Living walls at Smith Campus Center bring beauty, cleaner air, calm
In the winter, they are oases of green offering respite from the bitter January chill and serving as verdant reminders of warmer times to come. In summer, they’re lush connections to the outside world for those eager to cool off indoors. They are the living walls at the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center, eight organic interior designs — climbing, creeping arms of trees and blocks of ferns and other tropical plants — that are a welcome addition to Harvard’s newly configured social hub in any season. And they are under the meticulous care of Tiago Pereira, a longtime member of Harvard’s landscape team whose work, until recently, mostly took place outside. On a recent morning, Pereira climbed onto a blue hydraulic lift in the Smith Center to start his day accompanied by two key tools of his trade: a pair of scissors and a keen eye for leaves in...