After a massive overhaul, the Smith Campus Center has been transformed into a fabulous 'living room' for students and visitors to congregate, study, socialize, eat and drink. The two-story lobby is abloom with 12,000 plants, growing on the living walls and irrigated by rainwater collected on the roof. Inviting outdoor spaces include street-side plazas and a rooftop terrace.

At least one important thing remains unchanged since the renovations: nonstop games on the public chess tables. This large center is also the site of the Harvard University Information Center and the starting place for university tours.

Transportation

  • bostont: Harvard

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Harvard Yard

0.11 MILES

Harvard University was originally founded here in 1636, and Harvard Yard remains the historic and geographic heart of the university campus. Flanked by…

2. Massachusetts Hall

0.13 MILES

On the south side of Johnston Gate, Massachusetts Hall is the oldest building on the Harvard campus, dating from 1720. Originally it was a dormitory…

3. John Harvard Statue

0.15 MILES

The centerpiece of Harvard Yard is this sculpture by Daniel Chester French, known as the `statue of three lies'. John Harvard was the university's first…

4. Harvard Hall

0.15 MILES

On the north side of Johnston Gate, Harvard Hall is one of the two oldest buildings on campus, dating to 1766. (The other is Massachusetts Hall, directly…

5. Harvard University

0.18 MILES

America's oldest college, Harvard University is one of the country's most prestigious universities. It was originally founded in Harvard Yard in 1636 by…

6. Christ Church

0.22 MILES

Cambridge’s oldest church was designed in 1761 by America’s first formally trained architect, Peter Harrison (who also designed King’s Chapel in Boston)…

7. Harvard Art Museums

0.25 MILES

The 2014 renovation and expansion of Harvard's art museums allowed the university's massive 250,000-piece collection to come together under one very…

8. Cambridge Common

0.27 MILES

Opposite the main entrance to Harvard Yard, Cambridge Common is the village green where General Washington took command of the Continental Army on July 3,…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "usa/boston/cambridge/attractions/smith-campus-center/a/poi-sig/1490236/1006351",
      "position": "superzone"
    }