The ‘fluid’ nature of a campus like Harvard’s is evident in this project. The need for a cleanroom for the research work of physicists, chemists, and biologists led to the ‘emptying’ of a courtyard to meet all the requirements: accessibility, security, emergency evacuation, ventilation, no vibration, no magnetic fields, no natural light, no particulates, etc. It was deemed necessary to preserve the campus’s integrity and essential features, and symbiosis is a good way to describe the complex situation resulting from the tower (where the laboratories are) resting on a powerful arcade that functions as a new gateway between the Yard and Oxford Street. More than a new building, the LISE is a fragment of the campus’s urban fabric. The space behind the Science Center – the birch tree courtyard – was definitely one of the project’s priorities. (Rafael Moneo)