B-School Begins $185M Renovation Project

The Insider's Guide to The Top Ten Business Schools may call the Harvard Business School (HBS) campus "idyllic," but that's not good enough for HBS officials, who recently unveiled an extensive six-year, $185 million campus renovation project.

According to Assistant Dean Angela Crispi, the school's chief planning officer, the plan calls for four major projects: new student housing for the Executive Education Program (EEP) and renovations to Kresge Dining Hall; major renovations to Baker Business Library and the replacement of Teele Hall with a new classroom building; construction of a new campus center with a dining hall and 350 seat auditorium; and building of a new apartment building at Soldiers Field Park.

"So much of [the project] is related to fact that we face real demands right now," Crispi said. "If you look at the Executive Education Program, we need new housing right now."

The EEP, which brings real world business executives to the Business School for programs ranging in length from three days to several months, has expanded enormously over the last few years, according to HBS Chief Financial Officer Donella Rapier.

Workers will break ground on the two EEP dormitories later in 1997, and officials expect that phase to last about a year and a half.

The renovations to Baker Library will introduce the latest information technology, a move Provost Albert Carnesale calls "entirely consistent" with the school's drive to become the world's premier business school in that area.

The library renovations will also facilitate student cooperation on assignments, a Business School trend which has grown considerably since the late '80s.

In addition, the library will be given a south entrance, which will face a new quadrangle, along with the new academic building which will replace Teele Hall.

"If you look at Baker Library, it is a building built in the 1920s. And [inside] it looks like a building built in the 1920s," Crispi said.

The new Campus Center will face what is now the back of Aldrich Hall, forming another new quadrangle. These two quads, according to Crispi, will form two "hearts" for the Business School.

"That was really important to us: to have spaces where the whole community can come together," she said.

The fourth branch of renovations will be the construction of a new apartment building within the Soldiers Field Park complex.

The building will stand on what is now a parking lot at the intersection of Soldiers Field Road and Western Avenue.

Harvard Planning and Real Estate will pick up some of the campus renovation's $185 million tab. HBS will also launch a fundraising campaign for the project

"That was really important to us: to have spaces where the whole community can come together," she said.

The fourth branch of renovations will be the construction of a new apartment building within the Soldiers Field Park complex.

The building will stand on what is now a parking lot at the intersection of Soldiers Field Road and Western Avenue.

Harvard Planning and Real Estate will pick up some of the campus renovation's $185 million tab. HBS will also launch a fundraising campaign for the project