In late May 2024, following commencement at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD), the initial stage of Gund Hall’s multiphase renovation began. Designed by GSD alumnus John Andrews (MArch ’58), Gund Hall first opened in 1972, uniting the school’s three departments under one roof. Andrews’s scheme foregrounded the school’s pedagogical philosophy, apparent in the building’s shared studio block, which featured extensive glazing and 125-foot clear-span steel trusses. Described by reviewers as “visually dramatic” and “a handsome structure,” Gund Hall was received within the architectural community as a bold achievement.
The recent renovation, intended to make the building more climate friendly and comfortable for occupants, is equally bold, balancing the twin goals of conservation and innovation. Aside from serving as a paradigm for the preservation and revitalization of mid-twentieth-century modern architecture, the Gund Hall renovation offers valuable takeaways for clients and project teams. These five lessons suggest that, when introduced at the project’s earliest stages, collaborative decision-making sets a strong foundation for success.
1. Designate clear priorities
Many aspects of Gund Hall, designed and constructed more than a half-century ago, required attention. The question was, where to begin within this nearly 165,000 square-foot building? To help determine the priorities for the multiphase renovation, the GSD turned to Bruner/Cott Architects, who performed a comprehensive feasibility study. It revealed that the studio block (known as “the trays”) consumed energy at a rate double that of the rest of the building, due largely to heat loss and solar heat gain through the single-pane-glass curtain walls and clerestory windows. And not only were the trays energy inefficient, they were also notoriously uncomfortable in terms of temperature extremes and poor lighting conditions. (As one alumnus noted, “I spent a very cold winter in 1996 at my desk drawing with mittens on, and I don’t think I’m the only one who has done this.”) In addition, the trays’ terraces were not wheelchair accessible. Thus, for the initial phase of the renovation, the GSD identified the trays as the area that would deliver the highest impact on operational carbon and the students’ daily experience.
While it is too soon to quantify reduced energy usage following the renovation’s first phase, anecdotal reports suggest that, since the project’s completion, studio temperatures have been far more comfortable during both hot and cold weather. Students and faculty also applaud the improved quality of daylight and the lack of glare. Sarah Whiting, dean and Jose Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture, noted that the renovation has transformed not only the temperature in the trays but also the light. “The feel of the trays is completely different,” she said, “and it’s extraordinary.”
Another example of prioritization involved ensuring efficiency, specifically in preparing for and executing construction. To confine intensive construction to 12 weeks, the GSD opted to move summer classes online, which provided Shawmut Design and Construction’s workers unfettered access to the trays. And throughout construction, a tower crane located in front of Gund Hall—while inconvenient for visitors to the building—allowed work to proceed smoothly and on schedule. According to Shawmut senior project manager Glenn Patrick Ryan, the crane proved indispensable in safely transporting unwieldly materials to and from the roof. “I don’t think we could have achieved the needed efficiency had we not planned to have the crane in place to support the workers,” noted Ryan. Determined early on, “this piece of our logistics plan was critical.”
2. Consider Design Assist project delivery
As opposed to the standard project delivery method used throughout the twentieth century—where design professionals create the design and then pass it to the construction team to build—with Design Assist (DA), the designers, construction team, and subcontractors work together throughout the design phase. This process increases collaboration and innovation while minimizing risk, leading to DA’s growing popularity in recent years. In the estimation of Ben Szalewicz, chief of GSD Facilities and Campus Operations, the early partnership with Bruner/Cott, Shawmut, and other consultants allowed the team to address—if not entirely circumvent—critical issues that arose during construction. This was no small feat, considering the project’s complexity, which included uniting a new, high-tech glazing system with a 50-year-old steel structure. “The benefit of Design Assist,” said Szalewicz, “was that we were able to accomplish this project with relatively few hiccups in a really short time frame. I don’t think we could have done this had we not partnered early on with this whole team.”
