"We are in the last design phase," said Ned A. Collier, senior associate at Perry, Dean, Rogers and Partners, the firm working on the project. "These are the construction documents."
Other plans for the site include moving the current 600-car parking lot underground and relocating the historic Palfrey house so that it is adjacent to the UIS building.
Collier said that as a building on the north edge of campus, the UIS building needs to attach itself to both the neighborhood and the campus.
The building, modern but rectangular, will be contructed from a light Wisconsin limestone. On the roof of a lower wing will be a garden adding "a soft top to a flat roof."
According to Scott Levitan, director of University and commercial real estate for Harvard Planning and Real Estate, the planning board needed to be cautious about sending signals without having heard public comment.
But there were signs that they approved.
"Interaction between Harvard and the neighborhood seems to have created a building that meets mutal desires," said Larissa Brown, chair of the planning board.
"Bravo," said Florrie Darwin, another board member.