Harvard A.R.T – Allston, MA

Architects: Haworth Tompkins & Thornton Tomasetti

Exterior Cladding
WILLIWAW Weathered Alaskan Yellow Cedar
FSC® Certified: FSC® mix Credit
Clear Vertical Grain
Tongue & Groove

The new home for the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T) at Harvard University exemplifies the innovative potential of mass-timber construction and the core principles of the David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Creativity & Performance.

The building utilizes laminated mass timber and cedar cladding to reduce embodied carbon and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Our wood cladding and finishing systems complement the building’s structural mass-timber frame while supporting long-term durability and performance. The use of solid wood materials upholds the project’s ambition to achieve Living Building Challenge Core accreditation.

Selected with future performance in mind, WILLIWAW Weathered Alaskan Yellow Cedar supports the project’s sustainability goals while ensuring resilience over time. As a locally sourced FSC-certified product, WILLIWAW offers responsible sourcing and visual aesthetics across the theater’s multi-story structural frames, allowing the façade to weather naturally while maintaining a cohesive appearance across the large-scale build.

To validate the design intent, the team developed a field mockup featuring the custom profile and dimensions. This allowed architects and builders to evaluate constructability, installation detailing, and how the material would weather in real-world conditions. Materials were selected to lower lifetime carbon and create warm, natural spaces aligned with the theater’s mission.