We take a moment to reflect on and mourn the loss of alumni, faculty, and friends who are no longer with us. With compassion, we remember and honor members of the GSD community who died between July 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024.

• Ralph Alster MArch ’66
• John C. Anhorn MArch ’70
• Kenneth Barnard MArch ’60
• Linda Bassett LF ’89
• Anne Eddison Brainerd MLA ’55
• George Frank Bryant, Jr. AMDP ’20
• Chien-Hsiung Chen MAUD ’86
• Everett D. Chism MLA ’70
• Claude Cormier MDes ’94
• Peter M. Coxe MArch ’67
• Thierry Despont MCPUD ’74
• John Patrick Grady MArch ’66
• Richard S. Hawks MLA ’78
• Trudi Takayama Hofmann MArch ’57, MLA ’78
• Olive W. Holmes GSD ’78
• Emanuel Kelly MCPUD ’74
• Roland Walter Kluver MArch ’59
• John M. Leehey MLA ’87
• William Robert Maurer MArch ’62
• Paul John Mitarachi MArch ’50
• Peter Raymond Norris MArch ’57
• Chien-Chung (Didi) Pei AB ’68, MArch ’72
• Tipmuny Powers AMDP ’20
• John S. Reed AB ’56, MCP ’58
• Otto E. Reichert-Facilides MArch ’58
• William A. Rose AB ’60, GSD ’61
• Robert Henry Sperl MArch ’54
• Ralph P. Youngren AB ’48, MArch ’50

For any omissions or corrections, please contact [email protected].

We take a moment to reflect on and mourn the loss of alumni, faculty, and friends who are no longer with us. With compassion, we remember and honor members of the GSD community who died between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.

• Richard John Alexander MCP ’59
• Dorothy Silberman Altman AB ’52, MCP ’56
• Robert Louis James Amico MArch ’65
• Colebert Leroy Andrus Jr. MArch ’68
• George Loukas Arvanitis MArch ’93, MAUD ’93
• Pasqual Tony Astore MAUD ’65
• David E. Austin AB ’56, MArch ’60
• Richard Bender BArch ’56
• Claire Richardson Bennett AB ’49, MArch ’49
• Robert Thomas Buchanan MLA ’56
• Edmund W. Chang MArch ’85
• Robert Edward Cheshire III MArch ’64
• William Howard Claflin AB ’50, MCP ’52
• Beatriz de Winthuysen Coffin MLA ’57
• Alain C. F. deVergie AB ’56, MLA ’57
• Jane Holmberg Dorrel MCRP ’78
• Otakar Dvorak MArch ’76
• Frank Orlando Elliott MArch ’64
• Martha A. Fitzpatrick MLA ’86
• Stephen Friedlaender AB ’57, MArch ’62
• Donald M. Frothingham Jr. AB ’50, MArch ’55
• Robert Geddes MArch ’50
• Andrew J. Hudak MArch ’75
• Rudolph Jones Jr. MArch ’65
• Edmond Charles Kagi MLA ’58
• Rod Kearl MDes ’93
• Herbert Allan Ketcham MArch ’68
• Hans Werner K. F. Klunder MCP ’58
• Robert Kramer MArch ’60
• Thomas Eugene Kristopeit MCP ’61
• Helen Laird Robertson MArch ’68
• Stephen S. Lee MArch ’82
• Edward S. Levin MArch ’75
• Barbara Marsilius Link MLA ’84
• Staughton C. Lynd AB ’50, MCP ’52
• Rufus K. Marsh AB ’58, MArch ’60
• Julia S. Marshall MLA ’88
• John H. Martin MLA ’67
• Brigitte R. Meier AB ’79, MArch ’83
• Richard Buchanan Mertens MCP ’60
• Robert Claude Mock MArch ’53
• Douglas E. Oliver Jr. MArch ’87
• Roger Whiting Patch MArch ’50
• Robert Joseph Paternoster MCP ’63
• Thomas Martin Payette MArch ’60
• William Charles Perkins MCP ’68
• Richard F. Polich MArch ’61
• Kenneth Alan Portnoy MCP ’73
• Scott L. Prior MCRP ’77
• Guy L. Rando MLA ’61
• Emmanuel J. Rempelakis AB ’49, MArch ’52
• Randall G. Rice MCP ’74
• Cliff M. Risack GSD ’80, MRCP ’82
• Leif L. Selkregg LF ’89
• John-K J. Spencer MCP ’64
• Robert Stacey LF ’01
• John Ames Steffian MAUD ’67
• Claude Stoller MArch ’49
• Thomas H. Summons MArch ’74
• Stewart Thompson MArch ’57
• Donald Harry Tompkins MLA ’62
• The Hon. Alberto F. Trevino Jr. MLA ’58
• Blanche Lemco van Ginkel MCP ’50
• Richard Van Petten MArch ’58
• Joseph P. Vidulich MCRP ’80
• James R. Watson, AICP, MCP ’67
• Barbara H. Watson MLA ’75
• David R. Weir, Jr. MCP ’75
• Robert Henry Welz MArch ’55

To read about more alumni, you can visit the In Memoriam page covering July 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024.

For any omissions or corrections, please contact [email protected].

The Harvard Graduate School of Design Community Service Fellowship Program (CSFP) provides opportunities for GSD students to participate in summer fellowships at nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and in the public service sector while shaping their career trajectory in design. Since 2007, the CSFP has partnered with various organizations working on affordable housing, the arts, the environment, and community-focused design projects, striking a mutually beneficial—and transformational—partnership.

Fellows are selected from a competitive pool of students pursuing extraordinary community-based design work experience. In 2022–2023, the GSD awarded CSF grants to 14 students. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, each Fellow receives a living allowance of $8,000 for ten-week-long internships.

At their summer experience, students apply skills learned in academic settings to address public needs, working in the field on a project selected exclusively for the CSF. Internships are designed to expose students to various environments and projects focusing on ecology, conservation, heritage spaces, green development, housing and resident services, and neighborhood revitalization, to name a few examples from last year’s Fellowship class.

Elaine Zmuda MLA I AP ’24 (pictured), recipient of the William A. Doebele Community Service Fellowship, interned at the Sweet Water Foundation in Chicago, where Emmanuel Pratt LF ’17 serves as executive director. Zmuda embraced the opportunity to research, design, build, and activate a new community space, The Healing Garden, that “truly heals the past scars of disinvestment and harm in the neighborhood while providing all residents, but especially children, a space to play, come together, and reflect.” The experience left the Fellow “empowered to begin community-focused design projects, even those beyond my academic training. I quickly learned to work with people of diverse skills, from carpenters to educators to scientists. I was able to use my skills to strengthen our project while also learning to think in different ways. I now see more clearly what is important for me to continue in my future practice: working on teams of people with different backgrounds, a variety of activities that can be done at different time scales, such as a communal garden to tend daily, planning projects that may take years, and integrating art into practice.”

Photo of team members farming as part of the work at the Sweet Water Foundation in Chicago.

Internships extend to urban settings and cultural environments of a different realm. In the words of Ian Erickson MArch I ’25 (pictured), the recipient of the Harvard Club of New York Community Service Fellowship who worked at the Rhizome arts organization housed at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City, the internship was “indispensable in allowing me to access and participate in cultural spaces that would otherwise be extremely difficult to access, coming from an architecture background . . . I was able to work on and contribute to a range of projects and initiatives with Rhizome, in addition to furthering an ongoing research project into . . . virtual worlds within Rhizome’s ecosystem of experts in the fields of born-digital art and media archaeology.”

The St. Lawrence County Arts Council hosted Rosita Palladino MDes Ecologies ’24 (pictured), recipient of the Wendy Evans Joseph MArch ’81 Community Service Fund, to engage in cultural vitality projects ranging from skate park design in Potsdam, New York, to research for the Metro and 4Culture Strategic Art Plan. One of the council’s key initiatives is to select artists to participate in public art projects. Among the council’s featured artists is Matthew Mazzotta LF ’18 and Guggenheim Fellow ’19. The opportunity to foster art appreciation and inspire creative expression helped the Fellow refine her interests and learn how and where to apply her prior and newly learned knowledge.

Enrique Mutis MAUD ’24 (pictured), also a recipient of the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Fellowship, developed an artist-in-residence program for a rural site outside of Atlanta as part of the Destination Design School of Agricultural Estates internship. Creating a concept design package for potential artists was “an excellent opportunity to test my interpersonal skills, broker divergent opinions from the stakeholders, and arrive at solutions driven by our collective efforts,” said Mutis.

For these students, the opportunity to become absorbed in a project, meaningfully collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders, and create an impact on the ground was unparalleled. As Community Service Fellowship recipients explore the intersection of academic theory and field experience, they gain valuable information needed to chart a path in design. Zmuda, who interned at Sweet Water, said, “This was an amazing summer for me, one that both challenged and comforted me . . . It was a completely different education, one that I would otherwise not be able to find.”

For any questions on the Community Service Fellows, please contact Courtney Ward.

The launch of Harvard’s new Master in Real Estate (MRE) degree at the GSD creates an unparalleled opportunity to educate real estate leaders who will shape the future of well-designed real estate in ways that positively impact society and our world. The program’s first group of 35 students arrived at the end of August for the 2023–2024 academic year, prepared to acquire or sharpen traditional real estate skills while learning how to advance beneficial spatial, social, and environmental outcomes in cities and metropolitan areas worldwide.

As Harvard’s only real estate degree program, the MRE program is a stimulating teaching and practice hub for faculty and students at the GSD and throughout the University. The placement of the MRE degree within the GSD’s Department of Urban Planning and Design reflects the GSD’s long-standing strengths in real estate and related fields. An expert faculty of scholars and practitioners approaches real estate as an interdisciplinary, collaborative practice whose success depends on more than one discipline or field.

A two-month practicum off campus following the first nine months of on-campus study places students in a partner for-profit, not-for-profit, or public organization based in the United States or internationally, where students immerse themselves in an actual development project. The range of practicum partners includes BRIDGE Housing and Winn Development (affordable housing developers), Hines and Portman Holdings (real estate investment, development, and management), Suffolk (contractors/developers), and the TEMES Group (tourism and destination real estate in Greece), to name a few. Upon conclusion of the practicum, students return to campus and present their experiences.

With this new degree initiative, Harvard University formally recognizes real estate as a profession worthy of intellectual and practical study and engagement.

The class is evenly balanced between students from the United States and international students from Canada, South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. The average age is 30, and all students have work experience in development, investment, project management, construction management, private equity, design, consulting, planning, asset management, prop tech, law, and brokerage. Each student has a unique background story that led to enrollment in the Harvard MRE program. The following sampling of biographies provides a snapshot of students from the inaugural MRE class of 2025:

Leonard Allen-Smith
Leonard O. Allen-Smith is the founder and CEO of Allen Smith Equities, a NYC-based real estate development and advisory firm. Established in 2022, the firm has completed more than $5 million in transactions. Leonard is also managing partner at East Chop Capital. Founded in 2018, the company has cultivated a portfolio of luxury vacation rental homes across six states. A certified public accountant, Leonard previously worked at KPMG, offering tax compliance services to REITs and investment firms. Holding both a bachelor of science in business administration and an MBA, Leonard is a distinguished alumnus of Hampton University.

Brendan D’Loren
Brendan D’Loren has served as director of development for Terwilliger & Bartone Properties, overseeing all development and design efforts for projects in the Northeast and Ohio markets. His expertise includes financial analysis, debt and equity structuring, acquisitions, dispositions, and project management. Previously, Brendan served as a development associate at Terwilliger Pappas, focusing on ground-up multi-family and mixed-use development throughout the Southeast. Brendan holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Trinity College, is a member of Urban Land Institute and its Young Leaders Group, and is a 2023 Long Island Business News “30 Under 30” honoree.

