Harvard's Science Center plaza revived

The Science Center plaza, renovated, becomes a Harvard crossroads.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Photograph by Jim Harrison

The plaza between Harvard Yard and the Science Center has been remade as a campus crossroads. It features fixed and movable seating, anchors for reunion tents, wiring for movie nights and other performances, and a trilevel planting of ginkgo trees, sumacs, and ferns to soften the Science Center facade and provide shade and year-round visual interest. Chris Reed ’91 of Stoss Landscape Urbanism was the principal designer; for details, see “A ‘Common Space’ at Harvard’s Crossroads.”

Related topics

You might also like

After a final round of layoffs, University leaders say 165 staff jobs were eliminated across the division.

Long-discussed reorganization includes layoffs and the end of the Dudley Community.

A roundup of University news from the summer of 2026

Most popular

All That’s Unseen charts the Harvard graduate’s uneasy journey from Appalachia to Cambridge and back.  

Mindfulness—the unconventional research of psychologist Ellen Langer

Psychologist Ellen Langer's unconventional research. Plus, read about applying mindfulness techniques to eating.

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

Explore More From Current Issue

Caricature of a young man in front of red doors, wearing a green striped sweater.

In 1954, Gregory Corso moved into Eliot House. How he stayed there is a literary legend.

A woman with long, wavy hair wearing a white suit, seated in a bright, modern room.

The Harvard graduate’s roundtable talk show touches on hot button issues from religion to sex. 

Colorful word cloud with various emotions and ideas related to learning and reflection.

But it can’t replace human connection.