hbs1

I have worked a number of times over the years with Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, an architectural firm with offices in
Albany, New York, Boston and Washington DC. Charles Kirby, a principal at EYP asked if I would collaborate with
them on a new classroom building at the Harvard Business School in Boston. The Project was the new building
construction project Hawes Hall.

Rod Hawes, had arranged to make a sizable donation to the Business School, from which he had previously
graduated. His vision in funding the project was to provide a technology rich learning environment in which the
students at the business school could gain a more encompassing, global perspective. He hoped that by helping to
foster this perspective, the young men and women would who attend HBS could then go on and help build
organizations that would help level the economic playing field between rich and poor nations, and thus, Hawes
hoped, raise the standard of living for those most in need.

My first introduction to the project, then, was very different from most project kick off meetings. It was charged
with a sense of mission well beyond most other assignments.

Another unique aspect of the project was the senior faculty representative, Jay Light . Professor Light was one of
the most engaging, supportive and open minded university faculty I've ever had the pleasure of working with. He
was enthusiastic about the project, had strong ideas about how the classrooms should work, and was eager to
consider any opportunities to utilize technology to make the learning process more effective.

Surprisingly, the faculty had already created a committee to consider what is one of the most important aspects of
classroom design; the juxtaposition of writing and projection surfaces, and other furniture elements in the area
where the professor would lead the classroom activities. The "Front of the Room Committee" as they had named
themselves had already spent time considering how to optimize this area of the classroom.