![](https://www.elkus-manfredi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HVUGC_ext_dorm_06_Benson_HERO_Desktop.jpg)
Project Description
- Bringing new graduate student housing to Harvard’s Cambridge campus, this six-story residence hall transforms the edge of the University’s campus in the Riverside neighborhood.
- Featuring 141 apartments plus 189 parking and 104 bicycle spaces on three levels below grade, the building’s design incorporates a façade of brick, copper, limestone, and granite—materials that closely relate to the vernacular of Harvard’s historic River Houses.
- Bridging the architectural variety of the site’s context—from adjacent University towers to the pedestrian-scaled residential neighborhood—required careful urban design that balanced massing, and stepped heights and setbacks to recogonize adjacent residences.
Photographer: Robert Benson
![](https://www.elkus-manfredi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HVUGC_02Large1_ext_dorm_27_Benson.jpg)
![Harvard University Graduate Commons Dorm](https://www.elkus-manfredi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HVUGC_03Large2_int_dorm_01_Benson.jpg)
Award
Construction Management Association of America, New England Chapter
Building Project of the Year
![Harvard University Graduate Commons day exterior](https://www.elkus-manfredi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HVUGC_04small1_ext_dorm_10_Benson.jpg)
![Harvard University Graduate Commons Exterior](https://www.elkus-manfredi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HVUGC_05small2_ext_dorm_04_Benson.jpg)
![Harvard University Graduate Commons Trellis](https://www.elkus-manfredi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HVUGC_06small3_ext_dorm_29_Benson.jpg)
![](https://www.elkus-manfredi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HVUGC_07small4_ext_dorm_32_Benson.jpg)