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Current Initiative

GSD Racial Equity and Anti-Racism Fund

Your gift to the Racial Equity and Anti-Racism Fund will help to raise awareness of how race, racism, and racial injustice affect society (with a focus on the design fields) and promote a culture of anti-racism at the GSD.

Alumni Updates

Alumni Spotlight

Six GSD Alumni Elevated to AIA Fellows 2021

Virtual Symposium Co-Organized by Katie MacDonald MArch ’16 Hosts Presentations from GSD Alumni

Ryn Burns MDes ’13 Highilghted by NCARB in Interview

Jennifer Ly MArch ’14 and James Leng MArch ’13 Receive Graham Foundation Grant

In Memoriam: Carol Johnson MLA ’57

L. Renee Blount MLA ’17 Featured on Cover of Outside Magazine

George Ranalli MArch ’74 & Anne Valentino Interviewed on FLOORNATURE’s All Good Vibes Podcast

News

19 February 2021

Perkins&Will and Harvard GSD Announce Mentorship Program to Build Pipeline of Black Design Talent

5 February 2021

Dean Whiting’s Greeting for the Lunar New Year

4 February 2021

The Future of Air Travel: Designing a better in-flight experience

harvardgsd

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Mar 4

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"Freakish Grounds: An Urban Botanical Collection for a Hotter LA" by Karissa Campos @kslizza (MLA I AP '20), Hannah Chako @hachako (MLA I '20), and Zoë Holland @z0eholland (MLA I '20). Completed for the option studio "SMO PARK + / Climate Infrastructure, Arid Landscape," spring 2020. Instructor: Chris Reed @chrisreedstoss. #GSDStudentWork⁣
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"'Freakish Grounds' is a botanical collection for a hotter LA. It is not a conventional urban green space or a tabula rasa on which we will superimpose a design object. Its unity is not derived from a master plan, but from a method of preparing the ground. The new Santa Monica Airport (SMO) park does not adhere to the formulas and funding structures that have dotted Los Angeles's urban fabric with patches of delusive green. The southern California heat produced leisureland, but the old paradigm must go the way of Santa Monica's elderly palms. Aridity and urban heat demand a landscape that is as tactical and savvy as the desert ecosystem. SMO park will demonstrate how Santa Monica can live well with less.⁣
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SMO park is a place where Los Angeles abandons the bucolic aspirations of the past, embraces the freakish reality of the present, and the prepares for the urban ecology of the future. The cosmopolitan urban landscape is presented as an outcome of technological advancement in dialogue with natural process. Here, Angelinos encounter the hyper-artificial environment stripped bare. In this park, contradictions are not resolved, but emphasized. Cloistered native remnants are invaded. Here, ornamental species facilitate ecological process, native species are displayed as botanical specimens, and volunteer plants of many origins are welcomed as guests. The urban park of the future must offer an alternative to the narrative of loss. It cannot placate the public with a stage set of a lost landscape, or one that never existed. It must embrace the identity of the urban desert, assembled ad hoc." 🔗Learn more hgsd.us/projects⁣⁣⁣⁣ #LinkInBio⁣
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#HarvardGSD #LandscapeArchitecture @gsd_mla

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Mar 3

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Something special is in the works! Designed by Estudio Herrera @estudioherrera, our Spring 2021 Public Program poster is inspired by the passage of time ⏳ Follow the #LinkInStories for a closer look at the poster as well as embedded links to register for upcoming events.⁣⁣
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All events in the series are virtual, free, and open to the public. Registration links are posted to event pages on our website: 🔗hgsd.us/events⁣ #LinkInBio⁣
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[Image 1 Video Description: Folding machine processes GSD event posters.]
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#HarvardGSD #GSDEvents

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Mar 1

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"Transmission Right of Way" by Fabiana Casale @fabianacasale (MLA I AP '22), Yvonne Fang @yifanyvonnefang (MLA I '21), and Maria Ulloa @mariaulloa.pdf (MLA I AP '21). Completed for the core studio "Landscape Architecture IV: The Near-Future City," spring 2020. Instructor: Rosalea Monacella @rosalea_monacella. #GSDStudentWork⁣⁣
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"Situated in South Boston, 'Transmission Right of Way' establishes a waste-to-resource conversion network that is facilitated by the ground and living systems. Our redefinition of 'transmission right of way' as an ecological easement network first emerged through synthesizing hinterland reform policy and electric grid guidelines. This project establishes a new commons through an intra-urban network of collective land ownership that gives residents the agency to choose their level of investment." 🔗Learn more hgsd.us/projects⁣⁣⁣ #LinkInBio⁣
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#HarvardGSD #LandscapeArchitecture @gsd_mla

