LABORATORY FOR INTEGRATED SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Camdbridge, USA

2000-2008

• The ‘fluid’ nature of a campus like Harvard’s is evident in this project. The need for a cleanroom for the research work of physicists, chemists, and biologists led to the ‘emptying’ of a courtyard to meet all the requirements: accessibility, security, emergency evacuation, ventilation, no vibration, no magnetic fields, no natural light, no particulates, etc. It was deemed necessary to preserve the campus’s integrity and essential features, and symbiosis is a good way to describe the complex situation resulting from the tower (where the laboratories are) resting on a powerful arcade that functions as a new gateway between the Yard and Oxford Street. More than a new building, the LISE is a fragment of the campus’s urban fabric. The space behind the Science Center – the birch tree courtyard – was definitely one of the project’s priorities.
  

• LOCATION:

  Camdbridge (Massachusetts), United States

• CLIENT:

  Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

• PROGRAM:

  Laboratory for Interface of Science and Engineering

• ARCHITECT:

  Rafael Moneo

• PROJECT TEAM:

  Design Project Architect:
  Wilson Architects
  Mark Reed
  
  Project team:
  Valeria Mazarakis (Architect)
  Peter Lee (Architect)
  Francisco Padilla (Architect)
  Sebastián Guivernau (Architect)
  David Goodman (Architect)

• COLLABORATORS:

  Structural Engineer: LeMessurier Consultants
  
  Civil Engineer: Science / Engineering/ Architecture Consultants, Inc.
  
  Mechanical Engineer: Bard, Rao, Athanas Consulting Engineers
  
  Landscape Architect: Stephen Stimson Associates
  
  Acoustic, Vibration: Acentech, Inc.
  
  Code: Rolf Jensen Associates
  
  Health and Security: Advanced Technologies Solutions
  
  Tools: Abbie Gregg, Inc.
  
  

• BUDGET:

  Not published

• SURFACE AREA:

  12542 m2

• DATE:

  Comission: Septiembre de 2000
  Construction start: 2004-2008
  

• PICTURES:

  © Michael Moran/OTTO