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Science Center
Access to material may be restricted.
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Science Center

Address1, Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number357
Building Root Number 04420
Architect (Original)
Architect (Renewal)
Land Acquired 1816-1955
Building Acquired 1973
Constructed 1973
Renewed 2014
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named after its function.Historical NotesThe Science Center was designed by the Cambridge-based firm of Sert, Jackson & Gourley. It was funded by a donation of Polaroid founder Edwin H. Land and was completed in 1973. At the time of its construction the Science Center was the largest building on Harvard's campus; it stands on the land previously occupied by Lawrence Hall and Peabody House. The building is used as a classroom and laboratory building for undergraduate sciences and mathematics. In 1976, it received the Harleston Parker Medal from the Boston Society of Architects for being "the most beautiful piece of architecture, building, monument or structure within the limits of the City of Boston or of the Metropolitan Parks District".

A chilled water plant is underneath the public areas and it provides cooling for many campus buildings. There are cooling towers on top of the laboratory wing.

Artwork by Costantino Nivola entitled Olivetti Showroom Wall Relief (1954) is mounted on the wall in the east-west corridor. Also, a section of the Harvard Mark I computer is on display on the first floor.

The Tanner Fountain was installed in 1984, designed by landscape architect Peter Walker in collaboration with sculptor Joan Brigham.

In 2004, an addition was built on Oxford Street and at the west end of the building by Leers Weinzapfel of Boston.