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Feb 26

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Pairs @pairs.gsd is a new student-led journal at the GSD dedicated to conversations about design that are down to earth and unguarded. Each issue is conceptualized by an editorial team that proposes guests and objects to be in dialogue with one another.⁣
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🔜Tuesday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET—Join us to celebrate the launch of Pairs. Founding editors Nicolás Delgado Alcega @nicolasdelgadoalcega (MArch II ’20), Vladimir Gintoff @vladimir_gintoff (MArch I ’21, MUP ’21), and Kimberley Huggins @kimberley.m.huggins (MLA I ’20) will introduce the inaugural issue, which will be followed by a conversation with Giovanna Borasi @boragio, Director of the @canadiancentreforarchitecture, on beginnings in curation and publishing #GSDEvents Register on our website #LinkInBio⁣
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Pairs 01 features the voices of: Mark Bavoso, Alexandra Bell, Tatiana Bilbao, Jennifer Bonner, Michelle Chang, Nicolás Delgado Alcega, Teresa Galí-Izard, Vladimir Gintoff, Christopher Hawthorne, Kimberley Huggins, Kahlil Joseph, Linda Just, Paul Nakazawa, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Piet Oudolf, Robert Gerard Pietrusko, Jacob Reidel, Oana Stănescu, Pier Paolo Tamburelli, Günther Vogt, Thomas Weaver, Sarah M. Whiting, Kyle Winston, and Sara Zewde. Designed by Normal @thenormalstudio.⁣
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PRE-ORDER Pairs 01 at the link in @pairs.gsd's bio (🔗hgsd.us/orderpairs). Use the code PAIRS01 to save 20% off the retail price of $15.00. Available March 2, 2021. ⁣
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Images: Kahlil Joseph, artist and filmmaker, was invited to create the inaugural cover for Pairs Issue 01. He and his team contributed the piece pictured above, which features a collection of stills from Joseph’s project BLKNWS®. BLKNWS® is a conceptual news program that pairs a wide range of video and imagery together to ultimately counter the dominant portrayal of Black life in American news media.⁣
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Inside, Kahlil Joseph discusses the content of his cover with Alexandra Bell, the artist and creator of the Counternarratives series. Together, they share their thoughts and experiences as two artists working against dominant narratives to find more honest and liberatory forms of news distribution.⁣
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#HarvardGSD #GSDPublications

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Feb 25

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Feb 24

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Drone footage of Mexico's Mezquital Valley taken by Teaching Assistant Adriana David @adrianadom (MDes ADPD '21) for the fall 2020 option studio "The Right to the Sewage" @thinkingthroughsoil. In lieu of a site visit, Adriana, who is living in the region, recorded site conditions for students to use in their research on sustainable approaches towards wastewater agriculture. Instructors: Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich @tbr0603 and Seth Denizen @musquinet.
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[Video Description: Aerial footage of the Mezquital Valley showing factories next to agricultural land.]
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#HarvardGSD #SiteVisit #VirtualLearning #LandscapeArchitecture @gsd_mla

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Feb 23

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First look 👀 at the upcoming Virtual Gund Hall from @gsd_fablab, featuring a roaming @remy.the.harvard.cat, digital trays, and more. The site is designed using Unreal Engine, with support from our talented Lab TAs and a MegaGrant from @epicgames. Head over to @gsd_fablab for more sneak peeks and be sure to follow them for updates!
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[Video Description: A virtual cat walks around a virtual Druker Design Gallery.]
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#HarvardGSD #GSDFabLab #GundHall #VirtualGundHall #HGSDMakes

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Feb 22

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Black Harlem, storied and resilient, has been chronicled from many perspectives. Missing until now has been a thoughtful look at what is right before any visitor's eye: its rich built history. A new project from the GSD's African American Design Nexus @aadn_gsd, the Harlem StoryMap, considers the neighborhood’s many designed spaces created by Black architects and urbanists. The work of these professionals began before Harlem’s famous Renaissance in the 1920s and continues today. The @arcgisstorymaps documents and celebrates this body of work, connecting each design with more familiar narratives about what American writer and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson called the mecca of "colored America."⁣
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The StoryMap is not a single map, but rather an interactive digital catalog of images, archival material, maps, news clippings, quotations, and audio footage. Users are able to study not only Black designs but also the communities and events that constitute their milieu. "The StoryMap is meant to peel back a layer of Harlem and engage with the stories behind the trailblazing designers that contributed to this place," explains Thandi Nyambose @thand.di (MUP '21), who created the Harlem StoryMap.⁣
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Learn more and find links to engage with the free StoryMap on our website in the article "The African American Design Nexus' Harlem StoryMap traces the neighborhood's Black-designed places." Text by Sala Elise Patterson @salaelise. #LinkInBio⁣
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Image: An interactive map made up of 2010 Census data overlaid with a map by E. Franklin Frazier titled "Harlem Community Zones Marking Expansion of Negro Population," from the 1939 book "The Negro Family in the United States." From the African American Design Nexus Harlem StoryMap.⁣
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#HarvardGSD #BlackHistoryMonth #Harlem #GSDAADN @harvardurbanplanning

