Project overview:KVA’s design for Harvard University’s Tozzer Anthropology Building transforms the public presence and programs of the 1971 Tozzer Library. The design challenge was to expand a 21st century Anthropology curriculum while re-using the existing 1971 building footprint, campus infrastructure connections, and steel and concrete structural system. The massing strategy adds two new stories under a large copper roof volume, which rotates to capture daylight for a large internal light well around which the internal programs revolve. The copper roof form and its subtle rotation strengthen a more independent reading of the Tozzer Anthropology building as a pavilion in the Peabody Courtyard. The new design provides a public entry on Divinity Avenue, public access from the new lobby to the Peabody Courtyard and a direct link to the Peabody Museum Collections and Department of Archeology.
Working with University and Anthropology Faculty, Staff and Librarians, the KVA design team developed smart classrooms, collegial spaces, faculty offices and a renewed Anthropology Library to house the Tozzer anthropology collections. The new program is organized around a central light well clad in birch wood. Offices, classrooms and informal gathering places ring this “living space”, which brings daylight into the building, creates visual relationships between floor levels, and provides acoustic treatment. The light well circulates tempered air as part of an innovative energy-saving ventilation system. The Tozzer Anthropology building opened in Summer 2014 and has received LEED Gold certification.
Jury comments: The project features a thoughtful material strategy that strengthens both campus and urban relationships. Architecturally inspiring, it achieves a timeless beauty through a clear and coherent response indoors and out. By reusing the existing building, the design transforms constraint into opportunity, surprising and delighting through a creative reinterpretation of the structure and a carefully crafted façade.
Client:Harvard University
Images/Photographer(s): John Horner Photography; KVA General Contractor/Brick Entry: Consigli Civil Engineer: Green International Affiliates Inc. Structural: LeMessurier Consultants Mechanical: Buro Happold Consulting Engineers, PC Electrical: Buro Happold Consulting Engineers, PC Plumbing: Buro Happold Consulting Engineers, PC Envelope: Buro Happold Consulting Engineers, PC Landscape Architect: Richard Burck Associates, Inc. Lighting: Tillotson Design Associates Code Consultants: Hughes Associates Inc. Acoustics: Cavanaugh Tocci Associate Copper Contractor: Gilbert & Becker Brick Contractor: Empire Masonry
