Working closely with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), MVVA identified development scenarios for this under-utilized northern edge of the Harvard campus. The site contained a number of out-dated science buildings set in a sea of surface parking. A key master plan recommendation relocated the surface parking in a below grade parking structure, creating an opportunity to continue the expansion and consolidation of the sciences precinct already established to the south. Another critical component was to create a clear and welcoming relationship between the campus and the adjacent Agassiz neighborhood. MVVA helped to establish building setbacks and landscape strategies to mediate the scale of the buildings and maximize permeability. Multiple phases of development were anticipated and strategies for both infill of new buildings and replacement and renovation of existing structures were devised, along with phased landscape strategies. A new Science Yard was established as a space that would become the central corridor and social hub of Harvard's Science campus. A new Science Yard was established as a space that would become the central corridor and social hub of Harvard's Science campus. At the heart of the project, a new contemporary space, Museum Yard provides a central welcoming space where scientists and the community at large could meet. Subtle shaping of topography nestles skylights for the subsurface classrooms and the surrounding seating area and maintains uninterrupted views through the Museum Yard to the building.
