News & Stories

Arthur Huang portrait with reused materials

News Updates

A New Beginning for Trash: Arthur Huang MArch ’04

To most people, trash is just a mixture of discarded things without value. However, to Arthur Huang MArch ’04, trash represents a new beginning. Huang’s Taiwan-based company, MINIWIZ, home of the remarkable TRASHLAB laboratory, revolutionizes the waste and recycling industries through innovation, technology, and design. Essentially, MINIWIZ is on a mission to unlock the upcycling…

Alumni Q&A with Mark Lee MArch ’95, Chair of the Department of Architecture

Mark Lee MArch ’95 assumed the role of Chair of the Department of Architecture and Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) on July 1, 2018. He is a principal and founding partner of Johnston Marklee, which since its establishment in 1998 has been recognized nationally and internationally with over thirty…

Advancing GSD Urban Economics with Generous Gift from Samuel Plimpton MBA ’77, MArch ’80

In December 2018, a gift from Samuel Plimpton MBA ’77, MArch ’80 and his wife, Wendy Shattuck, established the Plimpton Professorship of Planning and Urban Economics. The professorship will advance the GSD in the field of urban economics, fundamental for understanding the economics of cities, as well as land use, planning, and real estate decisions in…

Harvard GSD Fall 2019 Option Studios

Please click the studio title for full descriptions of each studio. DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE POST-SHAKER – Preston Scott Cohen The studio’s hypothesis is that the Mount Lebanon Shaker Village in New York is to be converted into an art colony that reawakens the historic site as a living tradition in the present but one that extends…

An Interview: Peter Coombe MArch ’88

1. Tell us about your background and early education? I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. I left Cincinnati in 1979 to attend college, and I spent the summer following my freshman year back in Cincinnati, but have not spent much time there since. It is, though, a remarkable place with a number of…

Greetings from Dept. of Landscape Architecture

Dear Landscape Architecture Alumni,Before I share news and updates from my fifth year as Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture, I would like to invite you to the upcoming GSD reception at the ASLA Annual Conference on Landscape Architecture in San Diego. One of the great satisfactions for me as Chair has been to reconnect with alumni…

A Welcome From Dean Sarah M. Whiting

Dear Alumni of the GSD, When I began my position as dean of the GSD this July, I shared with you how thrilled I was to be joining the School in this role. That sense of adventure, coupled with responsibility, has only grown with time. Thank you for your support and engagement in my first months…

Greetings from Department of Architecture Chair Mark Lee MArch ’95

Dear Architecture Alumni,It’s a privilege to write to fellow architecture alumni as Chair of the Department of Architecture. It’s been a year of enormous transitions for me, moving from sunny Los Angeles to the more variable climate of Cambridge, opening a satellite office here, and embarking on a new leadership role at the Graduate School…

Greetings from Doctor of Design Program (DDes) at the GSD

Dear DDes Alumni,I hope this note finds you all well! I am reaching out to highlight some of the changes that started last spring and some new activities this year. Last spring we inaugurated a new DDes networking event, DDes Alumni Encounters. In April 2018, we hosted Carlos Cardenas DDes ’07 and GSD Alumni Council member Zenovia…

Greetings from the Department of Urban Planning and Design (UPD) at the GSD

Dear UPD Alumni,It’s been my great pleasure to connect with so many of you at various GSD alumni gatherings and planning events over the course of the last few years. I am grateful for the support and vitality of our robust alumni community; the GSD is a better place because of your engagement. Despite our global…

Greetings from the Master in Design Studies (MDes) Program at the GSD

Dear MDes Alumni,It’s a privilege to write to Master of Design Studies (MDes) alumni as Program Director. These are exciting times to be leading the program—this has been a year of productive change for the advanced studies program, which has evolved and grown considerably over its 30-year history. With 170 students enrolled, 76 of those…

