Gund Hall Receives 2025 Robert H. Kuehn, Jr. Award

Gund Hall

Preservation Mass is excited to announce that Gund Hall in Cambridge is the recipient of the 2025 Robert H. Kuehn, Jr. Award.

George Gund Hall (Gund Hall) is an ambitious example of late-period concrete modernism. Home of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), the building was designed by John Andrews and opened in 1972. Josep Lluis Sert (then Dean of the GSD) provided initial input on the design, which boasted radical massing and exposed mechanical equipment rushing up the vast stepped studio interior enclosed by monumental steel trusses and enclosed by (then cutting edge) neoprene lock-gasket glazing technology. The result was a building true to the tenants of the New Brutalism laid out two-decades prior while offering a bridge to both high-tech architectural stylistic developments (Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano, etc.), and the formal crystalline forms (including those by IM Pei who along with his partner Harry Cobb had a close association with the school) which would follow within the decade.

Over the last fifty years the building suffered from water penetration, deterioration of glazing assemblies, and discomfort associated with both heat loss and heat gain – accompanied with concern regarding energy expenditures and, increasingly, carbon emission. When Andrews designed Gund Hall, there were no classes during the summer months. Since its origin, the number of students occupying the building has more than doubled and extended throughout the year.

The 2024 project comprised the first phase of a comprehensive, carbon-conscious conservation effort focused on replacement of the vast studio’s glazed enclosure. The design and engineering for replacement of multiple glazing assemblies respects the visual framework, material hierarchies, and language set by Andrews’s original elevations and massing—both externally and as viewed from within. The Cambridge Historic Commission was involved from the beginning of the project, visiting the site during early mock-up phases to help the design team compare new elements to their original counterparts, side-by-side.

Gund Hall’s restoration is a national breakthrough project that introduces new glazing technology with dimensions closely aligned to the historic curtain wall and windows. The envelope replacement is respectful of Andrews’s design and respectful of the environment. The project expended approximately160,000kg CO2 to produce, but is modeled to save 18,000kg CO2 per year. The renovation reflects the regional culture of innovation, sustainability, and conservation—and serves as a leading example of each throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.