Weijia Li
Weijia Li’s professional journey is characterized by a diverse range of experiences. She served as an associate within Warburg Pincus’s real estate team in Shanghai, where she gained valuable experience underwriting and managing portfolio companies of various types of commercial real estate, including affordable rental housing, data centers, and private credit. Preceding her time at Warburg Pincus, Weijia was an analyst on CITIC Capital’s principal investment team, making contributions to fund-level investments and operations. Weijia holds a BS (Hons) in mathematics with management and finance from King’s College London and a MA in computational social science from the University of Chicago.

Etta Madete
Etta Madete is a licensed architect passionate about affordable and sustainable housing. She is the co-founder of Zima Homes, an award-winning Kenyan developer delivering sustainable homes under KES 4 million ($32 K). Passionate about advocacy, Etta is a lecturer (TF) at the University of Nairobi, an EDGE Expert, an Aspen and Mandela Washington Fellow, and a sought-after speaker. She has co-led acclaimed exhibitions at the Barbican and the Guggenheim with Rem Koolhaas and has over 15 publications in Aljazeera and Architectural Record, among others. Etta has an undergraduate and master’s degree in sustainable architecture from the University of Nairobi.

Emma Turner
Emma Turner was born and raised in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, focusing on real estate valuation and advisory services, where she obtained her certified public accounting license. She subsequently worked at The Davis Companies, a vertically integrated owner and developer, on their asset management team, supporting the team through business plan implementation, financial modeling, and the disposition of assets worth over $550 million. Emma has worked on assets across various product types and in several markets. In her free time, she enjoys running along the Charles River and playing with her family’s goldendoodle, Daisy.

Beyond learning the traditional skills and knowledge necessary to excel in real estate, the GSD’s MRE students gain a hands-on, broad-based, interdisciplinary education that reflects today’s landscape. The MRE program’s curricular and extracurricular activities will not only enhance intellectual life at Harvard but also serve as an academic foothold for professionals from across the globe.

For opportunities to support the MRE program, please contact Courtney Ward.

Above images: 2023 recipients of the Harvard GSD Alumni Award (left to right): Edwin “Teddy” Cruz MDes ’97; Shaun Donovan AB ’87, MPA ’95, MArch ’95; William “Bill” Johnson MLA ’57; Frank Christopher Lee MAUD ’79; and Cathy Simon MArch ’69.

The GSD community is united in its shared experience and motivation to shape our world beyond design. With a vast and visible alumni network, the GSD remains at the forefront of work in the built environment.

Alumni Highlights

The GSD’s extraordinary alumni community is comprised of thought leaders who continually innovate across disciplines. The accomplishments and accolades of GSD alumni featured in the following list represent a glimpse of the exceptional work within our design community. Recognizing achievements and innovative approaches to work in design, these updates were originally published between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023, on the GSD Alumni & Friends website.

Share your professional updates, or those of your fellow GSD alumni, with the GSD community. Submissions are welcome.

• Honoring the 2023 GSD Alumni Council Award winners
• Julie Bargmann MLA ’87 featured in the New York Times “Visionaries” series
• Vaissnavi Shukl MDes ’20 awarded Graham Foundation grant
• Jonathan Evans MArch ’10 serves as lead architect for Embrace Boston memorial
• Hazel Edwards MAUD ’89 named Educator of the Year at 2022 Women in Architecture Design Leadership Awards
• Lecture by Washington Fajardo LF ’19 on Brazil—Rio’s Reviver Centro plan featured with AIA International
• Five alumni elevated to ASLA Council of Fellows—Class of 2023
• Six GSD alumni elevated to AIA Fellows 2023
• Several alumni collaborate on newly published Landscape Approach: From Local Communities to Territorial Systems
• Second edition of Drawn to Design: Analyzing Architecture through Freehand Drawing by Eric Jenkins MDes ’99 released by Birkhauser Press
• Mikyoung Kim MLA ’92 named 2022 landscape architecture firm award recipient from ASLA
• Michael Doyle MArch ’77 and David Acheson MArch ’77 firm awarded 2023 Chairman’s Award from the New York Landmarks Conservatory

Kigali, Rwanda and Boston-based MASS Design Group, lead by Jonathan Evans MArch ’10, is the lead architect of the Embrace Boston Memorial. This tribute to Coretta Scott King and Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. opened on the Boston Common on Friday, January 13th, 2023. The memorial was completed in partnership with Embrace Boston and designer Hank Willis Thomas.

The 2022-2023 fiscal year successfully concluded the Future Design Leaders Match that opens the door to a GSD education, regardless of a student’s financial circumstances. Thanks to the generous support of GSD alumni and friends and Sarah M. Whiting, GSD dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture, this time-limited matching opportunity added over $8.5 million to endowed fellowships. This urgent student support initiative launched in March 2022 broadens the impact of a GSD education by attracting and enrolling a range of students who reflect the world they set out to shape.

Portrait of Sarah M. Whiting, GSD Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture.

Dean Whiting envisioned a meaningful way to provide robust funding to students, lessen financial burdens, and afford flexibility of choice in pursuing professions across and beyond design. To realize this extraordinary opportunity, Dean Whiting dedicated a fund of $4 million for matching donor contributions, ensuring that each established fellowship will have double the impact. Today, we celebrate this monumental opportunity to collectively make design education accessible to talented designers, planners, and architects.

The GSD is grateful for alumni and friends who have joined us in partnership to propel the school—and design—forward through philanthropy. The Match motivated 36 GSD alumni and friends to boldly support students, and we are proud to share the initiative’s success. We raised $4.26 million from philanthropy—surpassing our fundraising goal with a total impact of $8.5 million—and established 19 new fellowships and expanded six existing fellowships. At least 30 students will benefit from these endowed named fellowships, which will exist in perpetuity within the Harvard University endowment and grow over time. Fellowships established by Future Design Leaders Match donors expanded the number of fellowships at the GSD by 24%, which fuels our mission to welcome more voices to Gund Hall, enriching design education for all.

The next generation of GSD students—future design leaders—will experience expanded opportunities to learn, explore, and discover their desired path through innovation and collaboration. Together, today’s GSD community imagines and creates new futures for the world.

Future Design Leaders Match Donor Listing

We are delighted to thank and acknowledge the following alumni and friends who generously established endowed Fellowships at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design as part of the Future Design Leaders Match.

• Donor Confidential (5)
• Abigail Turin MArch ’97 and Jonathan Gans established the Turin Gans Fellowship Fund
• Brian Douglas Lee MArch ’78 and Wendy Szeto Lee established the Lee Family Fellowship Fund
• Robyn Morgenstern Rosenblatt MArch ’97 established the Morgenstern Rosenblatt Fellowship Fund
• Peter Coombe MArch ’88 and Betty Chen AB ’87 established the Graduate School of Design Alumni Council Fellowship Fund
• Carola and Bobby Jain established the Jain Family Fellowship Fund
• Scott Mead AB ’77 established the Mead Family Fellowship Fund
• Leslie and Sanjay Patel AB ’83, SM ’83 established the Patel GSD Family Fellowship Fund
• Bridget Colman and Mark M. Colman AB ’83, MBA ’87 expanded the Horne Family Fellowship Fund
• Kongjian Yu DDes ’95 expanded the Yu Family Carl Steinitz Fellowship Fund
• Joel D. Heisey MAUD ’91, MPA ’91 established the Joel D. Heisey Urban Design Fellowship Fund
• Kathleen S. Nagle MArch ’87 and Ralph E. Johnson MArch ’73 expanded the Nagle-Johnson Family Fellowship Fund
• Laurinda Spear and Bernardo Fort-Brescia MArch ’75 established the Harold Fort MLU ’14 Fellowship Fund
• Laurinda Spear and Bernardo Fort-Brescia MArch ’75 expanded the Marisa Fort MArch ’06 Fellowship Fund
• Camille Mendoza established the Camille P. Mendoza and Paul V. Clemeno Design Fellowship Fund
• Robert Ho COL ’77 established the Ho Family Fellowship Fund
• Bil Ehrlich BArch ’67 established the Ehrlich Family Fellowship Fund
• Costantza Sbokou MDes ’01 established the Costantza Sbokou-Constantakopoulou MDes ’01 Fellowship Fund
• Jeanne Gang MArch ’93 and Mark Schendel MArch ’89 established the Jeanne Gang MArch ’93 and Mark Schendel MArch ’89 Fellowship Fund
• Siddharth Yog MBA ’04 established the Yog PRIDE in Design 1973 Fellowship Fund and the Yog PRIDE in Design 1973 Current-Use Fellowship Fund
• Chien Chung Pei AB ’68, MArch ’72 and Li Chung Pei AB ’72, MArch ’76 established the I. M. Pei Fellowship Fund
• Faisal Abdulaziz Almogren MUP ’16 and Nawaf Bin Ayyaf Almogren MDes ’22 established the Abdulaziz Bin Ayyaf Fellowship Fund

For any questions on the Future Design Leaders Match, please contact Courtney Ward.

Born and raised in Nigeria, Sumayyah Súnmádé Raji MArch ’23 began her academic journey at Morgan State University, one of the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in Baltimore.

A turning point for Sumayyah during her first year at the GSD was a course called “Other(ed) Architecture: Coloniality, Subject, and Space” that examined non-Western points of view and addressed the theme of colonialism. She found solace in exploring topics that resonated with her personal experiences and cultural background.

In the fall of 2021, Sumayyah took on the role of co-president of AfricaGSD, a student organization that provides an informative platform for the discussion of African urbanism and architecture. Through discussions about racial equity and anti-racism initiatives, Sumayyah and her peers recognized the need for a sustainable approach to addressing racism at the GSD. “The atmosphere was incredibly overwhelming, especially in the aftermath of George Floyd. Student groups such as AfricaGSD and the African American Student Union played a vital role by publishing ‘The Notes on Credibility,’ a manifesto highlighting issues that the school needed to address in order to create a more inclusive and supportive environment for students of color.”

Reflecting on her experiences, Sumayyah realized that there was an opportunity to address the problem and create something both reflective and artful as a means of reflection. This realization led to the inception of Stories We Should Tell, an exhibition highlighting the work and voices of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) creators, shedding light on issues affecting the African continent and emphasizing the beauty there that is often overlooked. “Design should be a tool for positive change and inclusivity, and there is an urgent need to address the lack of diversity and representation in the field. Through the exhibition [of Stories We Should Tell] we were able to physically create a space and see the results of our work. It was a space where we could step back and appreciate the power of storytelling.”

Sumayyah Súnmádé Raji MArch ’23 sharing the exhibition.

The process of planning the first exhibition involved reaching out to artists, organizing workshops, and curating an immersive experience for the GSD community. Sumayyah and her co-curator, Dora Mugerwa MLA ’24, researched artists who aligned with the chosen theme of “space, body, spirituality.” To bring the project to light, Sumayyah (on behalf of the AfricaGSD leadership team) applied for and received a grant from the GSD’s Racial Equity and Anti-Racism (REA) Fund, which directly contributed to the success of the exhibition and the accompanying speaker series.

A speaker series, a visual art gallery, and workshops that provided a respite for students amid demanding coursework fostered a sense of community and shared experiences among students of all backgrounds. Additionally, the exhibition inspired discussions around “othered” perspectives and introduced students, faculty, and staff to new ways of thinking about design.

Sumayyah envisions a future where Stories We Should Tell continues to serve as a catalyst for transformative change and a space for collective storytelling at the GSD and beyond. Through ongoing collaboration, dialogue, and the shared power of stories, Sumayyah believes the project will continue to break down barriers, challenge conventional norms, and forge a more inclusive and equitable design landscape. The exhibition segment titled Stories That Take Me Home continued in September 2023 as part of the Black in Design Conference centered around “The Black Home.”

Sumayyah Súnmádé Raji is a Nigerian designer, researcher, and storyteller who is passionate about community design and craftsmanship in communities of color. She sees architecture as a tool to shift living landscapes and re-story the social and cultural narratives of growing cities. Through her work, she hopes to engage and promote awareness of traditional making techniques, spatial practices, and material agency. Sumayyah graduated from the Harvard GSD with an MArch and has a BS in architecture and environmental design from Morgan State University. Recently, she was a participant in the inaugural class of the Venice Biennale College Architettura.

