Harvard Art Museum

About Project

The new entrance to the Harvard Art Museums, designed by Renzo Piano in 2014, has improved access to the institute's various collections for students, professors, researchers and the general public. This has been achieved by constructing an activity centre and circulation node in the Calderwood Courtyard located at the heart of this splendid complex that houses the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. Reminiscent of an Italian piazza, the Courtyard has been extended vertically with triple height glass arches and a new glass roof that fills the heart of the building with natural light. Le Perroquet luminaires have been chosen to light this area as they are ideal for high spaces, like the Pompidou Centre they were originally created for. At night these devices illuminate the structure by sending light cascading down from the glass ceiling as it does during the day. The restructuring and extension project is specifically designed to not have too dramatic an effect on the existing building, but also to stand apart from it and reach out to the surrounding residential district and the adjacent Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts – the only building in North America designed by Le Corbusier.

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• Year:
  2014
• Client:
  Harvard art museum
• Architectural project:
  RENZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP SRL
• Lighting project:
  Arup Lighting
• Photographer:
  Nic Lehoux