As the GSD embarks on another academic year, 966 students, including 361 first-year students, have settled in at Gund Hall ready to engage in an array of core and option studios; public lectures and events; exhibitions; and travel opportunities. There are 126 courses offered this fall semester including 22 option studios. Half of this year’s option studios have a focus on an international area, and 10 of the studios being led by alumni instructors. Students are traveling as far away as Shanghai, Bangladesh, Arles, and Saudi Arabia; the other half is focused domestically as close to the GSD as Miami, New York, North Adams, and Provincetown. The School views the studios as part of its commitment to worldliness and its ethos of contributing and engaging with communities outside the GSD.

With its nimble pedagogy and renowned faculty, it is with great pride that the GSD shares that DesignIntelligence has ranked its architecture program first in the nation for 2019. The GSD has held this leading position for the past six years, solidifying our reputation as a model for design innovation, research, and scholarship.

Among the exciting faculty appointments and promotions that marked the start of the academic year, Mark Lee MArch ’95 joined the GSD as Chair of the Department of Architecture. Lee and his partner, Sharon Johnston MArch ’93, have a special history with the GSD, both as alumni and as members of our faculty. Also, Rahul Mehrotra MAUD ’87 will serve as Director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design degree program.

An upcoming publication to be released later this fall, Platform 11 has been edited for the first time by a team of students—Esther Mira Bang MArch ’18, Lane Raffaldini Rubin MArch ’19, MLA ’19, and Enrique Aureng Silvavision MDes ’18—who have brought new insight and ideas to this important publication and the associated exhibition next spring.

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“Urban Intermedia: City, Archive, Narrative,” the culmination of a four-year investigation funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, argues that the complexity of contemporary urban societies and environments makes communication and collaboration across professional boundaries and academic disciplines essential.

Frederick Law Olmsted Lecture: Michael Van Valkenburgh AM ’88

Frederick Law Olmsted Lecture: Michael Van Valkenburgh AM ’88.

The School has an incredible lineup of public lectures and conferences planned for this fall that brings vitality, diversity, and important dialogue to our community. Please visit the GSD’s homepage to sign up to receive periodic emails about the School’s public programs, exhibitions, and other news. If you’re able to visit campus this semester, you are welcome to attend an event or explore an exhibition. If you are not able to join us in person, many of the lectures will be available on the School’s YouTube channel. Highlights include:

  • Thru October 14 – “Urban Intermedia: City, Archive, Narrative,” this exhibition is the culmination of a four-year investigation funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that argues that the complexity of contemporary urban societies and environments makes communication and collaboration across professional boundaries and academic disciplines essential.
  • October 25 – Michael Van Valkenburgh AM ’88, the Charles Eliot Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture Emeritus, will deliver the Frederick Law Olmsted Lecture. His firm works at all scales, from large urban green spaces like Brooklyn Bridge Park to intimate gardens like the Monk’s Garden at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
  • November 13-14 – The 13th Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design has been awarded to the High Line in New York, designed collaboratively by James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Piet Oudolf. Join for the lecture, reception, and exhibition.
  • November 30 – Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries, London, will deliver the Rouse Visiting Artist Lecture in a curated afternoon “interview marathon.”

With the continued commitment to engaging our community in places afar from Cambridge, the Development and Alumni Relations Office has a robust schedule of events:

Now is the time to update your profile in the Harvard Alumni Directory. With a current profile, you can find fellow alumni, create a contact list of people you keep in touch with regularly, volunteer to mentor students, and build your career network by connecting with alumni by industry, specialty, or company. Please click here for more information.

This is just a glimpse of the rich variety of events, programs, learning, and research happening inside and outside of the classroom this fall. For more information, please visit gsd.harvard.edu.