The Smith Campus Center (formerly Holyoke Center) at Harvard University is a Brutalist office complex designed by Josep Luis Sert and completed in 1966. The “grey elephant,” as it was not-so-lovingly called for its concrete facades, is now undergoing a major transformation to become the hub of student life at Harvard. With its new name already in place, London firm Hopkins Architects is working on a redesign of the public spaces that will affect the outdoor plazas and the 1st, 2nd and 10th floors.

Part of this master plan was to consolidate student services in the Smith Campus Center. Aamodt / Plumb was asked to help co‐locate the Registrar and the offices of General Education, Accessible Education, Advising Programs and Additional Resources into one space on the 4th floor. These offices had previously been located in separate buildings on campus and the challenge was to design one shared space that could serve all these departments.

The design strategy converted the existing double loaded corridor into a welcoming and dynamic public space connecting two reception areas, two student computer kiosks, staff break room and focus rooms. Instead of another relentless corridor we shaped the space by angling walls to subtly encourage movement from the elevator lobby to the farthest reception area. Semi-public spaces that connect to the exterior window wall are located along this public sequence to bring in natural light through wood screens. Once off the elevator, a visitor’s eye is guided from one softly lit wood screen to the next until their final destination.

The project scope included providing new departmental offices and workstations within office space designed five years earlier by Anmahian Winton Architects. The new perimeter offices blend seamlessly with the existing material palette and details. And the new workstations embedded in the interior of the space are bright white with glass and light wood to minimize their visual impact on the space.

We also developed the signage and wayfinding to assist students in finding their way throughout the floor. Each department has its own primary color (Sert would have been happy) and individual offices are color coded to match their department.