Contexture Helps Illuminate Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center at Harvard Business School

Harvard University is one of the most prestigious and acclaimed academic institutions in the world. Thousands of individuals pass through its doors on their journeys towards developing groundbreaking businesses, life-saving medicines, and much more. All of Harvard’s facilities must match this high standard of excellence. The Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center is one of these establishments, and Contexture is very proud to have been a part of this project. 

Built on Harvard Business School’s (HBS) campus, the building is dedicated to the late Ruth Mulan Chu Chao and her tireless commitment to improving higher education. Four of Ruth’s daughters attended HBS; Ruth taught them to strive for greatness through academic achievement. This has been the driving force behind the Chao Family Foundation, which primarily seeks to help young people access higher education and thus become better leaders in a rapidly changing global community. Goody Clancy served as the architect on this massive 90,000 square foot space, and Lee Kennedy was the general contractor. The building is a mixture of classrooms, offices, a coffee shop, and other multi-purpose spaces. Since the Chao Center will serve as a meeting hub for more than 10,000 executives who attend classes each year, making sure the building’s interior received the proper amount of light was crucial. 

Contexture installed approximately 40 Mecho manual clutch operated shades and 115 Mecho WhisperShade IQ2 intelligent motorized shades using Mecho’s proprietary EcoVeil PVC-free fabrics on this project. The centerpiece of the project was two segmented radius glass windows in the front of the building. Contexture installed mitered shade pockets and installed multi-banded shades using angled couplers to follow the profile of the glass. The finished product was a tailored custom fit that proved the skills of the Contexture craftsmen.