West Village H wins  Harleston Parker architecture medal

The West Village building that houses the College of Computer and Information Science and a residence hall has been named the most beautiful piece of architecture in the greater Boston area by the Boston Society of Architects (BSA).

West Village H, which was designed by Boston’s William Rawn Associates, received the 2005 Harleston Parker Medal on the unanimous recommendation of a ten-member jury of architects and professionals.
The building, chosen out of an initial pool of 114 nominees, was cited by the BSA jury for “its coherent expression and level of rigor at a multitude of scales” as well as the attention “given to the building’s minute details, its place on the campus, and its place in the city.”

Other finalists for the award included the Springstep Center for the Arts, in Medford, and the Genzyme Center, Vertex (otherwise known as the Kendall Square Biotech Laboratory), and MIT’s Stata Center (designed by Frank Gehry), which are all located in Cambridge.

Opened in September 2004, West Village H is a sixteen-story glass high-rise with a three-story wing that fronts Huntington Avenue across from the Museum of Fine Arts.

The first four floors of the building house classrooms, computer labs, and offices for the College of Computer
and Information Science. The remaining floors are devoted to dorm space for 485 students.

“We’re thrilled to have received this award, which recognizes our larger effort to improve Northeastern’s aesthetics across the board,” says President Freeland. “Building H is highly representative of the overall attractiveness and landscaping of our vibrant residential campus.”

Another building project on the west end of campus is currently in its final stages of completion: a seven-story structure that will house the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute, classrooms, a lecture hall, and student residences.

• E Line Story Index