Sumayyah Súnmádé Raji MArch ’23 and the exhibition team.

For any questions on the REA Fund, please contact James Skypeck.

Anika Murasaki Richter MUP ’23 enrolled in the GSD passionate about environmental justice and planning for equitable, just, and accessible cities. Growing up in the city of Baltimore as the daughter of Japanese and Colombian immigrants, she experienced how cities, spaces, and environments shape disparate life outcomes—and saw opportunities to improve the world. The GSD Fund provided Anika with need-based financial aid that enabled her to build upon her desire to “design and create space for cities that facilitate connection, healing, and high quality of life while rectifying injustices” as a student in the Master of Urban Planning program.

Anika is committed to tackling issues of sustainability and climate as urgent, global concerns. Furthering her dedication to interdisciplinary strategies to mitigate the climate crisis, Anika served on the Climate Leaders Program leadership team and the Harvard Urban Planning Organization board. She also lent her perspective as a blogger for the Journal of the American Planning Association and as a research assistant for the Urban Planning Program’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Committee.

Embracing opportunities to collaborate with students across the university, Anika pursued practical, real-world solutions through an internship at the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. Created in 2022, the Salata Institute is a fulcrum for collaboration across Harvard’s many areas of expertise. In her role, she contributed to their mission to develop and promote durable, effective, and equitable solutions to humanity’s climate change challenges while adding a planner’s valuable perspective to the conversation.

Post-graduation, Anika is utilizing her GSD education and experiences, with its limitless applications, to make a difference for our environment. Thanks to the support of donors, Anika benefits from the freedom to discover and deepen her research interests—and in turn, her work will improve opportunities for future generations.

For any questions, please contact [email protected].

Design has the power to solve some of the world’s most pressing global challenges. Still, the field can only be as successful as the practitioners who are able to access a quality design education and then transform their knowledge, skills, and confidence into a real-world impact. To open the doors of a top-tier design education to a wider range of voices in the school, the GSD launched the Future Design Leaders Match. This urgent student support initiative will significantly impact generations of future designers, the industry, and the alumni community by establishing endowed, named fellowships.

The Match is a key part of Dean Sarah M. Whiting’s vision of making design education accessible, regardless of personal financial circumstances, while attracting and enrolling the most talented architects, designers, and planners. To act on that commitment, Dean Whiting dedicated a fund of $4 million for matching donor contributions. This limited-time opportunity to establish a named Fellowship at the GSD and receive an equal contribution from the Dean’s fund represents the GSD’s most open, robust funding opportunity to date to support students in the broadest possible way.

“What’s extraordinary about design is that it impacts everyone. At the GSD, our students learn to reach outward—to each other, to other communities, and to leaders across an amazing array of professions,” said Dean Sarah M. Whiting. “They are well prepared to impact the world. Growing endowed support through the Future Design Leaders Match provides our students with more financial flexibility after graduation to help continue this foundation, challenging the critical social issues of our time, and consequently changing the design horizon itself.”

Fellowships will be open to students in master’s level programs and the Doctor of Design program. The fund has already committed over $1.5 million to endowed named fellowships, thanks to an enthusiastic and generous response from several alumni and donors.

An endowed fellowship provides support for one student, and the awarded student will carry the name of the fellowship during their GSD studies. The endowed fellowship will exist in perpetuity within the Harvard University Endowment and grow over time. With the match, the GSD aims to have more than 100 endowed opportunities to award students annually.

Limited opportunities remain to join the Match and empower generations of future design leaders. This support will help students continue their extraordinary research, collaborations, and innovative work even after graduating.

To learn more about the Match before the June 30, 2023 deadline, please contact Courtney Ward.

Future Design Leaders Match Donor Listing

We are delighted to thank and acknowledge the following alumni and friends who generously established endowed Fellowships at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design as part of the Future Design Leaders Match. The Match will impact generations of future designers, the design industry, and our alumni community by making design education more accessible. The list below includes gifts made through December 30, 2022 in chronological order.

• Abigail Turin MArch ’97 and Jonathan Gans established the Turin Gans Fellowship Fund
• Brian Douglas Lee MArch ’78 and Wendy Szeto Lee established the Lee Family Fellowship Fund
• Robyn Morgenstern Rosenblatt MArch ’97 established the Morgenstern Rosenblatt Fellowship Fund
• Peter Coombe MArch ’88 and Betty Chen AB ’87 established the Graduate School of Design Alumni Council Fellowship Fund
• Carola and Bobby Jain established the Jain Family Fellowship Fund
• Donor Confidential
• Scott Mead AB ’77 established the Mead Family Fellowship Fund
• Donor Confidential (2)
• Leslie and Sanjay Patel AB ’83, SM ’83 established the Patel GSD Family Fellowship
• Bridget Colman and Mark M. Colman AB ’83, MBA ’87 expanded the Horne Family Fellowship Fund

For any questions on the Future Design Leaders Match, please contact Courtney Ward.

Records that tell the story of GSD professors—course materials, conference lectures, professional accounts—provide illuminating windows into both the arc of a specific career and the evolving nature of the design fields more broadly. In an unprecedented contribution to its wealth of knowledge, the GSD’s Frances Loeb Library has accepted the archives of three significant members of the faculty: Professor in Practice of Urban Design, Emeritus Alex Krieger MCP ’77; Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design Jerold S. Kayden AB ’75, JD ’79,  MCRP ’79; and G. Ware Travelstead Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology Antoine Picon AM ’01 (as pictured above in corresponding order).

The Loeb Library’s archival collections contain materials from a range of design leaders, furthering academic research in the design fields both within the GSD and beyond Harvard University. These materials document design history, theory, and practice. With Kayden and Picon still teaching, the library saw a unique opportunity to emphasize how recent history could inform the future of the field.

“Part of this significance is it continues the trajectory of the pedagogy of the GSD over time, in particular in the history of architecture and in urban planning,” said Ann Baird Whiteside, Librarian and Assistant Dean for Information Services. “We have different aspects of the profession being emphasized in each archive. Antoine is all about research and the teaching life, Alex’s archive is a mix of his professional and GSD lives, and Jerold’s combines teaching, research, and professional practice.”

“We generally receive archives at the end of a professional life,” Whiteside continued. “These three scholars are actively producing and adding to their life’s work daily, so our collections will continue to grow in both content and relevance.’’

Alex Krieger, Professor in Practice of Urban Design, Emeritus 

Representing a long career combining teaching and practice at the forefront of urban design, Krieger’s archive contains about 25 boxes of materials. He taught two keystone courses at the GSD on the design of the American city, and the archive includes course materials, syllabi, speeches, and class lectures from those courses, along with some materials from Harvard’s developments in Allston since Krieger served as the university’s representative.

“Our collections tend to be more focused on architecture and landscape architecture, so having this planning material excites us because it brings forth important contributions from that field,” said Special Collections Archivist and Reference Librarian Ines Zalduendo MArch ’95.

Krieger’s archive also features a few master plan reports from his roles as principal at NBBJ, a global design practice, and as founding principal of Chan Krieger Sieniewicz until its merger with NBBJ in 2009.

“The work Krieger has done in urban planning around the U.S. is unprecedented,” Whiteside said. “His reports end up being primary documents in the field.”

Jerold S. Kayden, Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design 

Kayden, who holds Harvard degrees in planning and law, has provided the archives with an initial tranche of nearly 60 boxes. His syllabi, lecture notes, and readings for courses taught for almost 30 years (Public and Private Development, Land Use and Environmental Law, Public Space, Planning for Climate Change, and Design Competitions) show evolutions in pedagogy. Research notes for his books on privately owned public space, zoning, US Supreme Court Justice William Brennan’s land use opinions, and urban disaster resilience offer context for those works. Kayden has provided curricular and planning documents related to the urban planning program. He promises to contribute background materials from his days as US-sponsored advisor on land use, real estate, and government policy in Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, Nepal, and China, along with drafts and notes for briefs he wrote in constitutional cases, including some decided by the US Supreme Court.

Antoine Picon, G. Ware Travelstead Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology

Zalduendo praised Picon’s collection as being “in perfect order,” reflecting the precision that Picon is famous for in his courses on the history of architecture and technology. These 40 boxes contain research files, writings, and course preparation materials. His files are divided into three eras of Picon’s career: his teaching in France, at Princeton University, and at the GSD.

The library is working with GSD students to process the three archives before they are available for viewing in the Special Collections Reading Room. Working with students benefits both the Loeb Library staff and the students’ education. According to Zalduendo, seeing these materials informs the students, broadens their knowledge, and spurs their interest in different aspects of the professions, and training is often seamless because they are familiar with the topics.

Visitors to the library will be able to see the archives in person, and processing the collections will include creating annotated, searchable indexes so students, alumni and design scholars can access the archives and, in some cases, inspect digital copies of certain materials.

To see a full list of archives available at the Frances Loeb Library, click here.

 “Unprecedented Realism” brings Silvetti, Machado archive into the spotlight

To mark Jorge Silvetti’s retirement from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the Frances Loeb Library’s acquisition of the Rodolfo Machado and Jorge Silvetti Collection, the architecture department—in collaboration with the library—presented Unprecedented Realism, a series of narratives that reflect the evolution of the Machado and Silvetti architectural practice over the last five decades. Staff assembled more than 120 pieces of two-dimensional work, 30 models, and 250 pieces of discursive material for the exhibition, which was on display in the GSD’s Druker Design Gallery from Aug. 25 to Oct. 7, 2022. Taken together, these items stand in for the primary subject in Machado and Silvetti’s life-long accumulation of architectural production—buildings.

To read more about the exhibition, click here.

For any questions about these gifts, please contact Peggy Burns. 

Student prizes are essential to ensuring that future design leaders have every opportunity and confidence to reach their full potential. The larger GSD community has gone above and beyond to create this support for our students, who are seizing the chance to make their mark on the world of design and set the stage for a more resilient, just, and beautiful world. Read on to learn more about the outstanding student prize winners from this academic year.

Peter Walker and Partners Fellowship for Landscape Architecture

Scarlet Rendleman MLA ’22 & Liwei Shen MLA ’22

This fellowship supports travel and study for a graduating GSD student to advance their understanding of the body of scholarship and practices related to landscape design. The prize was awarded to two recipients—Scarlet Rendleman and Liwei Shen—who both fully embrace the fellowship’s intent, with plans to explore various landscapes and corners of the world. As Scarlet put it, “My friends and family will remark that one of my favorite activities is traveling, and the more foreign the land, the better.”

With most of her childhood immersed in the southwestern U.S., Scarlet is adamant about the ethics of environmental stewardship and the implications for community health. Her experiences range from engaging elected and tribal leaders in Northern New Mexico around economic development initiatives and nuclear waste remediation to codesigning and organizing events along the Black Belt in Georgia to documenting the experiences of African-American residents affected most by the legacies of social, economic, and environmental injustice. Using her background in community service abroad in Peru and Brazil and undergraduate study in urban planning at the University of New Mexico, Scarlet endeavors to elevate design as a platform for collective healing, environmental literacy, and rehabilitation.

To dive deeper into her interest in complex topography, anthropology, and atmospheric science, Liweh will use the funds for travel and research in middle and east Asian countries to explore the social and spatial atmospheric aesthetics in response to climate change risks. Liweh, who earned her bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, plans to seek local communities which differ in geology, hydrology, and culture but in a similar climate change trend to be warmer and wetter. Her interest lies in how the atmospheric system connects these places and how these separated indigenous groups maintain their spiritual identity and build and extend reciprocal hydrology into the atmosphere. Her fellowship travel will build upon her graduate thesis, “The Echoes of Sky River – Two Pre-modern and Modern Atmospheric Assemblages,” which received the 2022 Landscape Architecture Thesis Prize.