Alumni Q&A / Kotchakorn Voraakhom MLA ’06

To help save her hometown of Bangkok, Thailand from rising sea levels and climate change, Kotchakorn Voraakhom MLA ’06 founded the landscape architecture design firm Landprocess and a social enterprise called Porous City Network, a landscape architecture social enterprise working to increase urban resilience. Through Porous City Network, Voraakhom works with communities throughout Southeast Asia…

Kay O’Neil MCRP ’78 and David Nelson MCRP ’78 Find Love, Give Back at the GSD

Statistical analysis and love don’t usually go together, but Kay O’Neil MCRP ’78 and David Nelson MCRP ’78 have found success with this unique pairing. The couple, who met at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD), have been together for 42 years. They are thankful to the GSD both for the foundational skills…

A Momentous Year: Highlights from 2018-2019 at Harvard Graduate School of Design

A look back at a few of the projects and moments that marked the past year at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. June 2018 Thirty-five students are awarded fellowships through the GSD’s Community Service Fellowship Program. The Program provides opportunities for GSD students to apply the skills they have developed in their academic programs through…

A Message from Dean Sarah M. Whiting

Dear Alumni of the GSD, I’m thrilled to be joining you today, July 1st, as your new dean. My excitement has everything to do with the distinction and breadth of the faculty, staff, students, and alumni that make up this School—your intellectual strengths and cultural generosities give me ever more enthusiasm for what lies ahead…

Participate by May 31 in 2019 DesignIntelligence Surveys: Architecture & Landscape Architecture

For the past 18 years, DesignIntelligence has conducted and published the results of America’s Top Ranked Architecture & Design Schools survey, which asks hiring professionals, academics, students, and recent graduates to provide their perspective on the strengths of programs throughout in the United States. The GSD is proud of the School’s leading position in the 2018 DesignIntelligence America’s Best Architecture &…

The GSD’s 2018-2019 Unsung Heroes

On April 12, 2019, during a celebration at the Frances Loeb Library, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) Alumni Council honored three current students—Chantine Akiyama MArch ’19, Sidra Fatima MUP ’19, and Natalie Wang MDes ’19—with the 2019 Unsung Hero Book Prize.

Harvard GSD Spring 2019 Option Studios

Please click the studio title for full descriptions of each studio. DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AMERICAN GOTHIC, MONUMENTS FOR SMALL-TOWN LIFE Pier Paolo Tamburelli At a time when recent political developments have brought attention to the small towns of the American Midwest, the studio proposes to design a public building in provincial Ohio, trying to imagine…

Alumni Q&A / James Lord MLA ’96 and Roderick Wyllie MLA ’98, SURFACEDESIGN INC.

Through leadership and innovative design, James Lord MLA ’96 and Roderick Wyllie MLA ’98 of SURFACEDESIGN INC. have established an international reputation in urban design and sustainable landscape architecture. Founded in 2001, the award-winning practice creates dynamic parks, plazas, waterfronts, civic landscapes, and private gardens. Highlights include the Smithsonian Master Plan, Auckland International Airport, Golden…

The Pete Walker and Partners Fellowship: Advancing Understanding of Landscape Design, Scholarship, and Practices

The Fellowship offers recipients the rare opportunity to travel anywhere and in a time frame that works with their careers and artistic inquiry. Established in 2004 and awarded annually by the Landscape Architecture faculty to a graduating student for accomplishment in landscape design, the Fellowship has become one of the most prestigious awards in the Department and the School.

Students, Alums Extend Helping Hands through Community Service Fellowships

Contributions directed to the GSD’s Community Service Fellowships have a multiplier effect in underserved communities: Current students receive funding to work with community organizations, federal and state agencies, and nonprofit institutions, assisting with design, research, or planning projects that the organizations ordinarily would not be able to access.

