But if not a "carbon copy" Harvard's architecture from the late '70s to the late '90s could be described as architecturally unchallenging, Levitan says. The attitude of the administration at the time, he says, was to promote consensus--an aim reflected in the architecture of the time.

Harvard's Own

During the later decades of this century, the GSD played almost no role in advising Harvard on its architectural designs.

"The GSD has a significant role to play," Levitan says. "But in the recent past the dean and the faculty have not played a large role."

Many attribute this decline to a resentment for the GSD that formed after the "Sert Era." Josep Lluis Sert, former dean of the department of architecture at the GSD, secured a number of commissions for himself in the 1960s and 1970s.

These commissions include a number of well-known campus buildings, including the Holyoke Center (1962), the Science Center (1970-73) and Peabody Terrace (1963-4).