Harwood Court Dormitory

The existing dormitory building defining three sides of the court was designed by Jamieson and Sperl in 1921 with the landscape designed by Ralph Cornell. The new dormitory, by de Bretteville and Polyzoides, encloses the fourth, south, side while also including the computer lab on the east end.

The major campus issue of this project is the completion of the existing historic precinct while responding to complex site conditions. The solution is based on the idea of a building whose northern face completes the court in terms of mass, centralized composition and elements related to the existing building. The southern face reflects the scale of the adjacent, large field and the rhythm of the clusters of rooms. The computer lab is designed as a tower marking the point of intersection of two major passages. Its unique form stands in counterpoint to the continuous form of the dormitory while also announcing its special service role to the south campus.

The structure is concrete block bearing walls and concrete floor slabs designed to withstand the trials of occupation by freshmen without sacrificing essential residential qualities. The exterior materials, the grey stucco base, the cream stucco walls, the terracotta walls and tile on sloped roofs, are used in a unique manner while simultaneously referencing existing adjacent buildings.