For the Gund renovation, DA’s value went beyond simply adhering to the project’s strict timing. Rather, as GSD lecturer in architecture and chair of the Building Committee David Fixler explained, the process allowed the team to “maximize efficiency, performance, aesthetics, and peace of mind.” During the design process, the team collaborated with A&A Window Products, who leveraged their manufacturing relationships to devise a high-performing glazing system that, despite the use of triple-pane units, maintained the original single-pane-glass system’s low profile and narrow sightline. Preserving the original appearance and relative dimensions of the facade as designed by Andrews was a critical aspect of the project’s conservation aims. And as Ryan noted, early partnering for the project facilitated “tangibles [such as] the plan, the logistics, the schedule, the nuts and bolts. Yet the intangible benefit of the Design Assist process was the development of a team,” an immeasurable asset that played a huge role in bringing the renovation to fruition.
3. Learn from an in-situ mock-up
In the months before construction began, the project team built a three-bay mock-up in the southeast corner of the Pit, on the ground level of the studio block. The decision to build this mock-up in situ instead of freestanding, either in Gund Hall’s backyard or in a testing facility, proved essential to the renovation’s execution. Integrating the new glazing system with the existing steel proved challenging, and the mock-up provided troubleshooting experience alongside the opportunity to refine installation tolerances and techniques.
The trays’ 112 clerestory windows, one of which was included in the mock-up, offer a perfect example. “Each clerestory window is its own mini project,” Ryan explained, “requiring work by six different trades that had to come back at several different junctures. The first time we attempted this, we weren’t as efficient as we needed to be to do 111 more.” Through the mock-up, however, “we learned a lot about the building, the existing conditions, and how the new systems connect. We also learned a lot about ourselves and how to execute the project, especially given the tight time frame.” Multiplied by 111, those efficiencies were incredibly valuable for avoiding the unexpected and saving time during construction.
4. Think about the future
Aside from increasing energy performance and occupant comfort, another issue the renovation sought to address was future repairability. Consider the trays’ curtain walls. Andrews’s design used neoprene gaskets to secure the glass panes, which relied on the panes below them for support—an arrangement that made repairing broken elements extremely difficult. As project architect and Bruner/Cott associate George Gard (MAUD ’14) noted, for the renovation they designed a curtain-wall system in which each pane is individually supported “so, if a pane breaks, it’s a relatively straightforward process to take that glass out and put new glass in. Similarly, if there’s damage to the curtain wall itself, those pieces can be removed and replaced in a local manner.”
In addition to considering Gund Hall’s maintenance and longevity, the project team paid attention to the life cycles of the new elements they introduced. They reduced the project’s waste wherever possible, for instance by retaining most of the trays’ existing glazing support steel despite the complicated merger of old and new. They also adopted materials that were manufactured with recycled products, including roughly 90 percent of the aluminum used for the new curtain-wall system. In terms of embodied carbon, such strategies help minimize greenhouse gas emissions now and moving forward.
5. Remember that the payoff may not be visible or immediate
“In some ways, the project’s best parts are virtually invisible. And the more invisible they are, the better it is,” declared Fixler. As a delicate balance of innovation and conservation, much of the Gund Hall renovation is intentionally invisible to the eye—improving energy performance while retaining the originality of Andrews’s design. The building looks how Andrews intended, and this is precisely the point; in this sense, the project’s invisibility indicates success. This holds true for issues of sustainability in general, where the absence of waste and greenhouse gas emissions signifies achievement and is often measured over time.
Another facet of the Gund renovation involves concrete conservation, which Fixler described as “an art and a science [that depends on] the right aggregate, the right mix, the right conditions, and really skilled people to execute the work.” Far from invisible, the newly treated areas at first stand out, though care is taken with an extended curing process to give the sample mixes a cycle through the seasons prior to selecting the right match. Once applied, they will continue to age over years to approach the original concrete’s hue. Here too, then, the payoff is not immediate, yet it is eventually visible (ironically, by becoming invisible). The final concrete repairs will be performed later this year.
Of course, enhanced light quality, comfortable interior temperatures, and accessibility improvements were apparent to building occupants right away. Coupled with the renovation’s less immediate and invisible payoffs, these aspects will benefit the GSD community for years to come.