Harvard building boom

A campus construction program of unprecedented proportions

Assembling the science and engineering complex in Allston (with work on the district energy plant distantly visible to the rear of the site)

Image from the SEAS Construction Cam

A mock-up of the science complex exterior

Courtesy of SEAS

A further detail of the mock-up

Courtesy of SEAS

John Harvard, general contractor, was flat-out this summer—in all seriousness, perhaps the University’s busiest building season. Marquee projects include assembling the future home of much of the engineering and applied sciences faculty (shown above). Construction was halted during the financial crisis, in early 2010; the new facility, redesigned in a smaller footprint, is to open by the 2020-2021 academic year. Work also began on the district energy plant that will serve the area. Mockups of the science complex’s façade, shown in the photo carousel above, suggest the detailed construction ahead. Meanwhile, Harvard Business School’s sidewalk superintendents had plenty to watch at Klarman Hall (below), the future conference center, where the applied scientists will no doubt be welcomed. The former Holyoke Center’s rear entry was razed during its makeover into Smith Campus Center; surrounding streets gave way to heavy work on Lowell House, and finish work at Winthrop, including new faculty-dean quarters—all part of undergraduate House renewal (shown in the photo carousel below). In addition (though not shown): Lavietes Pavilion will reemerge for fall baskeball; the Sackler Museum is being renovated for new users; and Soldiers Field Park renovation continues. And smaller nips and tucks, as at Grays Hall in Harvard Yard (for a serenity room and BGLTQ offices), were undertaken, too.


Klarman Hall takes shape.
Photograph by Jim Harrison

Read more articles by John S. Rosenberg

You might also like

Harvard’s Endowment, Donations Rise—but the University Runs a Deficit

The annual financial report signals severe challenges to come.

Harvard’s New Playbook for Teaching with AI

Faculty across Harvard are rethinking assignments to integrate AI. 

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences Zeroes in on the Classroom Experience

Class schedules and academics are at the top of the agenda for Harvard faculty.

Most popular

What Trump Means for John Roberts's Legacy

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

Three Harvardians win MacArthur Fellowships

A mathematician, a political scientist, and an astrophysicist are honored with “genius” grants for their work.

The Harvard Professor Who Quantified Democracy

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

Explore More From Current Issue

People gather near the John Harvard Statue in front of University Hall surrounded by autumn trees.

A Changed Harvard Faces the Future

After a tense summer—and with no Trump settlement in sight—the University continues to adapt. 

A lively concert in a modern auditorium with an audience seated on multiple levels.

Concerts and Carols at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Tuning into one of Boston's best chamber music halls 

A person walks across a street lined with historic buildings and a clock tower in the background.

Harvard In the News

A legal victory against Trump, hazing in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and kicking off a Crimson football season with style