Harvard ArtLab

Construction Nearly Complete for Harvard's ArtLab

Painting and other interior finish work is wrapping up for Harvard's ArtLab as a temporary certificate of occupancy has been issued for the new building in Allston.  The 9,000-square-foot lab will feature space for arts including film, theater, dance and media. Amenities at the ArtLab will include sound editing stations, an audio recording studio, and space for rehearsal, improvisation, and informal performance. 

Harvard proposes new ArtLab arts collaboration space along Western Avenue Corridor in Allston

Harvard has unveiled plans to construct ArtLab, a new arts collaboration space within the University’s growing Allston campus along the booming Western Avenue Corridor. The 9,000-square-foot space would nurture arts including film, theater, dance and media, with spaces including sound editing stations, an audio recording studio and space for rehearsal, improvisation and informal performance. “The ArtLab will be more than just a space — it will be an important addition to Harvard’s burgeoning arts environment, a home where faculty, staff and students can engage in the kinds of interdisciplinary collaboration both within and beyond the curriculum that is a hallmark of Harvard’s strong and diverse arts community,” said Harvard President Drew Faust in a prepared statement.

ArtLab would be located at Barry’s Corner, the intersection of North Harvard Street and Western Avenue in Allston, steps from Harvard’s under-construction $1 billion, 535,000-square-foot Science and Engineering Complex and recently completed 15,000-square-foot Life Lab, as well as multiple new development projects. The building would be located across from the recently completed $150 million, 350,000-square-foot Continuum development, home to a newly opened Trader Joe’s supermarket, and just down the street from Telford 180, a recently completed 85-unit condominium building that sold out pre-completion.

In the coming months, Harvard will file plans with the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) formally proposing ArtLab. if approved, construction of ArtLab could begin as early as summer 2018, with completion in early 2019.