Daniel L. Schodek Award for Technology and Sustainability 

Gabriella Perry MDes ’22 & Indrajeet Haldar MDes ’22 

This award honors the memory and legacy of Professor Daniel Schodek and the standards of excellence he established during his 40 years of teaching and mentoring at the GSD. The award is given annually in recognition of the best Master in Design Studies thesis in the area of technology and sustainable design.

For her thesis, Gabriella built the “Croche-Matic,” a robot for crocheting 3D spherical objects. This novel machine can successfully complete stitches never done by machine. With her work primarily focused on digital fabrication and creating new ways to make things, which intersects the disciplines of design and engineering, Gabriella is embarking on a full-time role after graduation as a Design Technology Specialist for Rivian.

Indrajeet’s thesis “On the Mathematics of Memetics” spanned sociology, computation, and information design to develop richly articulated models of how online communities create trust. In that research, she examined online social spaces—specifically Reddit—and their manipulations of ideological economies, and how designers can endeavor to build sustainable digital spaces.

Clifford Wong Prize in Housing Design

Brian Lee MArch ’22 

This prize is awarded for the multi-family housing design that incorporates the most interesting ideas and/or innovations that may lead to socially-oriented, improved living conditions. Brian’s winning thesis, “People’s Park Complex: Repairing the Modern City,” explores the role of the addition as an alternative and stealthy form of preservation for the People’s Park Complex, a typological archetype of modernist housing in Singapore. Eschewing the tendency to demolish aging midcentury projects and without the benefit of government subsidy, the design proposes an architectural prosthetic that heroically invigorates the old through the new. The strategy leverages the iconic status of the complex to diversify unit types, rehabilitate dysfunctional accessibility, and introduce a much-needed middle scale of semi-public space.

Peter Rice Prize

Hangsoo Jeong MArch ’22 

This prize honors students of exceptional promise in the school’s architecture and advanced degree programs who have proven their competence and innovation in advancing architecture and structural engineering. Hangsoo has consistently and creatively integrated structural design in his academic work, including his thesis, “Upon Concrete: Retrofitting Architecture with Malleability.” His thesis considers how retrofitting existing concrete structures with zinc-plated steel reinforcements can significantly elevate the structural elements and endow built environments with more flexibility and adaptability.

For any questions on student prizes, please contact Courtney Ward. 

For homes of any kind to last, they need a strong foundation. With their gift to help establish an endowment for the position of Director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies and Senior Lecturer at the GSD, Nicolas P. MCP ’71 and Joan B. Retsinas are creating a solid, sustainable future for the organization that drives housing policy.

Retsinas’s extraordinary legacy of leadership at the Center has also inspired many of the organization’s Policy Advisory Board (PAB) members to join this fundraising initiative. In a heartfelt demonstration of the convening power of the PAB and Retsinas’s impact on the industry, nearly 50 others have made gifts in his honor and raised more than $5 million to strengthen the Center’s connection to the GSD.

“The field of housing crosses many, many disciplines, and the Center is in a unique position to connect leaders in academia, industry, and policy,” Retsinas said. “My hope for this gift was that it would forge even stronger bonds between the Center and the GSD and catalyze the endowment for the Center’s leadership, and it means the world to me to see that hope come true.”

“The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies is the most important and most well-respected academic organization dedicated to housing in our country,” said Allan Merrill, Chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based Beazer Homes and former chair of the PAB. “That is a testament to every thought leader who has been part of the Center staff and every member who has contributed their time, expertise and money to the PAB. Thanks to support for this endowment, we are doing our part to ensure that the Center will serve future generations in the same way it has served us.”

Retsinas, who serves as the Center’s Director Emeritus as part of his storied career, was the first non-faculty member to lead the Center when he held the position of director from 1998 to 2010. Under his tenure, Retsinas expanded the PAB and its connections to industry, doubled the size of the organization, and convened gatherings between academia, nonprofits, and businesses to explore topics and publish research. From that experience, he realized that creating a senior faculty position to lead the Center was essential to solidify the role and strengthen the policy connections between academia and industry.

“Universities care about the intellectual quality at these centers and what they’re producing, so it’s fitting and proper to have faculty directing the Center,” said current Managing Director Chris Herbert. “This is formalizing our leadership in a way that will increase its impact.”

In the position, an eminent practitioner or scholar with demonstrated experience in the housing industry or housing policy or research will serve both as director and as a senior lecturer on the GSD Urban Planning and Design faculty. The director will lead engagement with the public, private, and civic sectors, with a research agenda at the GSD focusing upon the study of housing and real estate.

In establishing this endowment, members of the housing industry are recognizing both the importance of the Center at the nexus of industry and academia and paying tribute to their longtime friend and his leadership.

“Nic and I had the opportunity to work together, teach, travel and write for a decade at Harvard Business School,” said Arthur Segel, the Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice and Poorvu Family Professor of Management Practice at HBS. “We wrote about housing issues and slums all over the world, from Mexico City to Mumbai, from Durban to Nairobi, from New Orleans to the South Bronx. There were many especially poignant moments over the years, and I—like others who know Nic—consider him a dedicated advocate, an inspiration, and above all a friend. He has been so kind and so good to so many of us in so many ways.”

(left to right) Nicolas P. Retsinas, Joan B. Retsinas, Patti Saris, and Arthur Segel, the Poorvu Family Professor of Management Practice in the Finance Department at Harvard Business School.

To learn more about the Joint Center for Housing Studies and its work to conduct transformative interdisciplinary research in housing, visit https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/.

For any questions on this initiative, please contact Courtney Ward.

Above images (left to right): Calvin Tsao, FAIA, MArch ’79 and Zack McKown, FAIA, MArch ’79 awarded AIA Medal of Honor ; “Arsenal Oasis” designed by Sarah Cowles MLA ’05, and Ben Hackenberger MLA ’20; and John Andrews MArch ’58.

Alumni Highlights

We’re proud to be able to share news of the incredible work that GSD alumni are accomplishing around the world, and we’re honored to be able to say these design leaders are connected to our school. Here are a few of the highlights—faculty appointments, awards and prizes, and other recognitions—from the past academic year:  

• Seven Alumni Elevated to ASLA Council of Fellows – Class of 2021  

• Architect Wendy W Fok DDes ’17 Recognized With City Artists Corps Grant From New York Foundation for The Arts and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs  

• Sarah Cowles MLA ’05 and Ben Hackenberger MLA ’20 firm Ruderal awarded the Landezine International Landscape Special Jury Award 2021  

• 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30: Honghao Deng MDes ’18  

• Edith Hsu-Chen MUP ’97 Appointed as Executive Director of the NYC Department of City Planning  

• Guy Nordenson Loeb Fellow ’94 Elected into The National Academy of Engineering (NAE)  

• Frida Escobedo MDes ’12 selected to realize new Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing at the MET  

• Seven GSD Alumni Elevated to AIA Fellows 2022  

• Calvin Tsao, FAIA, MArch ’79 and Zack McKown, FAIA, MArch ’79 awarded AIA Medal of Honor  

• Michael Meredith MArch ’00 and Monica Rhodes LF ’22 Named Winners of Rome Prize 

Please stay in touch! Share your alumni news using this form. 

In Memoriam

We also want to take a moment to mourn the loss of members of the GSD community and keep their memories alive. Each member of our community—as a designer, a leader, a parent, a child, a sibling, a friend— made an imprint on the world of design and our school. 

We celebrate their lives as we remember and honor the school’s alumni, faculty, and friends who died between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022. 

• John Andrews MArch ’58
• Robert Allan Bowyer AB ’56, MCP ’64
• Lawrence J. Braman MDes ’94, LF ’93
• Frank Cresswell Carter MArch ’69
• Robert James Coote MArch ’59
• Robert W Corbett MDes ’87
• Leonard A. Durant LF ’76
• Donita Spencer Enright AB ’54, GSD ’58
• Julius Fabos MLA ’64
• Mark Goodman Feinknopf MArch ’63
• Marsha Abrams Fidoten GSD ’52
• Gina Louise Foglia MLA ’90
• Benjamin W. Gary MLA ’57, GSD ’64
• Molly Daly Grosvenor Gerard MLA ’86
• Richard Alan Hanmer AB ’58, GSD ’62
• Richard Creagh Heydecker GSD ’63
• Charles Joseph Hubbard GSD ’51
• Ronald Masanobu Izumita MLA ’66
• Robert G. Janni MArch ’93
• William Potter Johns GSD ’59
• Jory F. Johnson MLA ’85
• Nancy N. Kelley GSD ’80, MCRP ’81
• George James Kelso MArch ’64
• Edward Harry Kirschbaum MArch ’56
• Ronald Kolbe AB ’57, MArch ’62
• William Lindemulder AB ’55, MArch ’58
• Philip Norton Loheed GSD ’72
• Carl Luckenbach AB ’56, MArch ’59
• Don C. Miles MArch ’71, MCPUD ’71
• Aristides James Millas MAUD ’64
• David Alan Miller MArch ’65
• Duane Carl Neiderman MCP ’63
• Cyril Benedict Paumier MLA ’57
• David Raphael MLA ’77 
• Frances A. Schmitt MDes ’93
• Manjeet Kaur Tangri MArch ’74
• Howard Malcolm Ticknor AB ’57, MArch ’61
• Rae D. Tufts LF ’85
• Thomas Corwin Van Housen MAUD ’62
• George Henry Warren SB ’43, BArch ’53
• Nikita Zaitzevsky AB ’51, GSD ’55
• Philip Zeitlin MCRP ’58

For questions on alumni news or to get in touch, please contact Brianna Robinson. 

This fall marked the first applications for the GSD’s new Master in Real Estate (MRE) program, a 12-month degree for those who want to acquire core real estate development skills while learning how real estate can advance beneficial spatial, social, and environmental outcomes in cities and metropolitan areas worldwide. The program was made possible by a combined $13 million in gifts from GSD alumni and friends, including Sam Plimpton MBA ’77, MArch ’80, who serves as Senior Advisor to the Private Investment Group and is a member of the GSD’s Dean’s Leadership Council, and Calvin Tsao FAIA MArch ’79 of Tsao & McKown.

“It is exciting to anticipate the future leaders who will advance their careers in the MRE program,” Plimpton said. “Candidates will gain exposure to business analytics, planning and design processes, social and user needs identification, principles of sustainability, and the complexity of real estate decisions in evolving environments. Graduates, over time, will lead private and public enterprises, and I am confident will make the world a better place.”

The goal of the MRE program is to train future real estate practitioners in how to address complex and urgent ethical challenges facing the built environment. The effects of climate change, the need for equitable development, blurred boundaries between home and work, and global flows of capital are stacked on top of the pressure to make real estate projects successful. Investors and regulatory agencies are also applying environmental, social, and governance criteria and other public benefits as new metrics for performance.

The MRE degree aims to address those challenges through a cross-disciplinary pedagogy of required and elective courses, concluding with a two-month practicum based at a private or public real estate organization working on a socially and environmentally oriented project. Students will learn about finance, project and construction management, government regulation, urban economics, public-private partnerships, politics, technology, real estate law, ethics, entrepreneurship, negotiation, leadership, and other subjects essential to the practice of present and future real estate.

“As we exist in a world that grows ever more globalized and complex, the challenge to promote and sustain cohesive societies and harmonious developments obliges us to question conventionally accepted ideologies, norms, and systems,” Tsao said. “This new MRE program puts our students on that path toward understanding — and leading — this evolved approach to real estate.”

The MRE program is accepting applications for up to 25 spaces, with the first class enrolling in fall 2023.

For any questions on supporting the MRE program, please contact Peggy Burns. 

GSD students and alumni have always made the most of every opportunity. Whether giving back to honor a loved one, helping to open doors for new students, or embracing the privilege of a top-tier design education, the GSD community truly lives the idea that education can change the world. Read on to learn about fellowships established this year and the students who are living their design ambitions thanks to this generosity.

