House renewal and rebirth
After years of gathering input from students, faculty, and staff, after lengthy and meticulous planning, and after 15 months of intense construction, the first House renewal project, Quincy House’s Stone Hall, opened to students last fall, revealing invigorating social and academic spaces. Based on student reactions, the renewal is proving to be a success. “This has drastically exceeded my expectations,” said Kevin O’Donnell ’16 as he sat in Stone Hall’s bright, spacious Kates/Tobin Community Room, which previously had been dark, underutilized basement space. House renewal is one of the largest and most ambitious capital improvement campaigns in Harvard College history, aiming to transform the student experience by ensuring that each House can strongly support the learning and living needs of 21st-century undergraduates, enhancing their education for generations to come. “It’s really amazing. My first thought when I saw all of this was that people put a lot of careful thought into this building,...