Research and Education Building, Harvard School of Dental Medicine
Boston
Anshen + Allen + Rothman

A materials palette that contrasts the neighboring buildings

	Index | Project Specs
	Click here for slide show. Photo © Anton Grassl

The Research and Education Building at Harvard University’s School of Dental Medicine is adjacent and connected to the school’s original brick structure, which still houses clinical and administrative functions. The addition replaces a 35-year-old interim building and parking area. A strategic plan for Harvard’s research facilities, developed in the mid-1990s, sought to bring together research faculty, clinical faculty and postdoctoral students in an environment conducive to creative collaboration in biomedical research. This plan informed the new building’s program, which called for a variety of public spaces to encourage social interaction.

Anshen + Allen + Rothman deliberately chose a materials palette that contrasts with the existing brick building and other neighboring structures. They clad most of the elevations in glass, which allows passersby to glimpse activities within and allows the building to engage and invigorate the surrounding environment.

An unusually tight urban site became the most serious challenge for the architect. The design team wanted to offer a compelling architectural solution to the program and the client’s aspirations, and to create a spatial sequence that elevates the public experience of the campus. They derived the building’s parti and geometry from the idea of improving movement through the campus and bringing maximum sunlight to new public spaces that had never before existed. The building’s form shapes both intimate and irregular exterior spaces, and helps define a new campus gateway highly visible from the street and adjacent quads.

Programmatically, the building’s first floor is its most public, with the main lobby facing west and south toward one of the most traveled pathways through Harvard’s Longwood medical campus. This floor also includes an auditorium, classrooms, and students’ computer and imaging labs. The upper three floors contain laboratories for molecular dental medicine, hard tissue and soft tissue research, and biomaterials sciences. These labs extend as a contiguous open space along the north, east, and south sides of the building, giving them substantial exposure to natural light. Equipment rooms and shared support functions are centrally located to allow for easy access by all users. Each floor also contains a seminar room at the northwest corner, allowing views toward Longwood Avenue, and a meeting room at the southeast corner, facing a new plaza.

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Formal name of Project:
Research and Education Building, Harvard School of Dental Medicine

Location:
Boston

Gross square footage:
70,000 sq. ft.

Total project cost:
$23.5 million

Owner:
Harvard University

Architect:
Anshen + Allen + Rothman
(formerly Rothman Partners Architects)
711 Atlantic Ave.
Boston, MA 02111
617-451-6990 tel.
617-423-3946 fax
www.anshen.com

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