Renovation Planned For HBS Library

When Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Baker Library reopens in two years, school officials hope that massive renovations will restore the library as the focal point of the campus.

The library’s collections will be moved to subterranean stacks in order to make way for a new student center, while a major face lift of the 1927 structure’s exterior is designed to restore and enhance Baker’s original splendor.

The new student center, which will be called “The Exchange,” will include new furniture and gathering areas meant to increase the draw of a library that students say is under-used.

“I haven’t seen it [Baker] and I only know of it,” second-year HBS student Adeline Ng said.

“I will never see it since it is going to be done in summer of ’05,” she added.

The facility is also intended to bring HBS together with the rest of Allston by incorporating a view of Allston into the rear of the student center, according to Frank Hayes, chief of operations at HBS.

“Community is an important part of the University and we must recognize this as we move into Allston,” Hayes said.

A revamped reading room will complement the relocated stacks.

Hayes said the building will also undergo an “integration of technology into the library services.”

Planned changes to Baker also include major changes to the building’s exterior.

The front façade will be fully restored while the southern side has been torn down and will be fully redesigned and rebuilt in Georgian style.

The south side of the library—formerly a service entrance with no back door—will have a ceremonial entry with a plaza in front.

The project began in April 2001, when the firm Shepley Bulfinch Richardson Abbott began developing the plans for the project, and the design was created by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the firm that brought HBS the popular Spangler Center.

In addition, most parts of the project that involve a lot of noise were carefully scheduled around HBS’ academic calendar, Hayes said.

Baker was originally built as the emotional and physical focal point of the HBS campus.

Its benefactor, George Fisher Baker, was a renowned New York banker who donated $5 million for the building of the library.

The project is slated to be finished by June of 2005, in time for faculty and staff to return in August.

Hayes said the 62 faculty offices formerly housed in Baker have been temporarily moved to Mellon Hall while the library’s main service coordination point, along with the periodicals and databases have been relocated to Kresge Hall for the duration of the renovation.

The books have also been moved off site to 145 North Harvard Street.

Hayes says that the library has not lost its functionality despite the move.