VAN WITH A PLAN

Another giant in the re-landscaping game has also been instrumental in the restoration of Harvard Yard. “Michael has worked really hard to preserve the trees, the layout, and the abilities of the people to use the Yard. It takes a lot of abuse…. It requires a huge amount of upkeep,” says Weishan. Weishan is not speaking in the third-person—he is referring to landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh. Every interviewee mentions Van Valkenburgh in some way, particularly because he designed the new Johnston Gate panels pro bono as part of his ongoing repair and restoration of Harvard Yard. Picked in 1993 to helm the re-landscaping effort of the Yard, Van Valkenburgh managed to recapture a fading grandiosity while bringing a grove of new trees into the landscape.

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Laura Solano, a principal architect at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates who has observed the transformation of the Yard under Van Valkenburgh, distilled the firm’s views on re-landscaping in a way that concisely captured the interplay between modern technology and restoration efforts that honor the past. “One of the most critical beginnings was removing all of the shrubs that had been planted around the Yard,” she says. “They brought a sense of residential scale, which didn’t have a place there. It was more about ornamentation than the intended pure, simple New England aesthetic that the Yard has always been.” Solano makes clear the larger concept behind the Van Valkenburgh approach: “We always try to keep the spirit and understand the thinking, but we are working in our time, so we use those tools.”

SO FAR SO GOOD

In spite of his enthusiasm for preservation and restoration, Weishan is cautious when discussing the work being done on Harvard’s old buildings and landscapes. “Sometimes it’s [building and landscape restoration] to the point of making them obsolete,” he says. “They are loved literally to death because they can’t be changed.” Despite the potential for dysfunctionality, the restorations or careful maintenance of past structures at Johnston Gate, the Arnold Arboretum, and the larger Harvard Yard eschew the kind of preciousness that would likely lead to Harvard becoming a museum––the new landscapes honor the past but aren’t stuck in it.

As the House System renovations continue and more designers and academics get on board the preservation train, it is likely that debate surrounding preservation and restoration will intensify. But it appears that as long as those helming the restoration projects, like the landscapers I met, balance their love of innovation with a historical knowledge, they will succeed in honoring the visions of past designers while creating a campus for the future.

—Staff writer David J. Kurlander can be reached at david.kurlander@thecrimson.com.