Harvard University Wants to Destroy Panache of Harvard Square, BZA Hearing, Thursday, July 30, 2015

Forbes Plaza, Harvard Square

See also what Harvard University did with city owned property (overpass of Cambridge Street and Broadway to Mass Avenue) on what they call the Science Plaza. It used to have grass and paths. Now it is all concrete with electrical outlets and bases to hook up monster tents for fund raising dinners. 


Food trucks at left, bottom center, and right of image on "Science Center Plaza"

Each day food trucks pay Harvard University rent to sell their products on city land. It indicates the reluctance of city officials to say no to Harvard's uses. The city reportedly allows Harvard to "administer" that land, but they act as if they own it. Tuesday Farmer's Market. Friday Crafts Fair. Oh and planters (used to be two on the overpass) are favored places for rodents to make their nests.


Food trucks, top left, no more grass on "Science Center Plaza"
[From letter]
in many ways Harvard is losing its focus as an educational institution and is operating more as a corporate business. And so, I have to admit that I look at Harvard’s plans for Forbes Plaza in part from the perspective of a Cambridge resident of the neighborhood
[. . .]


Forbes Plaza, Harvard Square

The current reimagining of Forbes Plaza and the facade of the Smith Center is particularly objectionable. Harvard’s project concept purports to “engage the building with the vibrancy of Harvard Square” by “contribut[ing] to the dynamic urban environment,” while its key design strategies include “activate the street level and maximize transparency,” as well as “strengthen community.” This all strikes me as little more than slick PR work to justify what is essentially an encroachment onto Forbes Plaza and a reorientation of the space to funnel the public (citizens, visitors, students, etc.) away from Harvard Square and toward a flashy new glass box, celebrated (by Harvard) for its “transparency.”
[. . .]
What most offends in this proposed plan is the reduction in overall, public, outdoor space, as well as the creation of a barrier planter. Forbes Plaza is the principal public outdoor space in Harvard Square where one can sit and watch the world pass by (as it does year-round). By expanding the facade of the Smith Center out into the plaza, that key outdoor space is compromised and diminished.
[. . .]


Forbes Plaza, Harvard Square

The redesign of Forbes Plaza as a Smith Center “welcome area” speaks volumes of Harvard’s intention to utilize the space as window dressing for its newest toy, as opposed to maintaining the plaza as a space for the Cambridge public writ large. As it stands now, Forbes Plaza attracts a wide variety of residents and visitors, a cast of characters and activities that is far more engaging, interesting and entertaining than most television. Harvard’s design seeks to further establish its aesthetic stamp, and control, on a space that is currently vibrant for its decidedly un-Harvard activity and sensibility.
[. . .]
Forbes Plaza plays a vital role in the life of Harvard students, Cambridge residents, and the many visitors to the square. That role should not be diminished.
I hope you will consider these objections to the current proposal to alter Forbes Plaza and the Smith Center’s facade, and that you might require Harvard and its architects to present a plan that maintains this space as one devoted to the entire Cambridge community, including Harvard students, not its own perceived institutional ends.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150729/NEWS/150726833

Guest column: Once-vibrant square morphs into Harvard University theme park
By Harvey A. Silverglate
Posted Jul. 29, 2015 at 8:02 AM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle
Editor’s note: The following is an open letter sent to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

* * *


Forbes Plaza, Harvard Square

[From letter]
Forbes Plaza has been a public amenity for the people of Cambridge (and Harvard affiliates, including students) ever since it was first designed by Josep Lluis Sert, a refugee from Franco’s Spain and an early dean of both the School of Architecture and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and completed in 1967.
Sert clearly intended this to be a public plaza and this has been recognized and a significant factor in previous decisions by the Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), going back as far as 1983. To grant Harvard now variances they seek, which would diminish further the public plaza, would be seriously detrimental to the public interest.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150728/NEWS/150726857

LETTER: Granting Harvard variances would diminish public plaza
Posted Jul. 28, 2015 at 1:45 PM
To the editor:
James M. Williamson

Jackson Place

Candidate for City Council