The project has a system of reserves among people who work or live around the square area and Nairne, who was closely affiliated with the project from its initial stages, was happy to help.
Katie Ridder, an interior designer not affiliated with the project, said the inclusion of vintage elements into contemporary condo design was a clever idea, along the same lines as the customization that buyers might do on their own.
"The idea of extended observations from a platform in the 70-to-90,000 foot range has huge potential scientific advantages," said James G. Anderson, a climate scientist at Harvard who is not affiliated with the project.
Ms. Lee was in Hong Kong last month to look at the entries in a design competition for the museum, although the Lee estate is not affiliated with the project.
"The idea of building a circuit into a contact lens is interesting it catches the attention," says George Whitesides, a professor of chemistry at Harvard who is not affiliated with the project.
"This is what happens when you are driven by a schedule that is not realistic, or when you are asked to build a machine with too few people, or too little money — so something has to give," a scientist affiliated with the project said.
"This is what happens when you are driven by a schedule that is not realistic, or when you are asked to build a machine with too few people, or too little money—so something has to give," a scientist affiliated with the project said.
The professional project committee is composed of two faculty members from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and a third member from outside the University community who usually is affiliated with the project.
C.M.S., in particular, has been plagued by difficulties — during excavations, the soil in Cessy proved so soupy that the ground had to be frozen with liquid nitrogen — and before I went to look at it a physicist who is not affiliated with the project told me that C.M.S. was sometimes referred to as "See a Mess".
Dr. Richard B. Alley, an ice core expert at Pennsylvania State University not affiliated with the project, called it "a triumph of brilliant persistence" in the face of broken drills and temperatures of 60 below zero at the drilling site, which is hundreds of miles from the nearest permanent research hub.
