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Architectural Record - Dec-04 186
Architectural Record
12.04
PHO
T
OGR
APHY: © PE
TER
V
ANDER
W
ARKER, EX
CEPT
AS NO
TED
29 Garden Street
Harvard Graduate Housing
Cambridge, Massachusetts
2
JONATHAN LEVI ARCHITECTS
CREATES AFFORDABLE UNIVERSITY HOUSING
THAT ENCOURAGES A SENSE OF COMMUNITY AMONG GRADUATE STUDENTS.
By Nancy Levinson
Architect:
Jonathan Levi Architects
Jonathan Levi, FAIA, partner in
charge; Matthew LaRue, AIA, project
architect
Associate architect:
Bergm
eyer
AssociatesDarryl Filippi, project
manager; Doug Coots, project associate
Client:
The President and Fellows of
Harvard College
Engineers:
Weidlinger Associates
(structural); Cosentini Associates
(mechanical/electrical); Green
International Affiliates (civil); Richard
Burck Associates (landscape); Lam
Partners (lighting); Acentech (acoustics)
General contractor:
Suffolk
Construction; Bond Brothers
Size:
114,000 square feet
Cost:
Withheld
Completion date:
August 2004
Sources
Curtain wall:
Kawneer; Reynolds
Roof ing:
Genex; Hydrotech
Windows:
Efco
Glass:
Solarseal
Doors:
Blumcraft; Kawneer;
Lambton Doors; Total Door
Door hardware:
Schlage; Hager;
LCN; Von Duprin; Blumcraft
Acoustical tile:
Armstrong
Paints:
ICI; PPG
Lighting:
Lithonia; Nulux;
B-K Lighting; Hydrel; Sylvania
Undergraduate life at Harvard has
long revolved around the network of
houses the university built in the
1930simposing neo-Georgian
residences that accommodate com-
munal dining and common rooms
as well as living quarters. Graduate
student life, however, has enjoyed
no comparable amenity. For years,
the majority of graduate and profes-
sional students who arrived in
Cambridge had little choice but to
hunt for a good deal on a rentala
nerve-racking pursuit in a market
where limited supply and inflated
prices meant that most settled for
crowded housing in dumpy neigh-
borhoods far from campus.
With the reopening of 29
Garden Street, designed by
Jonathan Levi Architects, with
associate architect Bergmeyer
Associates, the choices have been
happily enhanced. A thorough reno-
vation of an undistinguished hotel
from the 1920s, 29 Garden features
well-appointed student apartments.
It also includes a variety of shared
spaces intended to encourage a
sense of community, a first for the
universitys graduate apartment-
house system.
Program
Harvard converted 29 Garden to
housing years ago, but the renova-
tion was modest in concept and
ef fect, and the building needed
upgrading. According to Susan
Keller, vice president of residential
real estate at Harvard, the motiva-
tions for this latest project were
both economic and political.
Because of the tight and expen-
sive housing market, and because
of municipal pressure on the uni-
versity to house more students,
says Keller, we wanted to increase
the number of af fordable apart-
ments close to campus. The
university also wanted to enrich
its housing-type mix, adding the
double studio, consisting of two
private living spaces that share a
kitchen and bath.
Solution
Jonathan Levi Architects responded
to the universitys requirements with
two kinds of double studios. In the
For more information on this project,
go to Projects at
www.architecturalrecord.com
.
Contributing editor Nancy Levinson
is a writer and architect based in
Cambridge, Mass. A newly constructed
opening on Garden
Street (opposite) con-
nects Arsenal Square
with the courtyard
garden designed by
Richard Burck
Associates (right and
below). The garden
covers the roof of the
apartment buildings
parking garage, a space
that was formerly
covered with blacktop. Each of the three-
bedroom, third-floor
faculty apartments is
accessed via stairs
leading from the court-
yard garden. 12.04
Architectural Record
189
smaller, students share a kitchen
and bath; in the larger, each has a
private bath. Three other residence
typesone-person studios and
two- and three-bedroom apart-
mentscomplete the mix. And for
each type, the architect has
designed stylishly contemporary
living quarters. Built-in shelves,
tables, and desks ease the move-
in transition for new students, in
Levis words, and the birch-veneer
cabinetry visually warms the rooms.
Kitchens feature translucent-front
cabinets (manufactured by Ikea, but
with custom-designed hardware)
and undercounter refrigerators that
allow for maximum counter space.
Ceiling-mounted convection heat-
ing/cooling valances are sleek,
quiet, unobtrusive, and energy effi-
cient, and allow residents to control
their thermal environment. (Opening
the window automatically switches
off the mechanical system, another
efficiency touch.)
But Levi did more than satisfy
the basic program; ultimately, he
convinced the university to expand
its understanding of 29 Gardens
programmatic and urban potential.
Early on, the architect envi-
sioned a project that would be
more than just another university-
owned apartment house. We
became interested in the idea of
a graduate housesomething
akin to the undergraduate houses,
a place that would spur a sense
of community, says Levi. Since
residents would be drawn from
different schools and programs,
we saw it also as fitting in with the
academic trend toward greater mix-
ing of disciplines. 29 Garden fully
satisfies the universitys quota for
beds (increasing the number from
121 to 143). It includes a ground-
floor buttery/convenience store
with an adjacent dining/common
room, and light-filled, double-height
lounges on alternating residential
floors. Especially impressive is a
new garden (designed with the
landscape architecture firm Richard
Burck Associates) located on what
had been the blacktop roof of the
buildings one-story garage.
Levis design expands the
urbanistic potential of 29 Garden,
too. The building fronts Arsenal
Square, a small green space where
Entrances to faculty
apartments are joined
by a balcony that
extends the entire
length of the building
(left and opposite). A
newly created exterior
passageway and grand
stair lead from Garden
Street (below) to the
courtyard garden (top),
one level above. THIRD FLOOR
0
20 FT.
6 M.
N
4
4
4
5
2
3
3
3
3
3
6
1
2
2
2
2
190
Architectural Record
12.04
PHO
T
OGR
APHY: © NICK
WHEELER (
THIS P
A
GE
,
T
OP
T
W
O)
two major streets converge, just
beyond Harvard Square. The archi-
tect saw this as a significant urban
moment that demanded an archi-
tectural response. In the middle of
the Garden Street facade, the
architect cut a three-story entryway
into the volume of the building;
from here, residents can access
the ground-floor lobby or ascend a
grand stair to the garden. If the
gesture is monumental, the materi-
als are modern: The garden entry is
a glass curtain wall, and the side
walls are clad in metal panels offset
to create a sculptural pattern. With
this architectural move, the archi-
tect transformed a nondescript
facade into a graceful and elegant
civic presence.
Commentary
At 29 Garden Street, Levi and his
associates have programmed and
designed a residence that fits the
transitional nature of graduate
student life, that time between the
college dorm and the first mort-
gage. And in reinvigorating a tired
and dreary building, they have
produced a place that respects its
historic Cambridge context while
avoiding any banal imitation of
older motifs. At a university that has
lately seemed to favor a dull
neotraditionalist approach to archi-
tecture, 29 Garden is an exemplary
blend of old and new. The single-student stu-
dio units (above left)
have built-in shelves
and concealed lighting.
Large double studios
(above right) feature
built-in dining tables
and dual refrigerators.
The dining commons
(left) provides multi-
functioning space that
can be used for eating,
studying, or seminars.
1.
One-person studio
2.
Double studio
3.
Three-bedroom
apartment
4.
Two-bedroom
apartment
5.
Lobby
6.
Large double studio The main stair (near
left) connects the first-
floor lobby (far left)
with the second-floor
lobby and main corri-
dors. Windows in the
ground-floor lobby
(below) look into the
dining commons.