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

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.

Aerial view of modern high-rise buildings surrounded by greenery and city skyline.

In a sea of red brick, the Science Center and Peabody Terrace make their mark.

Most popular

A woman with long hair stands confidently with crossed arms next to a pickup truck.

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

Architectural stonework featuring floral motifs and an inscription reading Veritas, set against the brick exterior of Widener Library.

Court finds the government’s arguments that the University continues to violate civil rights laws unpersuasive.

Aerial view of a large industrial data center facility with a flat roof and various equipment.

Before a data center is built, Francesca Dominici and Le Xie aim to predict costs to the grid, the air, and the neighbors next door.

Explore More From Current Issue

Two figures stand before a large, colorful pixelated face against a yellow background.

Research

Harvard scientists identify hundreds of genes under selective pressure.

A woman with long, silver hair rests her chin on her hand, wearing a black top.

Arts & Culture

Author and Harvard Divinity School writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams finds beauty in the world around us.

Five individuals are posed in a monochrome outdoor setting near a cinderblock building, some standing, some seated.

Visual Arts

Photographer and writer Morgan Smith chronicles life beyond the violence in Ciudad Juárez and other Mexican towns.