January 14, 2025
Shawmut completed the first phase of an ambitious project to enhance the energy performance, sustainability, and accessibility of Harvard Graduate School of Design’s (GSD) Gund Hall while conserving its original design. In partnership with Bruner/Cott Architects, the project has transformed Gund Hall into a paradigm for the rehabilitation and stewardship of mid-twentieth-century architecture.
Designed by Australian architect and GSD alumnus John Andrews (MArch ’58), Gund Hall opened in 1972 to house Harvard’s GSD. Since that time, the building’s glass-enclosed five-story studio block, known as the trays, has served as the GSD’s physical and metaphorical center—where students work, interact, and exchange ideas.
A primary achievement of the ambitious renovation, which followed a tight construction schedule initiated immediately after commencement in late May of 2024, involved the replacement of the glass encasing the trays. In total, this amounts to 1,617 glazing units equaling a glazed area of 15,475 square feet. The east curtain wall and clerestory windows employ triple-pane glass, while a custom hybrid vacuum-insulated glass (VIG) composite contributes an additional layer of insulation to the north and south curtain walls. By leveraging the insulating properties of the internal vacuum and marrying it to an additional layer of conventional insulating glass in a sandwich that is overall only a few millimeters thicker than conventional double glazing, the hybrid VIG offers unprecedented thermal resistance. These hybrid units can deliver energy performance that is two to four times better than standard insulating glass and up to ten times more efficient than single-pane glass. While this technology has developed a strong track record in Europe, the Gund Hall renovation is among the first projects in the United States to employ hybrid VIG on a grand scale.
The renovation of Gund Hall exceeds Massachusetts’s stretch energy code for alterations, rendering the building a step above the base code in terms of energy efficiency. Calculations project that, moving forward, the renovated building will save approximately 18,000kg of CO2 emissions per year, resulting in a nine-year carbon payback for the project. Furthermore, Gund Hall will see a 22.2 percent reduction in energy use intensity and a 19.1 percent reduction in utility costs.
Through choice of glass and special coatings, the reglazing project markedly enhances the balance, distribution, and quality of light within the studio, which is augmented by improvements such as the installation of motorized window shades to help mitigate glare and heat gain from direct and reflected sun, and upgraded under-tray lighting for greater illumination. Widened exits to the terraces make these outdoor spaces wheelchair accessible for the first time in Gund Hall’s history. In addition, the construction team repaired areas of deteriorating concrete on the building’s exterior.
Of equal significance to these outcomes are the improvements in user friendliness that stem from the renovation. Alongside the upgrades to the building’s efficiency and sustainability, these qualitative enhancements position Gund Hall as a model for the conservation and revitalization of mid-twentieth-century modern architecture.
