RARE AALTO INTERIOR RENOVATION STIRS MODERN CRISIS AT HARVARDRenovation of Harvard College’s Woodberry Poetry Room designed by Finnish master of modern and bentwood guru Alvar Aalto is


creating controversy between the school and preservationists, who want the room kept as Aalto intended.

While any room used by students and scholars since 1949 would show wear in scratched table tops, damaged furniture legs and the like, the 1,030-square-foot study sanctum’s once state-of-the-art audio hubs, record players that up to eight people could listen to at once, are woefully out of date to the 21st century scholar. And on June 9 the school set out to update and, it says, renovate the room to meet the needs of the modern student.

But the differences between renovation and restoration create a gap wide enough to throw in all the bentwood chairs in the original interior and replace them with Aeron chairs. Preservationists, who count the Woodberry room as one of just four existing interiors Aalto completed in the US, want to see the gap shortened and the Woodberry room restored to its original look.

They prefer that the school replace Aalto’s damaged pieces with modern versions still in production, that they restore where ever possible and avoid creating a look that resonates as just a ghost of Aalto’s original work.

The College faces more concerns though than the look of the room and wants it to function in the manner intended by the gift of George Edward Woodberry, which is as a place created for reading and listening to contemporary poetry. Harvard wants modern computers and digital recordings to co-exist with its collection of vinyl recordings. The College argues that it would be doing a disservice to students and the original intention of the donor if it were to ignore advancements in technology made in the 50 plus years since Aalto designed the room. Harvard wants to recreate the room in the “spirit” of Aalto’s design and says leaving it as is would amount to turning it into a museum piece frozen in time, something any library should avoid.

The school plans to refinish a large original Aalto study table and recreate two more by repurposing two units currently holding record players. It will rewire, clean and re-hang most of the existing lighting, send some lighting and furniture pieces to its Busch-Reisinger Museum, and sell some remaining pieces at auction.

The arguments continue as the renovation continues on pace to end in September as school resumes. But is Harvard sacrificing an important piece of Modern history, or simply giving its students the room they deserve to work in? We obviously can’t say with any real certainty what Aalto would want, but judging from his simple solutions and functional approach, it seems that a room that works for its intended use would top the lists of his concerns.

Images courtesy of Harvard College Library.