Creating new legacies

Financial Aid and Fellowships are essential to creating a strong and diverse community at the GSD. We’re grateful to the alumni and friends who have given back and opened doors for aspiring designers from all over the world; you can view a full list of current fellowships and financial aid opportunities at the school. Below are highlights of new funds established in 2021.

The John E. Johnson, Ph.D., and Etta G. Johnson Fellowship Fund

Dean’s Leadership Council member Carrie Alice Johnson MArch ’93 chose to honor her parents with this generous gift, which will open access and expand opportunities for underrepresented members of the GSD community from the U.S. The fellowship aims to help the GSD continue to attract, enroll, and support the brightest and most talented scholars who will be the leaders in transforming the social and built environment. Link to full quote from Carrie.

The Pen Fellowship Fund

The Pen Fellowship Fund, established through a gift from Tom Pen MArch ’00 and Yvonne Chau, provides financial aid to architecture students from Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China, and Singapore.

The Eduard Sekler Fellowship Fund

Michael “Mick” F. Doyle MArch ’77 led the effort to create the Eduard Sekler Fellowship Fund, which included gifts from generous alumni seeking to honor their former teacher. Mick met Professor Sekler as a GSD student, and they maintained a life-long friendship and association through projects including the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust. Watch the video to hear alumni and students reflect on the impact the fellowship and Eduard Sekler has had on their lives.

Supporting our students

GSD fellows and scholarship recipients are making their unique, vibrant, and outstanding marks on the school and the world of design, thanks to the generosity of the larger GSD community.

Sheldon Alfred MArch ’22, John E. Johnson, Ph.D., and Etta G. Johnson Fellowship

“Musical designer.” That label is Sheldon’s aspiration as he lives at the intersection of music and architectural design. The recording artist, performer of Caribbean Bouyon music, and architectural student has taken a keen interest in sound and space. During his time at the GSD, Sheldon has explored how practitioners of architecture and music have approached their use of proportion, the challenge of urban noise pollution, and the opportunity for acoustic comfort to become a basic human right.

Sheldon is also a member of the African American Student Union, where he meets and connects with other members to discuss ways of strengthening their voice at the school and in the profession. In addition to GSD networking and cross-registering in an Architectural Acoustics course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sheldon considers the opportunity to perform his music at the Harvard International Poetry Night to be a highlight of his time at the school.

Y-Nhi Tran MArch ’21, David Kenneth Specter Fellowship

Nhi, a first-generation Vietnamese-American born at an immigration camp in Hong Kong, focuses her research on issues of identity, memory, and the making of home within diasporic communities. Her design work reaches for a sense of belonging and the true meaning of place, especially amid the destabilizing forces of modern globalization.

One of Nhi’s standout GSD experiences is an option studio with 2019 John C. Portman Design Critics in Architecture Rossana Hu and Lyndon Neri, titled “Reflective Nostalgia: Alternative Futures for Shanghai’s Shikumen Heritage.” The studio investigates the reuse of Shanghai’s historic housing and how nostalgia can offer a way to engage issues of heritage, collective memory, displacement, and urban renewal.

View Nhi’s project in “Reflective Nostalgia” and her final thesis in “Hyphen American.”

The GSD Fund

Grants from the GSD Fund help defray the cost of a design education and create a more diverse, vibrant community. Read more about the students who are benefiting from the annual fund.

Left to right: Steven Gu MUP ’21 and Jenna Wu MLA ’22.

Philadelphia native Steven Gu MUP ’21 is focused on urban governance, land-use law, and international planning to support more holistic development practices abroad. He is currently a Graduate Student Associate at the Harvard Asia Center and co-founded the Asian Pacific Islander American in Design student group at the GSD. Steven recently received a grant from the Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative for his research on the intersection of protests, planning, and consumption in Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Philadelphia.

“As the first in my family to graduate from an undergraduate institution, I never thought graduate school would be a financially viable opportunity. Encouraged by undergraduate and work mentors, I hesitantly applied to the GSD’s urban planning program, knowing that I would not be able to attend if I did not receive enough financial support. With aid as the determining factor, I am incredibly thankful for your contribution for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thanks to your help, I was able to spend two fulfilling years attending engaging lectures, conducting research with brilliant faculty, and making lifelong friendships at the GSD.”

The work of Jenna Wu MLA ’22 oscillates between research and form to explore people’s relationships with urban environments and create ecologically and socially resilient senses of place. A New York native, her research at the GSD expands upon her undergraduate work in organismal biology and ecology. She is an active member of several GSD student groups, including Womxn in Design and the MLA Diversity Committee.

“My parents, a violinist and a photographer, constantly tried to push me in the direction of science and engineering for fear I would struggle financially in design or the arts. Thanks to financial aid, I have not only been able to afford housing in Cambridge, but have been able to purchase materials needed to dive into physical model building both in the Fabrication Lab and at home. Both virtually and in person, financial aid has been crucial to my learning at the GSD, and I am incredibly grateful.”

Irving Innovation Fellows

During a year of remote teaching and learning, the Irving Innovation Fellows were instrumental in helping the GSD expand and enrich its potential through virtual design pedagogy. This year’s cohort supported the Innovation Task Force, a GSD research group committed to making specific, well-documented recommendations regarding pedagogy and technology used in teaching. The cohort was made possible thanks to John K. F. Irving AB ’83, MBA ’89 and Anne Irving Oxley, who established the John E. Irving Dean’s Innovation Fund in 2013 to honor the legacy of their father, John E. (Jack) Irving.

In the spring, the Irving Innovation Fellows and Innovation Task Force gathered virtually to share their work as part of a GSD community reflection on a year of remote teaching. Watch these videos to see how they embraced the many challenges and ambiguities of rapidly changing circumstances with patience and perseverance.

Read the full quote from Isabella.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, GSD students, faculty, and staff learned and worked virtually for nearly a year and a half. During this time, the GSD’s Fabrication Lab brought Gund Hall to the 3D virtual world with Virtual Gund Hall. Digital Fabrication Analyst Christopher Hansen and a team of students designed the immersive GSD campus experience, which enables viewers to visit and engage with Gund Hall and the GSD’s surrounding campus and buildings. The team hopes “that this project serves as both a gift and a resource for the GSD community, wherever you may be in the world.” Since its launch, the site has gained an international following of prospective students and Gund Hall aficionados.

Virtual Gund Hall provides a chance for alumni to explore a collection of spaces and things that help make the GSD unique, relive their days in the now-vacant trays, and view an exhibit on architect Josep Lluís Sert in the Druker Design Gallery. Guests can experience Piper Auditorium with its gold curtain, glowing audience, and sparkly Sarah M. Whiting, GSD Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture. 3D scanning of Dean Whiting was not possible with social distancing guidelines in place, so she was resourcefully modeled after publicly available images. With her glittery persona, the creators added a layer of abstractness that aligns with their interpretation of the Gund Hall scene. Also, visitors can look out for the glowing orange cat that represents Remy, the Humanities Cat, who is known for roaming the Harvard campus and his popular visits to the GSD.

Virtual Gund Hall was created using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, a real-time 3D tool used to create cutting-edge content, immersive virtual worlds, and immersive experiences. Hansen received an Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games which was used to fund the initial phase of the project. According to Hansen, “Unreal Engine is like a big sandbox, as it accepts content from various platforms. We imported 3D models, animations, images, audio recordings, and 3D scans into the platform to create this virtual scene.” The development was easier than anticipated, with the whole project taking about three months. Four students worked with Hansen: Mira Xu MDes ’22, Angela Sniezynski MArch ’21, Jon Gregurick March ’21, and Emily Majors MArch ’23, with additional support for content coming from the Loeb Library, the GSD’s Innovation Task Force, Student Services, Kirkland Gallery, and other GSD researchers, faculty, and students.

“We’re thrilled to see Gund Hall reimagined in a virtual setting with Unreal Engine in a way that has left a lasting impression on the students and alumni who’ve called the campus home, as well as numerous prospective students across the globe,” said Chris Kavcsak, Senior Manager, Epic MegaGrants and Strategy, Epic Games. “The project showcases the unique ways that real-time 3D enables engaging experiences. It has been our pleasure to support the GSD’s Fabrication Lab with an Epic MegaGrant, and we’re excited to see them explore a world of new possibilities on their Unreal Engine journey.”

Based on the success of using the Unreal Engine to create the Virtual Gund Hall experience, the GSD hopes to expand the use of the tool.

Note: Virtual Gund Hall is no longer available as of September 2023.

The GSD’s Racial Equity and Anti-Racism Fund commenced in September 2020 to raise awareness of how race, racism, and racial injustice affect society—especially by and through design professions—and to promote a culture of anti-racism at the GSD. The REA Fund is the first of its kind to support racial equity and anti-racism not only at the GSD or Harvard University but for all peer design schools.

“The REA Fund has been a vehicle to bring the GSD together,” says Naisha Bradley, Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Officer at the GSD. “Over this first year, we’ve had strong community input and were able to support initiatives from multiple constituencies at the school. Whether it was through one-time initiatives, community-wide programming, or semester-long classes, the REA Fund has created an innovative pathway for us to incorporate anti-racism into our community fabric and help create a GSD where many voices can be heard, and all people can thrive.”

The fund has sought stakeholders from around the GSD to consider the sorts of programming and dialogue that have been missing, to suggest solutions, and to consider how the GSD can strengthen policies and practices to promote a culture of anti-racism. It has also prioritized the need for immediate or accelerated change alongside longer-term, ongoing work connecting design and anti-racist practice.

“The REA Fund serves as one action of a holistic approach to institutional transformation,” explains Esther Weathers, Associate Director of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. “It requires the GSD community to pause and take stock of where we are now and imagine what could be possible. By distributing resources to faculty, researchers, staff, and students alike, we lower barriers and empower everyone to be a leader in cultivating a GSD for all.”

This 1900 census map is part of data the REA-funded CoDesign Field Lab research seminar worked to gather, analyze, and illustrate in order to make a case for the Black Belt region as prime siting for Green New Deal initiatives.

GSD Alumni and friends rallied to support the fund, raising over $100,000 for student-, staff-, and faculty-led initiatives to ensure that the values of diversity, inclusion, and belonging are embedded in the fabric of the GSD. “The REA Fund is critical to addressing the historical and systemic inequities at the school,” said Peter Coombe MArch ’88, Chair of the GSD Alumni Council, member of the Dean’s Leadership Council, and REA Fund donor. “Contributions to the REA fund are investments supporting future design leaders; my gift is a small step towards making the GSD and the design fields more equitable.”

The inaugural REA Fund projects, ranging from the individual to the institutional, have come to fruition in recent months, illustrating the diversity and depth of inquiry the fund has supported. A list of projects is featured below. To read about project highlights, please see this article on the GSD website.

The GSD established the R. Buckminster Fuller Professorship of Design Science thanks to the generosity of Amy C. Edmondson AB ’81, AM ’95, PhD ’96 and George Q. Daley AB ’82, MD ’91. Edmondson and Daley have long-standing ties to Harvard University. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School (HBS); she worked with Fuller after graduation from Harvard College. Daley is the Dean of Harvard Medical School and the Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine. The GSD will begin a search for a visionary scholar to serve as the inaugural R. Buckminster Fuller Professor of Design Science.

Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was a renowned 20th-century inventor, designer, engineer, philosopher, and a member of the Harvard College class of 1917. Through a design science approach, he worked to solve global problems related to energy, transportation, education, and more. Fuller has influenced generations of designers, architects, scientists, and artists working to create a more sustainable planet. His most well-known artifact is the geodesic dome.

(Left to right) Amy C. Edmondson AB ’81, AM ’95, Ph.D. ’96, John Katzenberger, Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Crum (1982)

Edmondson came to know Fuller’s work through the Harvard course “Synergetics: The Structure of Ordered Space” along with a lecture given by Fuller at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon corresponding with him, he offered her a job as his Chief Engineer. This pivotal experience shaped her career and ultimately led her to her work at HBS, studying people and teams seeking to make a positive difference through the work they do. She describes Fuller as “an inspirational, joyful, brilliant, and invitingly inclusive person,” and she was influenced by his way of thinking that centrally involved design.

