The center consists of an interconnected family of adaptable, multi-use spaces designed to embrace future change and support creativity. As one of America’s leading cultural organizations, housed within the world’s top research institution, the David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Creativity & Performance at Harvard University is well-placed to offer a model for the next generation of cultural architecture by encompassing the core principles of openness, artistic flexibility, collaboration and sustainability and regenerative design.

The design responds to a world in transition, one in which cultural organizations have needed to rapidly evolve towards a more holistic mission in response to public health crises, movements for greater equality, growing political polarization, and climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Beyond the production and presentation of theater, A.R.T. is seeking to achieve more with less intensive resources; to be an agent of change for a healthier population, both physically and psychologically; and to contribute towards a society that can thrive without breaching planetary boundaries. Made largely of timber and incorporating leading edge regenerative design thinking, the building is designed to be more supple, more porous, more adaptable, and more responsive.

Over the course of the design process, the building has undergone continuous refinement to dovetail the spatial and urban program with the existing Allston neighborhood, the emerging urban plan, and A.R.T.’s developing organizational vision to craft a sequence of spaces that are not only flexible, scalable, and technically sophisticated but also welcoming and democratic. This approach will empower A.R.T. to engage with the communities of Allston, Cambridge, Boston, and the broader networks of cultural research and theatrical production. The proposals have received urban design permitting, construction is due to start in Spring 2024 and is proposed to complete Autumn 2026.