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The School of Design's New Design

Structural Faults Plague Two Modern Harvard Buildings

But all the building's renovations or problems can not be attributed simply to innovative qualities of design.

Officials stress that some of the changes are simply intended to keep up with the growing numbers of students at the school, as well as the changing techniques of teaching.

When the building was first designed, McCue says, all the instruction was given in studio space and there were few lecture halls and classrooms. Now, however, more instruction is provided in Law School lecture style.

In addition, students would commonly have to cram into doorways of the seminar rooms to view the teachers, and there were not enough classrooms for the increasing number of lectures taking place.

Under the renovations, Gund's classrooms and lecture halls have been enlarged and remodeled to accommodate the changing needs.

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But even for all the changing needs, officials admit that some of the problems might have been avoided had there been more resources at the builders' disposal.

"Problems resulted from budget cuts when building," says Edie Groden, the GSD's director of building services. "They were penny wise and pound foolish, but at the time there simply was not enough money."

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