Kennedy School Plans Dramatic Remodeling, Expansion

The Kennedy School of Government has submitted preliminary plans to the City of Cambridge for a dramatic remodeling of its physical campus, including the addition of 77,000 square feet of new building space, that school leaders hope will complement ongoing changes to pedagogy and interdisciplinary research.

The plans are set to go before the citys planning board during a hearing on Tuesday. If approved, construction on the more than $100 million dollar project would likely begin following Commencement and aims to be completed by Jan. 2018, according to the Kennedy Schools executive dean, John Haigh.

Including three new buildings and the elevation of the schools current courtyard, the project looks to be one of the largest capital expansions on Harvards Cambridge campus in recent history and will increase the schools current square footage by more than 30 percent.

The school is currently is comprised of two main structures: the Belfer, Littauer, and Rubenstein buildings, which are all adjoined, and date from the 1970s and 1980s; and the separate Taubman building, which was completed in 1990. Under the current plans, the two structures would be adjoined, as a new Gateway building would connect Taubman to Belfer, a West building on the site of the schools current parking lot would connect Rubenstein to Taubman, and a South building would connect Littauer to the new West building.

Among other additions, there will be six new classrooms, a student lounge and study area, a new dining area and event space, a conference room above the dining room, a winter garden atrium, and a flexible common space that HKS officials refer to as skunk works.

The building plans are a major component of the Kennedy Schools $500 million capital campaign, which made creating a campus that amplifies our mission, one of its four priorities. As of late August, the school has raised $355 million in gifts and pledges, according to Kennedy School spokesperson Doug Gavel.

We need to have a campus that amplifies, magnifies, and supports our mission and strategy, Haigh said in an interview on Friday.

HKS Dean David T. Ellwood 75 told The Crimson in September that the schools current classroom setup is designed for lecturing and discourages group discussion and collaboration. The remodeled campus will aim to remedy that.

If we want to get to a place where we do teaching and really help people change the world, if we want to fundamentally reshape the future of ideas and the like, we have to do more, Ellwood said. And we also have to have flexible space where people can do things, create new innovative ideas, and do the sorts of social entrepreneurship that people are doing, and the like.

Haigh said that a large percentage of the total cost of expansion has already been secured.

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Kennedy School Plans Dramatic Remodeling, Expansion