In 2016, the Cabot Science Center was redesigned by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects. This same year, the interior courtyard was redesigned by Michael Valkenburgh Associates.
Additional Information
Godfrey Lowell Cabot Science Library
Pritzker Commons
“Science Center Is Precast for Fast Assmebly.” Architectural Record, vol. 151, no. 2, 1972, pp. 129–32, usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1972-02.pdf.
Snoonian, Deborah. “Harvard University Science Center Expansion.” Architectural Journal, vol. 193, no. 8, 2005, pp. 124–29, usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2005-08.pdf.
Boston Society of Architects. The Boston Society of Architects Awards the Harleston Parker Medal to Sert, Jackson and Associates for Excellence in the Design and Construction of the Science Center, Harvard University. 12 May 1977. Broadside. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1775.6pf.
General Information by and About the Harvard University Science Center. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1775.2 and HUB 1775.4.
Harvard University. Science Center. Records of the Science Center, December 1963. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 802.3363.
Harvard University Planning Office. Science Center : Program Outline. [Contains the building specifications]. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1775.5.
Harvard University Archives. Construction Management Records, ca. 1953-1986. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 298.8000
Buildings Records for Science Center : Proposal, 1963 December 5. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1775.14 and UAIII 29.63.
Photograph of a Presentation Drawing of Proposed Science Center at Harvard, Designed by Coolidge, Sheply, Bulfinch & Abbott. Harvard University Archives accession 17219.
Sert, José Luis, and Frances L. Loeb Library. The Josep Lluis Sert Collection. (1952). Print. Harvard Loeb Design Library Special Collections.
“High-Density Design for Undergraduate Science at Land-Starved Harvard.” Architectural Record, vol. 155, no. 3, Jan. 1974, p. 111.
“Harvard Science Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachussetts, U.S.A.” A & U, no. 6, Jan. 1975, pp. 97-106.
Snoonian, Deborah. “Harvard University Science Center Expansion, Cambridge, Massachusetts.” Architectural Record, vol. 193, no. 8, Aug. 2005, p. 124.
“Faculty Project: Harvard Science Center Expansion by Leers WeizapelAssociates Architects, Boston, Massachusetts, 2004.” Harvard Design Magazine, no. 23, Jan. 2005, p. 126.
“A Science Center That Is Also a ‘street:’ Undergraduate Science Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Architects: Sert, Jackson and Associates.” AIA Journal, vol. 68, no. 6, May 1979, pp. 170–71.
Spring, Bernard P. “Evaluation: Well Used ‘Pathway’: Josep Lluis Sert’s Harvard Undergraduate Science Center.” Architecture: The AIA Journal, vol. 74, no. 4, Apr. 1985, pp. 88–93.
Harvard University. Planning Office. Science Center : Program Outline (1964). Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1775.5
Abu, Akua F. "Science Center Plaza Common Space Construction Underway." The Harvard Crimson, 12 Sept. 2012, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/9/12/science-center-plaza-common/.
Abu, Akua F. and Kaufman, David W. "Harvard To Upgrade Science Center Plaza." The Harvard Crimson, 24 Feb. 2012, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/2/24/science-center-plaza-renovations/.
Schroeder, Luca F. "Science Center Library Renovation Plans Feature Open Space." The Harvard Crimson, 6 Nov. 2015, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/11/6/science-library-cafe-renovations/.
Shapiro, Peter. "A $10 Million Science Center Headache." The Harvard Crimson, 1 Sept. 1972, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1972/9/1/a-10-million-science-center-headache/.
Ury, Faryl. "Greenhouse Cafe Gets a Face-Lift." The Harvard Crimson, 10 Sept. 2003, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/9/10/greenhouse-cafe-gets-a-face-lift-sporting/.
Vascellaro, Jessica E. "Science Center To Undergo Renovation." The Harvard Crimson, 23 Oct. 2001, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2001/10/23/science-center-to-undergo-renovation-construction/.
Lottman, Michael S. "Chem Dept. Objects To College Science Center." The Harvard Crimson, 17 Jan. 1962, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1962/1/17/chem-dept-objects-to-college-science/.
Meisel, Matthew S. "Science Center Work Nears Finish." The Harvard Crimson, 13 Apr. 2004, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2004/4/13/science-center-work-nears-finish-after/.
Moss, Alexandra B. "Plans for Science Center Renovations Unveiled, Construction to Begin in May." The Harvard Crimson, 3 May 2002, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/5/3/plans-for-science-center-renovations-unveiled/.
Nepom, Jerry T. "How (Not) to Build a Science Center." The Harvard Crimson, 17 June 1971, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1971/6/17/how-not-to-build-a-science/.
Garber, Romina. "Dining Services Plan Greenhouse Facelift." The Harvard Crimson, 7 Oct. 2002, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/10/7/dining-services-plan-greenhouse-facelift-abby/.
Kabue, Samuel M. "Science Center Face-Lift Delayed." The Harvard Crimson, 10 Dec. 2003, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/12/10/science-center-face-lift-delayed-after-eight/.
Gao, Michelle I. "Those Rocks Outside the Science Center." The Harvard Crimson, 5 Nov. 2019, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/11/5/gao-rocks-science-ctr/.
Aguilar, Marianne T. "Artistic Guide to Harvard: The Science Center." The Harvard Crimson, 6 Sept. 2016, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/9/6/agh-science-center/.
Barrett, Michael J. "Anonymous Gift Gets Science Center Going." The Harvard Crimson, 5 July 1968, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1968/7/5/anonymous-gift-gets-science-center-going/.
Coppola, Antonio. "Science Center Plaza Renovation Moving Forward on Schedule." The Harvard Crimson, 30 Jan. 2013, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/1/30/science-center-construction/.
Cotton, Richard. "Faculty Allots $1 Million For A New Science Center." The Harvard Crimson, 21 Oct. 1964, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1964/10/21/faculty-allots-1-million-for-a/.
Fandos, Nicholas P. "Cabot Library and Science Center Atrium To Be Renovated." The Harvard Crimson, 9 Oct. 2013, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/10/9/science-center-cabot-renovation/.
“A ‘Common Space’ at Harvard’s Crossroads.” Harvard Magazine, Nov. 2012, https://harvardmagazine.com/2012/11/community-space-at-harvards-crossroads.
Campbell, Robert. “At Harvard’s Science Center, Additions Are Part of the Equation.” Boston Globe, 16 Jan. 2005, p. N.8.
1976 winner of the Boston Society of Architects Harleston Parker Medal.
This building has been designated by the University Planning Office as having a Notable Interior.
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