Harvard University – Busch Hall and Emerson Hall

About Harvard University Busch Hall and Emerson Hall

Cambridge, MA

Erected in 1914, Busch Hall, which currently houses the Minda de Gunzberg Center for European Studies (CES), was the most expensive building built by Harvard at the time, requiring engineering techniques that had never before been used in the United States. In 1989, the facility shifted to include space for CES offices, classes, and spaces. The building was recently renovated by South Coast Improvement Company, who installed a chairlift for handicap accessibility, which required new masonry work for opening and in-fills, and fully fitted-out offices with new steel and framing structures, lighting and electrical wiring, and door casings and millwork, and installed a new HVAC system.

Named after the philosopher, author, and Harvard alumnus Ralph Waldo Emerson and originally built in 1905, Emerson Hall houses the Department of Philosophy on Harvard’s campus. The building contains a student lounge, lecture hall, seminar rooms, and offices on the third floor. The offices were recently updated by South Coast Improvement Company, who imported luxury cork terracotta flooring, a naturally soft material softening impacts on joints, imported from Portugal and installed an HVAC system with a linear diffuser.