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Feb 19

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"The Fundamentals" by Alexis Boivin @monsieurboivin (MArch I '22). Completed for the core studio "Third Semester #Architecture Core: INTEGRATE," fall 2019. Studio Instructor: Alfredo Thiermann @athiermann. #GSDStudentWork⁣⁣⁣⁣
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"The project started by studying Mies's conception of the 'universal space' with a focus on Crown Hall. The striking pure expression of the diagram can only be achieved through a plinth sectional organization that frees the upper floor from any service spaces. The resulting unbounded space favors adaptability and shapes a distinct spatial experience defined by two horizontal planes. However, these qualities are only relevant for certain spaces of a design school and therefore appeal for a second spatial configuration that provides specificity and enclosure.⁣⁣
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The project then developed around specific programmatic elements of the design school deemed as vital and permanent: the fundamentals. They include generic elements such as service spaces, circulation, and mechanical systems but also specific such as fabrication lab, projection rooms, and meeting spaces. These rooms are distributed vertically within a set of structural cores creating a unity between the school’s fundamentals. The specificity of room use is acknowledged in sectional height creating an interlocking of program that disrupts the otherwise repetitive layering of program." 🔗Learn more hgsd.us/projects⁣⁣⁣⁣ #LinkInBio⁣⁣
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#HarvardGSD #Architecture #ArchitectureStudent

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Feb 18

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"Equity is where people aren’t asked whether this bench is red or blue, but rather, is this project right or wrong?"⁣
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Prof. Stephen Gray @sgrayud @grayscalecollaborative (MAUD ‘08) talks equitable urban design in his hometown of Cincinnati (where he is shown above), and more broadly, in the March-April 2021 issue of @harvardmagazine. Read the feature by Jacob Sweet online now: harvardmagazine.com/2021/03/features-shaping-cities-stephen-gray #LinkInBio⁣
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#HarvardGSD #UrbanDesign @harvardurbandesign #Cincinnati #GSDFaculty #GSDAlumni

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Feb 17

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There was so much enthusiasm about the spaghetti bridges we shared from "Structural Design II," we decided to spotlight a few more designs 🍝 In case you missed the first post, instructors Martin Bechthold and Jose Luis Garcia del Castillo Lopez @garciadelcastillo adapted the annual design/build project for MArch I students to use spaghetti, so all students could model at home. Because deformations and even structural failures can be readily (and cheaply!) experienced via spaghetti, the model becomes a microcosm of the issues discussed in class. "We often learn more from failures than from the successes, and spaghetti are a very suitable material platform for that approach," noted Prof. Bechthold.⁣⁣⁣
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Check out➡️ a few of the final spaghetti models created by @gsd_2023 MArch I students. Browse more designs and watch students test their bridges at hgsd.us/sci-6229-20 #LinkInBio⁣⁣⁣
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[1] Inhwi Hwang @ryan_2jk "The Gateway Linguine"⁣⁣⁣
[2] Junainah Ahmed @junainahahmed "Pretty Neat Bridge"⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣[3] Phillip Combs @phimbs "The Merced River Footbridge" ⁣⁣⁣
[4] Thomas Huang @thomas.xh "Lenticular Spectacular"⁣⁣⁣
[5] Sarah Pumphrey @pumph_it_up "Buca-Tiny Bridge"⁣⁣⁣
⁣[6] Candice Wu @jingyyywu "Dripping Tensegrity Bridge"⁣⁣⁣
[7] Owen Mellett @mellettowen "The Howe-Fink-Mellett Self-Tensioning Truss"⁣⁣⁣
[8] Chelsea Jno Baptiste @chelseajbaptiste "TWIN TRUSS BRIDGE (TT BRIDGE)"⁣⁣⁣
[9] Suraj Radadia @surajradadia "Twin Crossing Bridge"⁣⁣⁣
[10] Gabriela Enid Davila Rivera @gabriela.enid "Spaghettajo Bridge"⁣⁣
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#HarvardGSD #ArchitectureModel #VirtualLearning #Architecture #ArchitectureStudent

