Harvard University commisioned the Architecture firm Barkow Leibinger  the ArtLab as part of its new growing campus in Allston, Massachusetts, and Sasaki firm collaborated as the architect of record.

Barkow Leibinger built the façade this experimental arts hub in white polycarbonate panels. The transparency of the material allows it to be illuminated like a "lightbox at night".
The building is a temporary, and Barkow Leibinger designed it to be easily disassembled. The experimental arts hub comprises five volumes will be used by college students and teachers, as well as visiting artists and the wider community.

The Hub, can be opened and closed by a series of four large sliding partitions, enabling performances and exhibitions, cultivating interactivity at the ArtLab’s center. Surrounding spaces provide recording studios, sound-editing stations, and rooms for rehearsal, improvisation, and informal performance.The ArtLab encourages and expands participants’ engagement with interdisciplinary arts-practice research, serving as a collaborative activator for the school and the greater Allston and Cambridge neighborhoods.
 

Description of project by Barkow Leibinger

Harvard University’s ArtLab, a cross-curriculum space for the arts, is located on the school’s Allston campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Designed to be curated and adapted by its users, the 9,000 square-foot space will be available to students, teachers, visiting artists, and the wider community.

The building, a one-story “pinwheel-like” plan, consists of a series of studios, workshops, and media spaces that surround a common “Hub” space. The Hub, which can be opened and closed by a series of four large sliding partitions, enables performances and exhibitions, cultivating interactivity at the ArtLab’s center. Surrounding spaces provide recording studios, sound-editing stations, and rooms for rehearsal, improvisation, and informal performance.The ArtLab encourages and expands participants’ engagement with interdisciplinary arts-practice research, serving as a collaborative activator for the school and the greater Allston and Cambridge neighborhoods.

The building, which complies to Massachusetts’ high energy efficiency standards and is projected to be net-zero, is constructed of lightweight steel columns and open web steel trusses on a concrete slab on grade. Framing is mechanically fastened, able to be assembled and disassembled easily and efficiently, allowing for the building to be transferred and given a second life when needed. The steel frame is clad in transparent insulated glass and lightweight high-insulating polycarbonate panels. These panels range from transparent totranslucent to opaque, exploiting diffuse natural light and a street-level view by day, emerging as a glowing “lightbox” by night. These materials emphasize the building’s ephemerality while providing a robust and adaptable space for the arts. The roof is covered with photovoltaic panels, generating the power required for the building.

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Architects
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Barkow Leibinger, Berlin. Frank Barkow, Regine Leibinger. Architect of Record.- Sasaki.
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Team
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Martina Bauer (Associate), Sebastian Awick, Johannes Beck, Jordan Berta, Sophia Hannekum.
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Collaborators
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Construction Manager.- Lee Kennedy Co. Inc., Quincy, MA. Structural Engineering - Concept.- Werner Sobek, New York. Structural Engineering - Executive. RSE Associates Inc., Watertown, MA. MEP/FP Engineers.- BR+A, Boston, MA. Landscape Architect.- michael boucher landscape architecture, Freeport, ME. Lighting.- LAM PARTNERS, Cambridge, MA.
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Client
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Harvard University
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Size
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9,000 sq ft | 840 sqm
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Location
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Allston, Boston, Massachusetts 02134, United States
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Dates
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Spring 2018 - December 2018
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Barkow Leibinger’s work is realized over a wide range of scales and building types including building for workplace (industry, office, and master-planning), cultural, housing, event spaces, exhibitions and installations in the public realm internationally. Important milestones are amongst others the Biosphere in Potsdam, Germany, the Customer and Administration Building , the Gate House and the Campus Restaurant in Ditzingen, Germany and the Trutec Building in Seoul. Recently completed buildings include the Tour Total office high-rise in Berlin and an apartment and hotel complex in passive house standard in Freiburg, Germany.

Their work has been shown at the Architecture Biennale Venice 2008 and 2014, at the Marrakech Biennale 2012 and is included in the permanent collections of MoMA, New York, and the Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt. Barkow Leibinger have won three National AIA Honor Awards for Architecture and the prestigious Marcus Prize for Architecture, Milwaukee, recognizing emerging talent in the field for design excellence and innovation, as well a Global Holcim Innovation Award for sustainability.

Frank Barkow. Born in Kansas City, USA, 1957. Bachelor of Architecture, Montana State University, 1982. Master of Architecture, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, 1990. Visiting Critic, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and Rome, 1990. Unit Master, Architectural Association, London, 1995-98. The Arthur Gensler Visiting Professor of Architecture Cornell University, Ithaca, 2003. Cass Gilbert Visiting Professor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 2004. Visiting Professor, State Academy of Art and Design, Stuttgart, Germany, 2005-06. Visiting Professor, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, USA, 2008, 04, 00. Visiting Professor, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, School of Architecture & Urban Planning, USA, 2008. Visiting Professor, EPFL Écoles Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 2010. Barkow Leibinger, Berlin, Germany, Since 1993.

Regine Leibinger. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, 1963. Diploma, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, 1989. Master of Architecture, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, USA, 1991. Assistant Professor, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, 1993–97. Unit Master, Architectural Association, London, England, 1997–98. Guest Professor, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg, Germany, 1999–2000. Visiting Professor, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, USA, 2000, 04. Professor for Building Construction and Design, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany Since 2006. Member of the ’Visiting Committees’, MIT Department of Architecture, Cambridge, USA, Since 2011. Barkow Leibinger Architects, Berlin, Germany, Since 1993.

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Published on: July 15, 2019
Cite: "White transparency. Harvard University’s ArtLab by Barkow Leibinger" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/white-transparency-harvard-universitys-artlab-barkow-leibinger> ISSN 1139-6415
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