Hover Hall

31 OTHER ACADEMIC WORKS | HOVER HALL Core II P01 | Harvard GSD | Spring 2024 Hover Hall explores civic space as an exchange between movement and pause, formality and spontaneity. Patterns of circulation and activity are mapped into a density field that generates tapered geometries, directing movement across the site while transforming it into a dynamic waiting room. The project is organized around two hovering objects: a theater and a smaller classroom volume, whose suspended forms shape the spaces below. The theater becomes a canopy over the sidewalk while supporting a terraced library above; the smaller volume hovers over a quieter secondary hall. Beneath them, a flexible civic hall accommodates multiple uses and connects street, mezzanine, ramp, and upper-level circulation. As visitors move deeper and upward through the building, spaces shift from formal gathering toward informal encounter. Ramps, stairs, and a vertical newsstand node reinforce this gradient, creating continuous transitions between public and personal, structured debate and spontaneous dialogue. Instructor: Nancy Nichols