Description

The Galante Architecture Studio took part in renovating office space within the 70,000-square-foot Harvard University Campus Service Center. This LEED Gold Certified office space combines Harvard’s ID, real estate, and parking services into a single, highly efficient one-stop shopping experience for new students, faculty, staff, renters and landlords alike. Each of four stations at the primary counter, plus four extra seats at the secondary counter (which are typically kept private behind operable frosted glass panels until they are needed), have the technological capacity to serve any of the new, integrated department’s functions.

The program also called for additional office space in the rear to support the counters, a small conference room, and a consultation room.  The available space was limited, and combining three larger offices together made real estate that much more precious. Our approach brought the building’s common corridor into the equation and allowed offices and related rooms to flow from each side.  The open plan provides views to the exterior, letting in natural daylight to all areas for staff and visitors alike. Also connecting the offices is the courtyard they form, which serves as green space for the community and a sound buffer from surrounding neighbors and an enclosure for parking cars and a fleet of buses out of view of the offices.

Inside the renovated space, the university organizes its mail for its daily delivery. There is space to receive and upgrade new computers for all students and faculty and an area for recycling student furniture every semester and maintenance space for university transport systems (e.g., buses, snowplows, police vehicles). Also, the university police are given training areas to achieve Commonwealth-mandated enforcement levels.