A new residential project in Boston from MVRDV and co-architect Moody Nolan will deliver much-needed housing accommodations for the burgeoning Enterprise Research Campus (ERC) district on the southern edge of Harvard University in Allston, Massachusetts.

The scheme remade a former industrial site located across from the Harvard Business School on Western Avenue into a new urban district with a 343-unit housing component (25% of which is considered ‘affordable’), new green spaces, and areas reserved for local small businesses. 

Developed by Tishman Speyer using a master plan from Studio Gang and Henning Larsen, the district will serve as an innovation center with added laboratories, an office component, hotel, and a new conference center for the university. MVRDV says it will be sited in the middle of the plan, offering a connection to the Greenway, a two-acre open space linking to the Charles River. Local mainstays Utile, Inc. are also contributing to the master plan's landscape design.

The apartments will be split into two separate eight- and 17-story mid-rise blocks. The structures form a connection to Marlon Blackwell Architects’ adjacent hotel design through a one-story amenities suite with a gym and multiple co-working spaces.

Inside each tower, a mixture of studio, one-, and two-bedroom units are constructed in three sizes and contribute to the, what MVRDV calls, “intriguing texture” of the buildings, which are outside punctuated by small indentations and protrusions that maximize the availability of corner windows on the rusted copper colored facade.

Founding partner Nathalie de Vries says: “Designing so close to a place like the Harvard Campus is an exciting challenge — there’s an unusual mix of tradition, quality, and future-focused thinking that takes place here. With these residences, we hope to fit in with that identity. Using fine materials and detailing, our design references the local architecture while also taking on its own sleek character — an ideal place for the students and young professionals that will play a role in shaping the future here.”

Harvard says the 900,000-square-foot ERC will culminate in late-2025 or early-2026, depending on construction. The project is expected to achieve a LEED-Gold sustainability certification. TenBerke also recently completed a renovation project for Harvard Law School. 

MVRDV has not provided a construction timeline for the project, which also involves landscape architect SCAPE and interior architect Michaelis Boyd.