Edmondson and Daley connect with Fuller’s belief that designers can make a difference through their work and celebrate the role of responsible design in making a difference in the world. “Buckminster Fuller was interested in making a better world through the power of design. There is no more fitting place to honor his legacy than at the GSD by creating the R. Buckminster Fuller Professorship of Design Science,” said Edmondson and Daley. “Bucky’s spirit of innovation and invention lives on to inspire others to forge new discoveries and to take better care of each other and our planet for future generations.”

Named, endowed chairs are among the highest honors bestowed at Harvard. At the GSD, they attract respected leaders in their design discipline, support academic inquiries and innovative research, and ensure the position in perpetuity.

“Amy and George are championing a legacy of world-class scholarship at the GSD. I am grateful for their generosity to sustain a thriving academic community at the School,” said Sarah M. Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture. “Through their commitment, the R. Buckminster Fuller Professorship of Design Science will help the GSD to attract the best faculty and students and serve as a perpetual reminder of Fuller’s legacy in design innovation and sustainability.”

Regent Quarter, in the heart of London’s King’s Cross neighborhood, is an area brimming with dynamism and opportunities for exploration in one of the world’s oldest cities. Thanks to a generous gift from Nan Fung Development Group, the developer of Regent Quarter, and Managing Director Vanessa Tih Lin Cheung MLA ’10, GSD students will have an overseas studio in spring 2022 to study the Regent Quarter and its diverse metropolitan contexts—and make a real impact on a burgeoning neighborhood.

“My journey at the GSD played a crucial role in shaping me into someone who has a deep appreciation of the built environment, neighborhoods, and communities,” Cheung said. “My option studio experience was particularly impactful because it challenged me to come up with solutions that are thoughtful, practical, and innovative. Given the opportunity of the Nan Fung Group’s site at Regent Quarter, I thought it would be especially meaningful to invite the brilliant minds at the GSD to come up with creative and practical schemes based on the context to co-create a resilient and lively neighborhood with us.”

Regent Quarter sits at the intersection of two urban models: the cityscape of London, one of the world’s oldest cities, and the campus city, with the University of the Arts London nearby. Comprising 260,000 square feet of mixed-use real estate, across 12 office buildings and 20 retail and leisure units, Regent Quarter is situated to the east of King’s Cross Station and is surrounded by a dynamic mix of global brands, hotels, and restaurants.

As part of the studio, Cheung said, students will have the chance to challenge the conventional ways of designing physical spaces. The studio will encourage participants to consider the context of the Regent Quarter, investigate how technology and the COVID-19 pandemic have changed behavior in public spaces, and explore the future potential of the site. The studio will be led by Mark Lee MArch ’95, Chair of the Architecture Department; Professors in Practice Hanif Kara and Sharon Johnston MArch ’95; along with faculty Ali Malkawi, Krzysztof Wodiczko, and David Fixler, who will consult on issues pertaining to sustainability, art in public space, and adaptive reuse.

Cheung, who oversees Nan Fung’s entire real estate property portfolio, credits her time at the GSD with preparing her to undertake those types of exercises. She has also joined the GSD’s Dean Leadership Council, which she said has helped her discover new ideas for design research and development.

“It was through the GSD that I discovered my deep interest in working on the community and environmental aspects of the built environment, finding patterns and forming connections amongst different groups to uncover ways to better every individual’s life,” Cheung said. “This approach aligns with Nan Fung’s company motto, which has been passed down from my grandfather: ‘Care for others as you would care for yourself.’ In terms of design, essentially, put the users’ needs first.”

That philosophy has shone through in projects like The Mills in Cheung’s hometown of Hong Kong and manifested into “The Mills spirit,” which places leadership in social innovation at the core of real estate development.

Cheung has also applied her innovative, curious approach to her personal life. She serves on the Antiquities Advisory Board at the Antiquities and Monuments Office of Hong Kong, which provides a view into the history of sites all over the region, and the Hong Kong Tourism Board. She and her husband have a young son and also own Asphodel Fitness and Performance, and Cheung and her sister founded Quo Kefir Believers, a small coconut kefir business.

“Each one opens a window to other industries and people. At this day and age where everything is moving so quickly, when news and information are filtered according to your personal interests, I think it’s important to not get siloed and live in my own comfort bubble,” Cheung said. “All these new opportunities provide me the best excuse to learn and adapt. I bring in the same passion and value of social innovation and environmental respect into all the work that I do.”

Henry B. Hoover MArch ’26 is considered a pioneer of New England modernist architecture. He designed more than 50 modern houses in his hometown of Lincoln, Mass., and other suburbs west of Boston, as well as houses in New Hampshire, Georgia, and Florida.

The quality of his GSD education and the financial assistance Hoover received at Harvard inspired his three children—Henry B. (Harry) Hoover, Jr., Lucretia Hoover Giese PhD ’85 (1937-2018), and Elizabeth Hoover Norman PhD ’05 (1937-2010)—to establish the Henry B. Hoover Fellowship at the GSD in 1989. Since then, further gifts from the siblings ensure that their father’s legacy lives on.

A portion of the sale of the family home in Lincoln, which their father designed in 1937, was added to the Hoover Fellowship in 2020 through a bequest from Lucretia’s estate. In 2021, a charitable gift annuity from Harry brought the endowed fund to full fellowship status. This long-term commitment has made it possible for the GSD to award the fellowship to a student every year.

“I’ve been honored to meet these awardees and even give them a tour of my father’s architectural work in my town of Lincoln and other communities,” Harry said. “They come to know Hoover as a person who had aspirations and experiences just like they have now.”

“The training he received at Harvard was so important to him,” Lucretia had said. “That’s why we decided to establish a fund to provide scholarships to students who would not otherwise be able to attend Harvard. Our father had received a scholarship that enabled him to study at Harvard.”

“All three of us revered our father,” Harry said of himself and his sisters. “This fellowship was a natural outpouring of our affection and respect.”

“We’re fortunate that through my father’s legacy, we can bring this opportunity to well-deserving and accomplished people who are the best qualified to carry our father’s work, vision, and spirit onward,” Harry said. This generosity is carrying through to the next generation and inspiring others with connections to Hoover to support the fellowship.

Photos in header:

• Front row: Daughter Elizabeth Hoover Norman, son Henry Hoover, Jr., daughter Lucretia Hoover Giese
• Rear row: Son-in-law John Norman, wife Lucretia Hoover, Henry Hoover, son-in law Paul Giese

The toll of COVID-19 has reached all corners of the world, including the GSD, as we grieved the passing of a much higher number of alumni than in years past.

We want to take a moment to mourn the loss of beloved members of the GSD community and vow to keep their memories alive. Each person represented a cherished member of our community—a designer, a leader, a parent, a child, a sibling, a friend—and every one of them made an imprint on the world of design and our hearts.

We celebrate their lives as we remember and honor the school’s alumni, faculty, and friends who died July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021.

Pictured above (left to right): Carol Roxane Johnson MLA ’57, Cornelia H. Oberlander BLA ’47, John Calvin Portman III MArch ’73, and Donald L. Stull MArch ’62.

In Memoriam

• Barnett B. Berliner MArch ’52
• Thomas C. Blandy AB ’54, MArch ’60
• Armand Phillip Brunet MLA ’58
• Sarah Buchanan MArch ’77
• Firman H. Burke Jr. AB ’52, MArch ’56
• Lewis W. Butler MArch ’84
• David DeLong Coffin MArch ’65
• Malcolm Montague Davis AB ’55, MArch ’58
• August de los Reyes MDes ’08, GMP ’12
• Roman Paul Fodchuk MLA ’63
• James Wilson Freeman BArch ’53
• Ray A. Frieden AB ’65, BArch ’69
• Roger Simon Gallet MArch ’71
• Benjamin W. Gary Jr. MLA ’57, GSD ’64
• Max Isley MArch ’59
• Ronald Masanobu Izumita MLA ’66
• Ellen S. Jawdat BArch ’46
• Carol Roxane Johnson MLA ’57
• Robert Thomas Jorvig MCP ’49
• Shoichi Kajima MArch ’57
• Gary Eugene Karner MLA ’61
• Romin Koebel MAUD ’67
• Ronald Kolbe AB ’57, MArch ’62
• P. Lamb AB ’60, MArch ’64
• Rachelle L. Levitt MCP ’75
• James J. Luty MLA ’72
• Geoffrey Massey AB ’49, MArch ’52
• George R. Mathey AB ’51, MArch ’55
• Timothy Ray McCoy MArch ’73
• Jerry Irwin Miller MAUD ’63
• James L. Nagle MArch ’64
• Duane Carl Neiderman MCP ’63
• Cornelia H. Oberlander BLA ’47
• Thaddeus Frank Paluchowski MCP ’74
• Harry D. Parnass MAUD ’69
• Lydia M. Pastuszek MCRP ’77
• Norman Keith Perttula MArch ’56
• Eric R. Pfeufer AM ’68, MArch ’74
• Byron W. Pinckert MArch ’75
• Charles A. Platt AB ’54, MArch ’60
• Lawrence R. Ponsford MAUD ’68
• John Calvin Portman III MArch ’73
• Karl H. Quackenbush MCRP ’80
• Glenn F. Rodgers AB ’63, MArch ’67
• David Gilbert Rowland MArch ’55
• Dr. Penelope Hedrick Schafer AB ’66, PhD ’76
• B. Frank Schlesinger MArch ’54
• Donald L. Stull MArch ’62
• William Henry Trogdon MArch ’52
• Govind S. Vakil MAUD ’82
• Pamela Ann Van Coevering MCRP ’77
• George Von Scheven MArch ’62
• Lawrence W. Walquist Jr. MLA ’58
• Craig H. Walton MRU ’79
• Derrick L. Woody MAUD ’96

Tribute Gifts

Tribute gifts offer a meaningful way to advance the work of the school while also recognizing a beloved family member, friend, or colleague. Individuals who were honored or memorialized with a tribute gift in fiscal year 2021 are listed below.

Memorialized

• Michael Patrick Burton MArch ’14
• Ferdinand Colloredo-Mansfeld AB ’61, MBA ’65, EXED ’96
• Scott Fiorentino AMDP ’15
• Philip G. Freelon LF ’90
• Ben Hamilton-Baillie LF ’01
• Reginald Roderic Isaacs MArch ’39, GSD ’36
• Fred Koetter
• Professor Daniel Lewis Schodek AM ’81

Honored

• Peggy Burns
• Frank Christopher Lee, FAIA, MAUD ’79

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Innovation. Flexibility. Adaptiveness. Those three words became our keystones for 2021, and I am grateful for how your generosity sprang those words to life this year at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). It is a true pleasure to share those stories—of inventiveness, of resilience, of belief in the power of design—in the 2020-2021 GSD Giving Report.

I and my team at the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at the GSD want to thank you, our alumni and friends, for modeling this spirit to our students and so willingly offering the support they need to thrive in our ever-evolving landscape. Your gifts to the school, your attendance at our virtual events (and our virtual Gund Hall!), and your warm welcome to the 299 GSD students who graduated in a time unlike any other showed us that the bonds in our community are as strong as ever.

You’ll see stories in this report about how you honored the design community’s pioneers through gifts to establish the R. Buckminster Fuller Professorship of Design Science and grow the Henry B. Hoover Fellowship. You’ll hear from our fellowship recipients, who embody the definition of nimble, enthusiastic, and creative as they write the next chapters of design. You’ll have a chance to dive into a brand-new option studio, which invites our students to adapt, to explore, and to make their mark on one of the world’s oldest cities. And you’ll learn more about how the Racial Equity and Anti-Racism Fund is working to address injustice and discrimination at the GSD and beyond. Plus, you can experience Gund Hall virtually, in a 3D virtual world created by the GSD’s Fabrication Lab.