In the Grounded Visionaries Campaign, Fellowships and Financial Aid Funds Finish Strong

In its final year, the Grounded Visionaries campaign showed its global reach, most notably in the area of fellowships and financial aid. Thanks to the generosity of donors from all over the world, students from Canada, China, India, Israel, Palestine, and various Asian countries now have greater access to top-tier opportunities in design education and can learn alongside peers pursuing particular GSD programs.

Your Generosity Drives Imagination, Drives Change

Your donation to the GSD works immediately to help students study the design solutions for global challenges facing society. Thanks to your essential contributions, the School can invest in the world’s next generation of designers as they explore, analyze, and confront these urgent issues.

Reunion 2019 Survey

Thank you for completing the survey! Photos will be available via Facebook and through email in the next few weeks. If you have additional feedback or questions, please email Brad Quigley, Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving. Join the Sert Council as a leader in support of the School.

Harvard GSD Launches New Podcast Series “Talking Practice”

The Practice Platform at Harvard University Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) presents “Talking Practice,” the first podcast series to feature in-depth interviews with leading design practitioners from around the world on the ways in which architects, landscape architects, designers, and planners articulate design imagination through practice.

Message to GSD Alumni and Friends

I feel honored to have been given the opportunity to serve the Graduate School of Design and Harvard as dean for the past decade, and am now writing to let you know of my intention to conclude my term at the end of this academic year and to return to teaching and research after a sabbatical.

Alumni Council Community Values Statement

Policy of Harvard University Graduate School of Design Alumni Council Policy Nine Community Values Statement The Harvard University Graduate School of Design Alumni Council does hereby establish a Policy, Number Nine, as follows: All Alumni Council members shall ascribe to and adhere to the Community Values Statement, which states: The Alumni Council is the primary…

Grounded Visionaries Campaign Impact Video

Over the past four years, the Grounded Visionaries campaign has brought together people from around the world who care deeply about the GSD, including students, faculty, alumni, donors, collaborators, and friends. Our Campaign goal of $110 million was, by far, the largest fundraising goal in the School’s history—an audacious goal. In this video, we are…

A Fall 2018 Update from the GSD

As the GSD embarks on another academic year, 966 students, including 361 new students, have settled in at Gund Hall ready to engage in an array of core and option studios; public lectures and events; exhibitions; and travel opportunities.

Andres Sevtsuk Talks Autonomous Vehicles, Future of Streets Research

As a researcher, the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Andres Sevtsuk has been immersed in questions of urban mobility. His work as assistant professor of urban planning and as principal investigator at the City Form Lab covers topics involving urban design and spatial analysis, real estate economics, transit, and pedestrian-oriented development, and spatial adaptability, among others

The GSD Remembers Bill Saunders, Founding Editor of Harvard Design Magazine

It is with great sadness that the GSD shares that our former colleague and good friend, Bill Saunders, passed away earlier this week. Bill worked with many of us over the course of his 29-year career here at the GSD, where he most recently served as the founding editor of the Harvard Design Magazine (2002 – 2011)….

Campaign Thank You from Dean Mohsen Mostafavi

Dear Alumni and Friends, I wish to offer my sincere gratitude for your support of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design as part of our Grounded Visionaries campaign. Through your generosity, the GSD is empowering students, expanding our global reach, and building our future through leading-edge faculty and transformative facilities. Please view the following video…

Thank You from Dean Mohsen Mostafavi

I wish to offer my sincere gratitude for your support of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Over the past year, through your generosity we raised over $800,000 toward annual funds, marking a strong end to our Grounded Visionaries campaign. Your continued support helps to empower the next generation of design leaders and innovators to design outside the lines. Please view the following video message in appreciation of your generosity.

Grounded Visionaries Campaign Update: We Did It!

Over the past four years, the Grounded Visionaries campaign has brought together people from around the world who care deeply about the GSD, including students, faculty, alumni, donors, collaborators, and friends. Our Campaign goal of $110 million was, by far, the largest fund raising goal in the School’s history—an audacious goal.