For the past year, School Building Committee members have worked with architects from Arrowstreet on schematic designs for the new elementary school. They have emphasized the building’s overall size, facilities, room arrangement, and costs. But now it’s time to move from generalities to specifics. As committee member Rick Maiore said at the group’s June 6 meeting, “We’ve had a lot of overviews. We need to get down to details and make some decisions on what it’s going to look like.”
Arrowstreet architect Emily Grandstaff-Rice began with a question that many town residents have also raised: “How do we make this building feel like it fits in Harvard?” Among her answers were the use of brickwork with horizontal bands of darker materials, similar to features in both the old library and the new one. Grandstaff-Rice showed sketches of brick with bands of manufactured stone in a granite-like color. When some committee members raised doubts about having too much dark gray, she noted that the material comes in a range of shades.
Another traditional way of giving a large wall more visual interest, she said, is breaking up the expanse with some rows of brick set vertically, soldier-style. That was a possibility she proposed for the largest unbroken stretch of wall in the new building, outside the gym on the east side.
Windows that are vertical rather than square were another element Grandstaff-Rice said the new building could adopt from Old Bromfield. Each classroom in the new building will have two bays of windows, making them a major design element as well as a source of natural light. At this point, Hildreth Elementary School Principal Josh Myler said teachers strongly favored windows they can open, and Grandstaff-Rice assured him the new classrooms would indeed have working windows. She suggested an awning-style opening section at the bottom of each tall window.
Grandstaff-Rice also showed the group a range of possible designs for the sun shades that will go on the south side of the school. While the schematic design showed simple louvres, she explained, other styles could soften the look of the building. One sample design looked like stylized tree branches, while others resembled filigree or Moorish tile patterns. Even Shaker basketwork might offer a design idea for the shades, she said.
Arrowstreet’s Larry Spang told the building committee members they should be looking at brick and making themselves aware of its many different shades and textures wherever they go. Committee member Ron Ostberg pointed out that the mortar used with the brick also makes a major impact on a building’s appearance. The old library, he noted, has very dark mortar, while mortar in the new library is light.
In a letter he read to the building committee members at the opening of the meeting, Old Littleton Road resident Paul Green suggested they hold a public session on the new school’s exterior design. “We will be living with this building for 50 years, perhaps more,” Green wrote, “and I feel strongly that we need to work hard to ensure that it reflects and harmonizes with the historic nature of Harvard. Most residents will never set foot in the new elementary school, but we will all drive past it many times over the coming years.”
