“Unlike the Houses, there is a real absence of that in the Yard,” he said.

Corker and Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd said they hoped the expansion of student space would allow for more informal gatherings in Houses’ Junior Common Rooms, which are usually reserved for rehearsals and meetings.

“We also hope that these new spaces...will help Houses regain space designed for House life,” Kidd wrote in an e-mail.

According to Gross, the new space will force the College to reassess its policies for assigning space to student groups.

The announcement offers the first official timetable for construction of the Hilles project since the College released its Hilles/QRAC space committee report in summer 2004. Gross said he hopes that construction on Hilles and the Yard basements will begin this spring. A café would probably be installed in Lamont by the end of the 2006-2007 academic year, he added.

“That’s optimistic because it depends on the other construction projects in the University,” he said.

These projects include the construction of graduate student housing on Cowperthwaite street, the renovation of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals building, and the restoration of the exterior of Widener Library and Memorial Church.

The renovation plans announced on Friday are part of an administrative effort over the past several years to address on-campus social life—an oft-criticized aspect of the Harvard student experience.

Last March, the Boston Globe reported results from the College’s 2002 senior surveys showing that those seniors were dissatisfied with social life at Harvard. The College averaged a 2.62 rating for its campus social life, compared to an average rating of 2.89 at other schools, and netted a 2.53 for its sense of community, compared to 2.8 at other schools, the Globe reported.

“All the surveys show that we do well in the areas of residential and extracurricular life, and that we could do better in the areas of social life and academic experience,” Gross said Friday. “This has informed my priorities.”

—Staff writer Margaret W. Ho can be reached at mwho@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Joshua P. Rogers can be reached at jprogers@fas.harvard.edu.