Harvard Business School - Baker Hall Housing & Entry Plaza

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Baker Hall was originally the housing for MBA Students but later needed to host the housing for the HBS Executive Education participants. All the housing accommodations were updated with finishes, lighting, and furniture that elevated the feel of the rooms. The mechanical systems were updated as well as the bathrooms with finishes and plumbing fixtures often found in contemporary boutique hotels.

The social spaces within the building were updated with hotel amenities to support lounge and entertainment venues for the executives in between classes. Wheelchair accessibility was an important part of the building upgrades as well as adding accessible guest rooms.

The existing building didn’t have a defined entry point, so the adjacent campus landscape was renovated to create Baker Plaza with a welcoming drop-off circle and a glass entry pavilion with an elevator to elegantly transport guests and their luggage down to the lobby of the building. The glass pavilion was an exciting structure to design in collaboration with the same contractors who built the pyramid at the Louvre Museum in Paris. In the evening, the glass entry pavilion is a welcoming lantern on Baker Plaza for the executives as they arrive or depart.