Azitujournal

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growth of shared facilities. In addition,
Harvard faces difficulties to be expanded
within its dense urban fabric.
Harvard University has developed
from a single building in a rural area to
a large integral campus within a dense
urban fabric. Harvard University is in
close interaction with its hosting urban
space. Its academic prosperity and economic
growth have brought a responsibility
to contribute to the improvement
of its urban space through providing
teaching and research facilities, laboratories,
offices, and affordable housing.
The high level of campus and urban
land-use integration is mainly at the
edge of campus where most of the residential
and commercial uses are situated.
diversified land-uses such as lecture
halls, services, and residences are scattered
around the campus and enhances
the informal exchanges and vitality of
the space. The diversity and balanced
distribution of land-uses and activities
increase the nightlife security due to
the presence of 24-hour activities on
the campus. There are residential areas,
retail and commercial buildings, sports
facilities, libraries that are active and
open during the night hours. This issue
increases the perceived safety not only
inside the campus but also in the surrounding
urban area. Providing housing
is one of the core objectives of Harvard
as an educational community and
a residential college. There are a variety
of residences available for students and
faculty members. While the students’
dormitories are mainly in proximity
to academic buildings, the affiliates
housing are mostly located in campus
boundaries. The existence of residential
buildings enhances Harvard’s campus
liveability, informal interactions
and the sense of community.
There are several facilities and services
provided for Harvard students
and faculty to boosts their quality of
life. Harvard Square can be considered
the locus of many social, commercial
and recreational activities. There are
other activity zones forming corridors
along the streets in campus edges.
Considering the greenness, approximately
sixty percent of Harvard campus
is devoted to open space which defines
its structure and expresses its rich
spatial quality. It composed of diversified
typologies of open spaces including
courtyards, quadrangles, gardens,
and paths which hierarchically forms a
unique spatial experience for the users.
The campus edges have various
forms of barriers including high and
low walls, high and low fences, hedges
and gates. Each type of boundary creates
a different form of physical character
in terms of visibility and pedestrian
and vehicular accessibility. In spite of
containing various kinds of boundaries,
it can be noted that Harvard
campus merges with the surrounding
Figure 5. Harvard University Aerial View (Source: Url-2).
The histology atlas of campus form: A framework to explore liveability and sustainability in
university campuses