“Conference facilities are often insular, energy-intensive buildings that are closed off from their surroundings. The Treehouse conference center aims to establish a very different kind of hub for convening at Harvard University.”
David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University
Establishing a different type of hub for convening
- Brand, Wayfinding
Studio Gang | Status: In construction
Background
The David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University, a 55,000 SF conference center, is designed to be a nexus for community within the Harvard Enterprise Research Campus in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, MA. The project—Harvard’s first-ever mass-timber structure—models a greener approach to large-scale building, and is targeting the Living Building Challenge. The conference center’s brand identity and soon-to-be-completed signage and wayfinding system, inspired by the exchange of ideas during conferences, buzzes with life. The dynamic logomark emerges in layers of circles that represent both leaves and the community. Through animation, these shapes gather and reconfigure, evoking the spirit of collaboration and expanding networks. The custom typeface is made up of branching characteristics, which is symbiotic with the building’s mass timber design.
Studio Gang