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Feb 15

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Did you see @kev_kev_kevvv's (MDes HPDM '21) #GSDInstagramTakeover on @gsdadmissions this weekend? He shared an inside look at the J-Term course "From Polyline to Print," a virtual introduction to printmaking that introduced the fundamentals and basics of intaglio etching situated alongside architectural representation and practice.⁣⁣⁣
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Watch the full takeover now in @gsdadmissions's story highlights. ⁣⁣⁣
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J-Term workshops are non-credited courses held during the first two weeks in January, taught by the GSD community for the GSD community.⁣ It is an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to hone skills, learn new ones, or just have fun.⁣⁣⁣
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[Image 10 Video Description: Time-lapse video of gloved hands wiping ink off of a copper etched plate with printmaking materials on a table.]⁣⁣⁣
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#HarvardGSD #GSDJTerm #Repost #Architecture #ArchitectureStudent #Printmaking #AxiDraw #Intaglio

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Feb 14

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$This #ValentinesDay❤️ explore the MBA Class of 1959 Chapel @harvardhbs. Designed by Moshe Safdie and Associates @safdiearchitects, the nondenominational building includes a terraced garden as well as a cylindrical sanctuary used for weddings, concerts, and other services. Its skylights feature large-scale prisms that act to refract the sun's rays onto the rounded, concrete walls. A timepiece at the entrance to the chapel designed by German artist Karl Schlamminger is inscribed with names of the members of the HBS Class of 1959, who gifted the Chapel to the school. Completed in 1992, the building achieved LEED Gold Certification in 2011 for a two-year project that worked to reduce its energy and water consumption.⁣ ⁣ Moshe Safdie has held the title Design Critic in Architecture and Urban Planning and Design at the GSD, most recently leading the option studio "Re-thinking a Humanist Skyscraper City" in 2019. The film "Garden of Wonder," a joint effort with the GSD's Helen Han @helenhancreative and @safdiearchitects, is currently being screened on Gund Hall's Cambridge Street façade nightly, 4p–11p ET through February 16, 2021.⁣⁣ --⁣ #HarvardGSD #HGSDLoveStories #Architecture$

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Feb 12

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Happy #LunarNewYear! Animation by Jiin Choi @ji.inc (MLA '23), an illustrator and designer in her first year at the GSD. Her design depicts the quiet celebration of moonlight and natural cycles and was inspired by the reed grass fields she hiked through as a child in Korea.
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[Video Description: Illustration of an ox and baby ox in a field at night watching the moon quickly phase from crescent to full as it rises through the sky.]
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#HarvardGSD @gsd_mla

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Feb 11

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#GSDExhibitions On view now: "Scalar Shifts: Two recent filmic studies of Jewel Changi Airport and The Clark Art Institute," directed by Helen Han, instructor in architecture and principal of Helen Han Creative @helenhancreative. The films will be screened on Gund Hall's Cambridge Street façade nightly, 4p–11p ET through February 16, 2021.⁣
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A joint effort with @safdiearchitects, "Garden of Wonder" was shot over the course of four days in September of 2019 during the official opening of @jewelchangiairport in Singapore. It depicts the nature and generosity of public space within the airport while also portraying its multilayered spatial moments—interweaving both intimate and grand scale conditions.⁣
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"AUTUMN + SUMMER" represents a year-long collaboration with @reedhilderbrand to explore the variable seasonal changes of @clarkart's reconfigured 140-acre campus located in Williamstown, Massachusetts.⁣
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the galleries in Gund Hall have been turned 'inside out,' with exhibitions shown through a series of exterior projections on the building's façade. Learn more: gsd.harvard.edu/exhibitions/ #LinkInBio⁣
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#HarvardGSD #Architecture #GundHall @danborelli

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GSD Racial Equity and Anti-Racism Fund

Alumni Updates

Six GSD Alumni Elevated to AIA Fellows 2021

Virtual Symposium Co-Organized by Katie MacDonald MArch ’16 Hosts Presentations from GSD Alumni

Ryn Burns MDes ’13 Highilghted by NCARB in Interview

Jennifer Ly MArch ’14 and James Leng MArch ’13 Receive Graham Foundation Grant

In Memoriam: Carol Johnson MLA ’57

L. Renee Blount MLA ’17 Featured on Cover of Outside Magazine

George Ranalli MArch ’74 & Anne Valentino Interviewed on FLOORNATURE’s All Good Vibes Podcast

News

Perkins&Will and Harvard GSD Announce Mentorship Program to Build Pipeline of Black Design Talent

Dean Whiting’s Greeting for the Lunar New Year

The Future of Air Travel: Designing a better in-flight experience

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