That study was not actually a studio project--it was a study conducted by two professors, Vigier and Christopher Chadborne.

The report's purpose was to "promote informed discussion among all interested in the improvement of Harvard Square and the improvement of legislative controls to guide its development."

Specifically, the study was aimed at developing a "zoning overlay district"--in other words, changing the Square's zoning restrictions to "temper the professional interest of developers."

Among the report's most important features was a recommendation that the city examine development on a cumulative basis, rather that a site by site basis. The report also suggested the city divide the city into six subdistricts, each of which could have its own zoning regulations adapted to its particular nuances.

Boothe called the study "a turning point in the whole zoning issue." Vigier said many of its recommendations were adopted by the city council, and that many of its predictions have since come true.

City Relations

It has been several years since Design School has conducted a study of such magnitude for the city, and some suggest friction between Cambridge and Harvard may be hampering attempts at joint work by Design School and the city.

"It takes two to tango," says Vigier. "There is a great deal of friction and misunderstanding between the city and the university."

Yet most Harvard and Cambridge officials, like Michael Rosenberg, the city's development director, say "relations are improving over the last couple of years."

Marilyn Lyng O'Connell, Harvard community relations director, agrees that thre recent slow-down in Design School projects for the city "is not a sign of anything."

"There has not been anything on the scale of the Harvard Square Project in recent time," O'Connell says. "But the city is talking about taking a new look at the zoning ordinance and there may be a new role for the design school there."

"I think [relations] are more complicated--the city is more complicated and Harvard is more complicated--but I think they are better," says Kathy A. Spiegelman, a former city official who is now the University's director of physical planning.

Beyond Cambridge

Of course, work at the Design School has not been confined to Cambridge. Steinitz, for instance, has a cooperative agreement with the National Parks, under which he has done work on Maine's Acadia National Park, New York's Gateway National Park and California's Yosemite National Park.

Vigier, meanwhile, has conducted studio projects dealing with North Africa. One noteworthy project involved routing a highway though the historic district of Cairo, Egypt.

Original plans had called for plowing down acres of historic buildings, but Design School students found a way to minimize the razing, and still put the highway through.

In the future, Design School ideas will probably continue to find their way into the real world, if for no other reason than that the school is continuing to run programs which directly train public officials.

Many now take programs like the ones Boothe enrolled in, which grant officials scholarships to take evening classes. In addition, the school offers programs to train third world officials in management, and has a Research Unit for Housing and Urbanization which holds seminars on third world problems.