" Offering a spectacular space for meetings, conferences and special events to the Harvard and beyond "This is the ambition of the David Rubenstein Treehouse. This new MICE centre is due to take up residence at Harvard next autumn, just under three years after the announcement of the new infrastructure. It will be located at 20 Western Avenue, opposite the Harvard Business School and close to the university's new science and technology complex.
The design was entrusted to the American architectural firm Studio Gang. The specifications are relatively obvious from the title of the project, which advocates a sustainable infrastructure of some 5,000 m². The solid wood - a rarity at Harvard - embodies this imperative. The metaphor of the tree house is echoed by the central staircase, lit by skylights. And the main conference space, the Canopy Hall and its open-air terrace, offer breathtaking views of the surrounding landscape. In terms of energy, this all-electric Rubenstein Treehouse will be equipped with a photovoltaic system. Rainwater will also be collected on the roof and in biological drainage channels. The project has every right to aspire to Living Building Challenge Core certification.
"Conference centres are often isolated buildings that consume a lot of energy and are cut off from their environment," say the project managers. "The Treehouse conference centre aims to create a very different kind of meeting place at Harvard University: one with a low carbon footprint that stimulates exchange, collaboration and the neighbourhood as a whole by integrating with the community and the external environment. With its expressive solid wood structure, a first on Harvard's campus, the Treehouse also visibly embodies a greener approach to construction for Boston and institutions around the world".
It remains to be seen whether the latest turmoil at theadministration Trump will disrupt the final stretch of the David Rubenstein Treehouse project. On 5 May, the US Secretary of Education sent a letter indicating her intention to cut federal funding to Harvard University... We can only hope that the university's management will nevertheless be able to complete the building work on schedule.
