The building will also include more individual breakout spaces to allow for student-to-student and professor-to-student interaction, McCrossan said. Though the current classrooms in Pound Hall will continued to be used, they may eventually be converted into office space.
The Clinical component of the building will house the Law School’s fast-growing clinical program, student organizations, and journals. In the past, most student groups met in the basements of different buildings, and clinics were spread all over campus and Harvard Square, where the Law School had begun to rent space to accommodate the programs.
Though the prestigious Harvard Law Review will remain in Gannett House, student publications and clubs will now be grouped together to encourage student exchange across groups.
“It will give students a wonderful space to come together and be successful in their law school endeavors,” Nolan said.
GREEN FROM THE GROUND UP
The Northwest Corner complex is expected to receive Gold LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), one of the highest award levels for environmental design.
The Law School hired Atelier Ten, an environmental design consulting firm, to assist throughout the project. Atelier Ten has worked on projects at Harvard Business School and has played a role in almost all of Yale’s recent building projects, according to Emilie N. Hagen, an associate at the firm who advised the Northwest Corner project.
Hagen said that the firm conducted extensive analyses of daylight performance and other climate factors in the early stages of building design and guided the Law School through the LEED certification process.
Though the project managers did not specifically aim for Gold certification, the Law School tried to find ways to incorporate environmentally friendly materials as long as they were financially feasible.
The building takes advantage of as much natural light as possible and reuses rainwater from the roof for irrigation. Seventy-five percent of the construction waste is being recycled or reused rather than being sent to landfills, according to a report on the sustainability of the project. The parking garage will also use a “preferred parking” system—offering better spots to faculty and staff who drive high-performance, environmentally-friendly cars, Hagen said.
Though installation or up-front costs for green technology and material is often more expensive, the Law School expects to recuperate most of the costs through decreased operating expenses in the long-term, McCrossan said.
“It was very pragmatic,” Hagen said. “[HLS] really wanted to get a building that was as green as it could be for the money they had.”
—Staff writer Zoe A. Y. Weinberg can be reached at zoe.weinberg@college.harvard.edu.