, 2011
Gluckman Mayner Architects releases design for Syracuse law building
The design reflects an organizational clarity and professional sophistication that anticipates the user experience of students, faculty, and visitors alike.
