Tonight at the Harvard COOP, Blair Kamin will be offering the complete, never-before-told story of the twenty-five gates that form portals to Harvard Yard, this beautiful gift book recounts the aesthetic vision for America's preeminent university, developed by renowned architecture firm McKim, Mead & White.
Curbed Magazine fantastic description of the book, wrote “In the flurry of architecture and activity that greets those entering Harvard Yard, it’s easy for visitors to miss the 25 gates that ring the university grounds. But as Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin examines in his new book Gates of Harvard Yard (Princeton Architectural Press), there is so much more to these 25 gateways in Cambridge, Massachusetts, than their roles as ceremonial entrances and exits.
‘To see these gates is to appreciate hat gateways aren’t something out of the dim architectural past," says Kamin. "They should be part of the present and future. There’s always a human desire to demarcate and declare that this space is mine, and that won’t go away. They key is having those structures and expressions make a contribution to the public realm and not merely be utilitarian eyesores. Harvard’s gates set a standard. They’re made for a private institution, but have a public purpose, announcing you’re entering into a unique place with incredible artistry.’"