Harvard Getting More Rational?

Allston Construction Pause Imposes Space Constraints on Harvard Science Schools The Harvard Crimson

But current efforts to make better use of the University’s property holdings have led some to question the original need for the Allston science building, especially as Harvard has already constructed two large laboratory buildings over the past decade—The New Research Building [525,000 square feet, completed in 2003] in Longwood and the Northwest Science Building in Cambridge [530,000 square feet, completed in 2008].

“Looking back on Allston... the mentality seemed to be ‘if you build it, they will come,’ and maybe we’ve in some sense moved back to a more rational plan,” [Timothy Mitchison, deputy chair of systems biology] said.