Crimson Cranescape

This panorama, photographed from the Western Avenue Bridge over the Charles River, gives some sense of Harvard’s current, very extensive...

This panorama, photographed from the Western Avenue Bridge over the Charles River, gives some sense of Harvard’s current, very extensive construction program. From right (east) to left, the cranes in Cambridge work at Western Avenue and Memorial Drive, near the Peabody Terrace towers (new graduate-student housing); across Cowperthwaite Street from Mather and Dunster Houses (more apartments); and in the distance, at the Laboratory for Interface Science and Engineering. Not visible are another laboratory facility, the Northwest Building, and the reconstruction of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals performing-arts space. The building boom is quantified on the next page.

Most popular

The Harvard Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

What Makes Humans Smart?

The critical role of cultural intelligence

Eat Your Potatoes Mashed, Boiled or Baked, but Hold the Fries

Baked, boiled, and mashed potatoes are better.

Explore More From Current Issue

Student walking under bright stage lights shaped like smartphones displaying social media apps.

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?

Whimsical illustration of students rushing through ornate campus gate from bus marked “Welcome New Students.”

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The Medical School goes coed, University poet wins Nobel Prize. 

James Muller in white lab coat leaning on railing in hospital hallway.

Free Speech, the Bomb—and Donald Trump

A Harvard cardiologist on the unlikely alliances that shaped a global movement to prevent nuclear war