Thanks to the opportunities your gifts have offered, our students can imagine themselves as the next generation of innovators, working alongside you to pivot and find new pathways toward a more sustainable, equitable, and beautiful world. We look forward, thanks to the impact of your gifts. We also look back, remembering alumni we have lost this year through our In Memoriam feature.

Before I let you move on to the stories, a couple more thanks are in order: to the Alumni Council for all their work over the past year, and to the Dean’s Leadership Council for their guidance to the Dean and the School. We’re grateful for the active role they play in advancing the visibility and importance of the GSD at the University, among the School’s many design fields, and in the world at large.

In these extraordinary times, I keep thinking of what Carrie Alice Johnson MArch ’93 said when discussing the fellowship she established in honor of her parents: “Education will help bring about the most change for our country and the world. It’s what we need to move forward, together.”

It brings me great joy that the GSD alumni and friends have taken Carrie’s words to heart. As a design community, we are accomplishing so much by working together. I hope you enjoy reading these stories of generosity, and thank you again for making it possible for the GSD to achieve its invaluable education and mission.

Joyfully,
Peggy Burns

Associate Dean, Development & Alumni Relations
Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Each year, we mourn the loss of beloved members of the GSD community and vow to keep their memories alive. This year, we’ve decided to honor those who are no longer with us in this Giving Report. The toll of COVID-19 has reached all corners of the world, including the GSD, as we grieved the passing of a much higher number of alumni than in years past. Each number represented a beloved member of our community: a designer, a leader, a parent, a child, a sibling, a friend.

We celebrate their lives as we remember and honor those we have lost. With us, we carry the memory of the alumni, faculty, and friends of the school who died in 2019 and 2020. Every one of them made an imprint on the world of design and on our hearts. For that, we are eternally grateful.

In particular, we would like to reflect on the lives of Harry Cobb, Phil Freelon, and Jack Portman for their extraordinary commitments to the GSD.

Harry Cobb

Henry N. Cobb in 1968. Courtesy Pei Cobb Freed and Partners

Henry “Harry” N. Cobb passed away on March 3, just a month shy of his 94^th birthday. Harry’s connection to the GSD dates back to 1947, when he began his MArch studies here. He served as chair of the Department of Architecture from 1980 to 1985; in his inaugural lecture as chair, he noted that he brought “to the school a mind burdened with a few biases and a great many questions, but no preconceived answers.” As GSD Dean Sarah M. Whiting said, “That quote captures him perfectly: actively engaged until his last days, Harry always had opinions, but his insatiable curiosity about architecture, pedagogy, the city, and design more broadly was never curtailed by preconceptions. A great tribute to Harry would be for all of us to carry this attitude forward.”

Harry was the last surviving namesake partner at Pei, Cobb, Freed & Partners, where he designed Montreal’s Place Ville Marie (1962), Portland’s Museum of Art (1983), and the John Hancock Tower (1971) in his birthplace of Boston. Harry also contributed other remarkable projects to his hometown, among them the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse & Harborpark (1998) and Harvard’s own Center for Government and International Studies (2005). He remained active to the end, with recent works like Boston’s commanding One Dalton (2019) and 30 Dalton (2016), New York’s 7 Bryant Park (2019), and Charleston’s International African American Museum (in progress). In 2017, he received the Harvard Medal, the highest honor presented to a member of the Harvard community and recognition of Harry’s commitment to the university–as an alumnus, teacher, administrator, and architect–over five decades. As the Architect’s Newspaper wrote, Harry “seemed to have never considered retirement as an option.”

Phil Freelon

Courtesy Perkins+Will | From left to right: Perkins+Will CEO Philip Harrison, FAIA, M.Arch. student Aria Griffin, AIAS, and Perkins+Will North Carolina–based design director Phil Freelon, FAIA.

Philip Freelon, one of the leading American architects of his generation, passed away in July 2019 after a long fight with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, the degenerative neurological condition also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. A native of Philadelphia and grandson of Impressionist painter Allan Randall Freelon Sr., Phil studied architecture as an undergraduate at North Carolina State University and as a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a 1990 Loeb Fellow, and in the same year founded his own firm, The Freelon Group, in Durham, N.C. Phil merged his firm with Perkins+Will in 2014, staying on to run the North Carolina office. In his honor, Perkins+Will launched The Philip Freelon Fellowship Fund at the GSD in 2016. The Fund provides financial aid to students attending the GSD with the intent to expand academic opportunities for African Americans and other under-represented architecture and design students. Aria Griffin MArch ’21 was the GSD’s first Philip Freelon Fellow.

Phil’s portfolio includes the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in Charlotte, N.C., the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture, which he designed in collaboration with David Adjaye, Hon. FAIA, and the late Max Bond.

He is survived by his wife Nnenna Freelon, a Grammy-nominated jazz singer, and three children.

Jack Portman

John C. “Jack” Portman III (Courtesy Portman Architects)

John Calvin “Jack” Portman III, FAIA, a real estate developer and leader of the Atlanta–based firm Portman Architects, passed away at the age of 71 on Aug. 28. Jack had assumed leadership of Portman Architects in 2017 after his father’s death and spent his tenure further expanding the firm’s international presence. He earned his B.Arch. from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his MArch from the GSD. In 1979, he joined John Portman & Associates as an apprentice architect, traveling to Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou to explore development opportunities in China. This led to the Shanghai Centre design and development, a project that, at the time of its completion in 1990, contained the tallest building in Shanghai. In addition to his work in architecture, Jack also served on the board of the Harvard GSD Dean’s Leadership Council and of the Georgia Tech China Foundation, and as a member of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chancellor’s Global Leadership Council.

Jack also worked to establish the John Portman Visiting Chair in Architecture, a visiting professorship at Harvard GSD in honor of his father. The Portman Chair creates a worthwhile complement to traditional faculty structures, offering a flexible appointment for a leading practitioner and programmatic support to ensure the chair holder’s maximum impact while in residence. In addition to providing for the role itself, the Portman Chair includes research assistance, the curation and organization of exhibitions, and production of related publications.

To share news of a GSD passing or other stories of remembrance, click here.

For over 80 years, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design has educated leaders in design, research, and scholarship to make a resilient, just, and beautiful world. And one of the most pressing and consistent needs for prospective and current GSD students is financial aid.  Thanks to the many gifts to the GSD Fund over the last 11 months, this community has enabled the next generation of designers and provided invaluable experiences. 

Below, Chelsea Kashan MLA ’21, Adam Sherman, MArch ’20, Brittany Giunchigliani MLA ’21, Jose Esparaza MAUD ’20 share their meaningful experiences (pictured above, left-to-right) made possible with financial support through the GSD Fund.

WHY I CAME TO THE GSD 

By Chelsea Kashan MLA ’21

The GSD surpassed my expectations because of the collaborative aspect of landscape architecture. I wanted to break out of my individual studio practice, where I decided every project I was going to do, expressed my own thoughts and my own way of seeing and experiencing the world. Now I work with people of different backgrounds and learn more about their research and the environmental science aspects of the field. It is great thinking through the same projects with different lenses.

MY MOST PIVOTAL EXPERIENCE AT THE GSD

By Adam Sherman, MArch ’20

I think the core studio sequence was the most influential experience of my time here at the GSD. Those first two years of studio education laid the foundation of my architectural knowledge and gave me skills that I’ll carry throughout my career. While it may have been grueling at times, core was an exciting and unique opportunity. Not only did I learn so much, but I went through it in a very intimate, collaborative environment alongside my classmates. For that, I’m very thankful.

WHAT SHAPED MY DESIRE TO IMPACT THE DESIGN PROFESSION AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE WORLD

By Brittany Giunchigliani MLA ’21

I have been a part of Womxn in Design since my first semester, where a few members and I developed WiD’s first female-identifying mentorship program of its kind. It’s been an amazing experience working with alumnae and students to bridge the gap between academia and professional practice. It’s comforting to know, deep down, that this is what I am meant to do—I look forward to continuing to develop my place in the profession and work with others who are pushing the field in new directions. I am inspired by the endless pursuit of those around me to always do better—to always push. I look forward to sinking into professional practice—potentially in a time of great uncertainty. But it is within this uncertainty that lies the curiosity of what I will accomplish.

HOW MY INSPIRATION AND OUTLOOK CHANGED DUE TO COVID

By Jose Esparaza MAUD ’20

At the GSD, I have explored and challenged relationships between theory and practice within Urban Design by studying the complexity of settlements and territory beyond the boundaries of cities. I have also learned that our discipline is stronger when it works with other disciplines to provide more compelling readings of urban and non-urban environments. Today, while we face a worldwide pandemic, it is difficult to think forward, especially when the future seems to be full of uncertainties. This isn’t the scenario I was expecting by the end of my studies, but we must remain resilient and creative. Once things settle, this can be an opportunity to question pre-established models, to think differently, to design in favor of vulnerable populations, and to design for justice and equity.

Photo credit: the above pictures were taken in Gund Hall just before Harvard’s COVID-19 lockdown by photographer Justin Knight. 

As the pain of systemic racism in America was once again laid bare, a group of GSD students and alumni took the school’s mission—to use design to create a more beautiful, resilient, and just world—to heart. On July 1, this group launched Design Yard Sale, a virtual store to sell creative works by designers and raise funds for two organizations dedicated to racial justice.

The Design Yard Sale catalog included a curated range of original sketches, paintings, furniture, books, and apparel, many of which have been both donated and autographed by their designers—among them, Virgil Abloh, Denise Scott Brown, and Frank Gehry.

“We had a surprisingly easy time with getting the donors involved and found the design community in general to be extremely supportive with the event,” said Grace Chee MArch ’21, one of the event’s organizers.

Chee and the organizing team—Tessa Crespo MDes ’20, Edward Han MArch ’21, Izzy Kornblatt MDes ’19, and Yaxuan Liu MArch ’21—were motivated by ongoing social-justice conversations and catalyzed by the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer. They felt driven to rewire design’s agency amid a national reckoning on race and justice, one in which the design fields have been directly implicated.

The event raised $126,000 over the course of four weeks, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to The Bail Project, a nonprofit organization that works to combat mass incarceration by paying bail for people in need, and New Orleans-based architecture and design justice practice Colloqate Design. Though the sale ended on Aug. 1, the organizers continue to explore the future of Design Yard Sale, whether that involves making it an annual tradition or finding other avenues toward expansion.

“It was a call to action with a direct, tangible way to help, and that really appealed,” said Crespo. “We all felt a strong obligation to fight against systemic racism and we wanted to do so in a way that provided immediate assistance to leaders on the front lines of the movement.”

Photo credit: the above photo is a series from the Design Yard Sale Instagram – please feel welcome to visit the page here. 

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly forced the world to move from physical to virtual space, creating an overwhelming need to develop strategies that advance remote learning. The GSD was fortunate to be able to call upon extraordinary talent for this task: this year’s cohort of Irving Innovation Fellows.

Four recent graduates—Sarah Fayad MLAUD ’20, Isabella Frontado MDes ADPD/ MLA I ’20, Gia Jung MArch I ’20, and Ian Miley MArch I AP ’20—are spending the 2020-2021 school year as affiliates of the Innovation Task Force, which formed in the spring to research and develop new innovations in virtual design pedagogy. Established as part of a gift from the John E. Irving Family in 2013, the Fellowship offers recipients a platform for continued work with the GSD beyond their time as students.

“This is a perfect example of the flexibility, ingenuity, and tenacity of the GSD community,” says John K. F. Irving, whose generous support, along with that of his wife, Elizabeth, extends across Schools at Harvard. “It is important that the GSD does whatever it can to support its students, and we are honored to have these students known as the Irving Summer Fellows.”

So far, innovations in teaching and learning have focused on digital site visits as a source of pedagogical reinvention, reorganizing course elements to accommodate students across time zones, and creating moments for casual peer review and feedback. The Fellows and the Task Force are also exploring how to build community and fuel creativity through the distribution of fabrication and modeling tools, which allows students to access the critical elements of a design education while learning remotely.

