For the other museums, like the Peabody, crossing the Charles could bring much needed upgrades to facilities, according to University Provost Steven E. Hyman, whose office chairs the Allston planning process.

He says that officials at the natural history museum, for example, worry about the structure of its present building and how vibrations are affecting its famed collection of glass flowers.

Inside the Committee

For a committee that will hold only a couple more meetings and that will not even issue a final report or recommendation, the Advisory Group on Physical Planning for Arts, Culture and Museums has already run into its share of snags.

Scheduling difficulties have slowed the committee’s progress. This fall, the provost’s office did not send out a schedule for meetings until early November.

The delay was due to “staffing changes and scheduling complications,” according to Sean Buffington ’91, the assistant provost who coordinates the committee.

“I’m not sure what the effect of the delay in meetings is,” Cuno says. “I suspect it will have more effect on the speed with which the University can gather its information than on any real development of Allston itself.”

Its discussions address only general questions and in addition to Hyman are attended by the architectural firm that is consulting on Allston development.

“What we’re trying to get people to do is to think big, to share, to be a resource for architectural and development consultants,” Hyman says. “We can’t ask people who are thinking about dance to engage in architectural plans. The point is only to hear what people’s hopes are, [and] draw useful scenarios.”

Although Hyman and Buffington say students’ needs are at the forefront of Allston development, the committee membership does not include any Harvard undergraduates. But Hyman insists they will still be involved.

“We’re going to engage lots of students,” he says. “As we think about Allston, it will have an enormous impact on student life.”

“It would seem to me that in…ºan advisory capacity, student input should be taken into account,” Cuno says. Allston development “is presuming benefit to students, and students will be among the best to advise us on such benefits, and particularly the location of such benefits.”

Building Blocks

Committee members say it is still too early to know what student facilities, if any, might find a home in Allston.

And the time-frame on Allston development may be too distant to help remedy the immediate space crunch for student dance and theater groups, which soon will lose the Rieman center and, temporarily, the run-down Hasty Pudding building.