October 13, 2006

Rendering of the Northwest Corner
from across Mass. Ave

After years of space planning and site analysis -- including a now-defunct proposal to move Harvard Law School across the Charles River -- the new "Northwest Corner" development is beginning to take shape, as architectural drawings of a 250,000- square-foot facility are now available to the law school community.

The primary purpose of the three-wing complex is to provide a wide variety of student spaces and a new set of classrooms designed to fit the school’s current teaching programs. The facility will also provide a new home for clinical legal education, which is undergoing significant growth at HLS. But beyond those tangible goals, Dean Elena Kagan '86 envisions the Northwest Corner as the bustling center of an expanded HLS campus designed to meet the needs of the law school for the next several decades.

"When this project is complete, we will literally transform the law school campus and, as a result, the law school experience," said Kagan. "I want the law school to be an all-hours community, with students using the campus to its fullest for all kinds of classes, extracurricular activities, study sessions and social events."

The new project will provide much-needed space for student organizations such as student journals, which are now scattered across different parts of the campus in substandard facilities. One of the access points to the student-focused areas will be through the Harkness Commons, which was extensively renovated in 2004. This connection will allow a smooth flow from the Hark dining area immediately into a new student lounge, complete with a pub-like dining facility.

Kagan worked closely with architect Robert A.M. Stern to make sure the Northwest Corner has both historic and modern aspects. The facade of the new building incorporates certain features and materials reminiscent of Austin and Langdell halls. At the same time, the building will have modern elements, including a glass curtain wall overlooking a courtyard. "Like the law itself, this project has solid grounding in the past but looks toward the future. It flawlessly integrates tradition and modernity in a way I hope the entire law school community will appreciate and enjoy," said Kagan.

Timetable

Construction will begin this coming June, after the HLS commencement. The first step will be to demolish the Everett Street parking garage and the Wyeth Hall dormitory. Two wood-framed buildings -- Baker House and the Ukrainian Research Institute -- will then be moved north on Massachusetts Avenue, near the North Hall dorm. This will create a significant space on which to construct an underground parking facility and then build the Northwest Corner development - scheduled for completion in about three years from the start of construction. Steps are already being taken to mitigate disruption on campus, with particular emphasis on insulating buildings such as Pound Hall from the noise associated with a major construction project.