The Irving Innovation Fellowship has always focused on following the threads of research, inquiry, and innovation to practical, inspired, and groundbreaking contributions. That spirit is now more important than ever, and we look forward to seeing what these four talented scholars will achieve.

Photo credit: Image from “Death, Divorce, Down-sizing, Dislocation, and (Now) Display: A Self-Storage Center for a More Exhibitionist Future” by Hyojin Kwon MArch ’18. Kwon worked on the project as a 2018-19 Irving Innovation Fellow.

As COVID-19 brought surging illness, uncertainty, and fear to the U.S. in spring 2020, Harvard implemented a series of unprecedented measures to protect the school community. Those necessary measures had significant impacts—emotional strain, travel issues, and housing concerns—on our students. With the launch of the Student Emergency Fund, the GSD took swift action to offer comfort, care, and opportunity amid the fear, emergencies, and job losses.

The Fund provided financial assistance to students enrolled in the GSD who found themselves experiencing immediate hardships related to unforeseen circumstances. Contributions were applied to anything regarding GSD students and their immediate needs—financially, mentally, or materially—due to COVID-19.

“This was an opportunity, as a GSD family, to wrap our arms around our current students and take a specific action in the unprecedented moment of a global pandemic,” says Peggy Burns, Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations. “SEF highlights that the GSD is very much a community: alumni taking action to help support students, with our own faculty among those alumni who have so generously offered various forms of support.”

The school’s community of alumni and friends donated directly to the SEF and responded with enthusiasm to requests for increased internship opportunities for GSD students. In particular, the Student Emergency Fund was a critical source for students who had dramatic changes in their summer and post-GSD plans. The GSD offered research grants for students to partner with faculty and created other opportunities that allowed GSD students to imagine design solutions in the post-COVID-19 world. Students explored a number of future coworking spaces, how to adapt Hawaii’s public restrooms, a reimagined design of online spaces, and more. To read more about a few of these incredible research projects, click the links below:

Francisco Brown MDes’20 is examining the opportunities and challenges co-working spaces are facing as more businesses shift to remote-work arrangements.

Emma Ogiemwanye MUP ’20 is examining how the profit-focused logics of social media can be subverted for generative and liberatory purposes.

Kaoru Lovett MArch ’20 is examining public health and sanitation through Hawaii’s unique public restrooms known as “comfort stations.”

Adriana David Ortiz Monasterio MDes’21 is examining the changes in food systems and networks in Mexico City, particularly food instability, before, during, and after a pandemic condition.

Nicolás Delgado Álcega MArch ’20 is building on research undertaken in previous coursework to develop feasible interventions for disinvested rural communities in Central Italy, a country severely impacted by COVID-19.

Carolina Sepúlveda MDes ’20 expanded her thesis research into an in-progress design intervention creating a toolkit entitled the Sacred Women Oracle—a set of 30 cards and a 60-page guide—that informs migrant Latinas about their rights, offers advice on healing and self-care, and encourages them to seek educational programs, acquire new language skills, and be proactive about their legal immigration status.

Zarina Ateig’s MDes ’20 summer research aims to collect and maintain accurate geospatial and census data for Khartoum as a case study and the first step to help rebuild the country.

Thanks to the enormous generosity of the GSD community, the Student Emergency Fund raised enough funding to provide every student who applied with some level of emergency support. In addition to emergency aid, the GSD created 277 grants for independent research to supplement the summer work and learning opportunities that dissolved due to the economic downturn. All in all, a remarkable display of the power, care, and resolve present in the GSD’s worldwide design community.

Photo credits (top, left to right):
Francisco Brown MDes’20
Carolina Sepúlveda MDes ’20’s project Sacred Women Oracle
Emma Ogiemwanye MUP ’20
Zarina Ateig’s MDes ’20 collection of geospatial and census data for Khartoum
Adriana David Ortiz Monasterio MDes ’21 Cranberry Biology Analysis and comparison of the natural interactions of food systems
Kaoru Lovett MArch ’20’s Waialae Beach Park comfort station
Nicolás Delgado Álcega MArch ’20

Dear Alumni and Friends,

It is with great pleasure and deep gratitude that I present you with this fiscal year special COVID-19 and Racial Equity focused edition of our annual Giving Report, which recognizes your generosity toward the Harvard Graduate School of Design over this especially challenging year.

Before I share the intention behind this specific edition and a bit about what’s inside, I, along with my team in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at the GSD, need to say thank you. We truly appreciate your decision to give your time, energy, and resources to the GSD. Our students, faculty, and staff would not be where they are today if it wasn’t for your efforts on multiple fronts.

Back in January, before lockdown, we collectively heralded the start of a new decade with the sense of hope and deliberation we had experienced in years prior. But by March, the entire world shifted nearly in unison as COVID-19 swept through all seven continents. And within just a few months, during the middle of a global pandemic, our country watched the brutal and unjust killing of George Floyd. From there, our summer and fall harbored a vast array of difficult and vital conversations needed for systemic racial change.

The stories highlighted in this report intend to show the incredible breadth of action taken on both of these fronts from members in this community, along with the profound impact it’s had during this uncertain year.

You’ll read about how your philanthropy helped students with emergency needs and those facing unemployment by providing summer research grants through gifts to the Student Emergency Fund. You’ll watch a report from our incredible Irving Innovation Fellows and read about the new Fellows selected this past summer whose priority is helping the GSD improve the digital learning experience. You’ll have the chance to hear from our Alumni Council on Black Lives Matter and learn about the creation of our new Racial Equity and Anti-Racism Fund. Over the last 11 months, while we’ve achieved a lot, I’m sad to share that we’ve lost members of our community too, and within this report, you’ll also see our first In-Memorandum article.

Our hope is that your incredible efforts shared here in this new digital format, partnered with the renewed sense of community we’ve built together over the last year, continue into this decade and long into the future. And that sharing these stories today fuels a sense of hope and deliberation we felt when the year began, but with renewed priorities after facing 2020’s many challenges.

Thank you again for making it possible for the GSD to achieve its invaluable education and mission to build a more sustainable, equitable, and beautiful world. As you know well, the world needs designers more than ever.

Peggy Burns
Associate Dean

Dear GSD Alumni,

Covid-19 revealed the impact of structural racism in its starkest terms. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery underscore the pernicious truth that America remains a country marred by rampant racism. The ongoing display of police brutality on Black Americans across our country shows us that we, as a nation, have turned our backs on our own. As a collective design community, we are complicit. Failure to take serious, sustained, and meaningful action to effect systemic change will undermine current and future generations of Black and brown people, shattering dreams and cutting lives short.

As GSD Alumni, we have privilege and we have power. Our sphere of influence encompasses the design of the public realm, buildings, workplaces, transportation, technology, health care facilities, homes and communities.

The time to use that power is now. Let us show, through our actions, that Black Lives Matter.

As individuals, let’s take specific action within the wide sphere of our influence. Let’s make ourselves accountable for taking action against racism. Let’s examine the hiring and promotion policies of our firms – not only for future and current employees – but also for our partners and contractors. Let’s build community. Let’s mentor. Let’s make space to learn from others. Let’s donate to student financial aid that specifically supports the most impacted students in our communities.

As a community, let’s commit together.

We will actively help recruit Black and brown students, speakers, design jurists, administrators and faculty to the GSD.

We will commit to raising a meaningful fund designed to underwrite the learning journeys of future generations of Black and brown students.

We will work to dismantle structural racism by collaborating with our fellow institutions to build coalitions of change.

We will work together with the GSD and our broader communities of practice to address the systemic biases that have shaped our discourse, learning and practice for far too long.

The GSD Alumni Council is dedicated to serving this mission. Much work needs to be done. Your help is instrumental. Let’s challenge ourselves and the GSD to address the systemic biases that have disenfranchised members of our own broader community of practice for far too long.

To get involved or to share ideas, please click here.

In Veritas,

The undersigned members of the GSD Alumni Council
[email protected]

Fallon Samuels Aidoo PhD ’17
Earle Arney MArch ’93
Kaley Blackstock AB ’10, MArch ’15
Cathy Deino Blake, FASLA, MLA ’77
Chris Bourassa AMDP ’09
Justin Chapman MDes ’12
Nina Chase MLA ’12
Renee Cheng, FAIA, AB ’85, MArch ’89
Sekou Cooke MArch ’14
Peter Coombe MArch ’88
John di Domenico MAUD ’79
John Friedman, FAIA, MArch ’90
Harry Gaveras MAUD ’97
Rickie Golden MDes ’12
Margaret Graham MDes ’03
Kevin Harris, FAIA, MAUD ’80
David Hashim MArch ’86
Edith Hsu-Chen MUP ’97
Trevor Johnson MUP ’14
Mark W. Johnson, FASLA, MAUD ’82
Jaya Kader MArch ’88
Frank Lee, FAIA, MAUD ’79
Brenda Levin, FAIA, MArch ’76
Zakcq Lockrem MUP ’10
Anne-Marie Lubenau, FAIA, LF ’12
Thomas Luebke, FAIA, MArch ’91
John A. Mann MUP ’01
Allyson Mendenhall, FASLA, AB ’90, MLA ’99
Shunsaku Miyagi MLA ’86
Jeff Murphy, FAIA, MArch ’86
Alpa Nawre MLAUD ’11
Riki Nishimura MAUD ’03
Thomas Oslund MLA ’86
Ana Pinto Da Silva MDes ’05
Ryley Poblete MArch ’14
Gil Prado AMDP ’14
Beth Roloff MArch ’14
David Rubin, FASLA, MLA ’90
Frank Ruchala, Jr. MArch ’05, MUP ’05
Paris Rutherford MAUD ’93
Eric Shaw MUP ’00
Bryan Shiles MArch ’87
Rob Stein MArch ’72, LF ’94
Zenovia Toloudi DDes ’11
Sameh Wahba MUP ’97, PhD ’02
Nick Winton MArch ’90
Kristina Yu MArch ’95
Corey Zehngebot MArch ’09
Sara Zewde MLA ’15

The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others served as brutal reminders throughout 2020 that life in the U.S. is inherently and consistently different and disadvantaged for Black men and women. Notes on Credibility, a statement penned by members of the African American Student Union and Africa GSD in early June, compelled all of us to go beyond our initial empathetic solidarity to recognize our own complicities in sustaining forms of systemic racism. To address inequality at the GSD, we had to commit not just with words, but with meaningful action.

To that end, the GSD has established the Racial Equity and Anti-Racism Fund. The fund exists 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. Any current GSD faculty, student, or staff member is eligible to apply for these small grants, which support strategies that work at the individual, departmental, and institutional level.

“Every one of us is united by our shared interests—by our shared ability to rethink and shape what’s possible,” said Dean Sarah Whiting. “It includes considering how we live together in the world: how we live as individuals who cannot afford to think only as individuals; how we share collective spaces, physical and social infrastructures, and resources; and how our collective world can be more equitable, more sustainable, more just. The Racial Equity and Anti-Racism Fund is a step we at the GSD are taking toward that more equitable and just world.”

Successful proposals will increase awareness of race, racism, and racial injustice, and they will contribute to a culture of anti-racism at the GSD. Strategies may include promoting student access to academic and professional growth opportunities, boosting the inclusion of BIPOC guest speakers in GSD courses or events, and supporting recruitment at minority-serving institutions to advance the cultivation of a diverse student body.

The Racial Equity and Anti-Racism Fund serves as one action of a holistic approach to institutional transformation. The GSD has also introduced anti-racism trainings for faculty, staff, and students, along with courses that address structural racism and inequities across various scales, sites, and topics. Those courses included Toshiko Mori’s studio, House of Our Time, visiting faculty member Emmanuel Admassu’s After Property studio, Sierra Bainbridge’s studio, Seeking Abundance, and Michael Herzfeld’s Urban Ethnographies seminar.

These current and urgent topics are now squarely at our table. The GSD is committed to rising to the occasion, and we will continue to work in partnership with the full community to co-create a GSD where all can thrive and feel a sense of belonging.

Photo credit: Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging