Administrators said that cluster communities, where hallway common rooms can be locked by residents, will function and feel like suites of their own.
“The cluster will feel like a community in its own right,” said Kieran, adding that fireplaces and study nooks will line the hallways and create a cozy feel.
Students who toured the nearly-complete construction site agreed that the short hallways connecting vertical entryways do not feel like the long, anonymous hallways found at some colleges.
“It doesn’t feel like this enormous hallway. It does still feel very intimate,” said Catherine G. Katz ’13, a former Quincy House Committee co-chair.
Lassonde, who served as a dean of one of Yale University’s 12 undergraduate residential colleges when they were undergoing renovations, argued that improved public and private spaces are not mutually exclusive. “When you look at the ratio of public to private space, it looks like there’s an encroachment of public space on private space, but what happens is there’s just much more public space,” he said.
SPATIAL LIMITATIONS
Students and administrators alike agreed that House renewal should aim to improve community spirit and life, but some students questioned whether the project will achieve that goal.
“While I think that the hallways and the new common spaces will facilitate the vision that a lot of the leaders in the House have, I don’t know if, because of the common rooms or the hallways, you’re going to see blossoming House spirit,” Katz said.
Leverett House Committee Co-Chair Manny M. Mendoza ’14 said that there will always be a group of students committed to cohesion in the House, regardless of spatial issues. “We always have a solid core of people who are always interested in maintaining an active community,” he said.
Still, Mendoza said he is concerned with preserving community life during construction on McKinlock Hall, the neo-Georgian portion of Leverett where the second set of House renovations will begin this summer. During the renovations, Leverett students will live in five different buildings for the school year.
“I don’t know how [House life] is going to survive,” he said.
Yim also questioned whether renovations alone could make House social space more relevant.
“I think Harvard in general has had a challenge in social space in recent years and that discussion is being presented in front of administrators,” Yim said.
He added that new spaces in the Houses could end up as just more under-utilized space.
“I do think that [the issue of social space] is much more nuanced than just adding new amenities and just renovating a building,” he said. ”I do think it is steps forward. I don’t think there’s a simple solution.”
—Staff writer Laya Anasu contributed to the reporting of this article.
—Staff writer Elizabeth S. Auritt can be reached at eauritt@college.harvard.edu. You can follow her on Twitter @eauritt.