Architecture & Design | October 20, 2015

Josep Lluís Sert's International Style icon is updated

Josep Lluís Sert’s International Style icon gets a half-century exterior toning and face lift.

From The November-December 2015 Issue

Photograph of Smith Campus Center exterior renovation — Photograph by Stu Rosner

As planning proceeds for the conversion of the former Holyoke Center into the Smith Campus Center, Josep Lluís Sert’s International Style icon, built from 1962 to 1967, gets its half-century exterior toning and face lift—a formidable challenge in the tight confines of Harvard Square. Stage One is the staging itself: here, the Dunster Street scaffolding in the first week of autumn.

Published in the November-December 2015 print issue under the headline “Under Wraps,” in the John Harvard's Journal section.

You might also like

J. Max Bond wearing a grey suit and a red tie, holding drafting tools with an image of a building design behind him

A new book explores the Harvard-trained architect’s vision and impact, from Ground Zero to the Smithsonian.

Several people are holding a large ribbon for a ceremony outside a modern building.

Phase A of the Allston project includes a hotel, residences, and a two-acre greenway.

Star-filled night sky with the Milky Way arching over a rocky silhouette.

There’s a growing movement to curb light pollution. It starts on your front porch.

Most popular

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.

A flooded office scene with computers, a woman working, and a pink sunset backdrop.

A College student’s attempt to recapture the romanticism of the workplace.

Explore More From Current Issue

Portrait of a man in a denim shirt beside a blue book cover for "Gretal and the Great War" featuring an illustration of a leg holding an army helmet..

Arts & Culture

The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.

Undergraduate Column

A College student’s attempt to recapture the romanticism of the workplace.

A woman with curly blonde hair sits casually against a stone wall, wearing a black top and jeans.

Chloe Chapin trains her Broadway costume designer’s eye on the history of men’s fashion.