Dear Alumni and Friends of GSD Architecture, Greetings from Cambridge, where spring has finally warmed the air and we have just completed the 150th year of architectural instruction at Harvard. I am happy to be in touch with you during my second year as Chair of the Department of Architecture, and at the celebratory end of a…
President Barack Obama has announced his intent to appoint two Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty members to the United States Commission of Fine Arts: Toni L. Griffin LF ’98, professor in practice of urban planning, and Alex Krieger MCP ’77, professor in practice of urban design.
The impact of the GSD alumni community spans the globe with expanding opportunities for thought-provoking discourse and building rewarding connections with fellow alumni and the School.
With your help, the GSD can continue to bring the most talented students to Harvard to explore, analyze, and confront the global challenges facing society today and in the future. Your donation to the GSD Fund provides immediate support to the activities and experiences which are hallmarks of a GSD education.
The GSD’s deep and ongoing relationship with the Tange family reinforces Kenzo Tange’s legacy at the School. When Paul Tange AB ’81, MArch ’85 came to Harvard in the fall of 1977, he explored courses in statistics and economics, but ultimately decided to focus on architecture. Paul credits Harvard with giving him the opportunity to…
This Fall, the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) received three significant gifts supporting key priorities for the GSD’s $110-million-plus Grounded Visionaries campaign—student fellowships and endowed professorships. This support will enable the GSD to continue to attract, enroll, and support the brightest and most talented scholars who will be the leaders in transforming the social…
The GSD has received a consequential, multi-tier, multi-million dollar gift from the Robert P. Hubbard AB ’51 Trust of 1980 to endow the intellectual underpinnings of the School’s world-class faculty and to boost student access to a design education through an endowed fellowship.
The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), along with global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will and Phil Freelon LF ’90, Managing and Design Director of the firm’s North Carolina practice, announces the establishment of the Phil Freelon Fellowship Fund at the GSD
The GSD welcomed a host of alumni and guests to campus in September and October for an exceptional roster of alumni events, exhibitions, and public lectures.
For the October GSD Alumni Q+A, we asked four alumni to reflect on their experience attending their 50th, 30th, 10th, and 5th reunions during the 2016 Reunion weekend in Cambridge. Their responses reveal what they find most surprising about current student work, how the GSD’s innovative studio model and transdisciplinary approach are uniquely training students…
This year, the global design community mourned the passing of Dame Zaha Hadid (1950-2016), the first female recipient of both the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2004) and the RIBA Gold Medal (2016). As her untimely passing saddened friends, clients, and admirers, her legacy inspired the GSD to find a way to celebrate her extraordinary contributions to…
The Department of Landscape Architecture is tackling complex issues related to urbanism. With the Spring 2016 option studio Frontier City, Daniel Vasini and Adriaan Geuze investigated new edges for the City of Boston.
The School’s generous donors are acknowledging the GSD’s leadership in topics related to urbanism and citymaking. Whether through the establishment of a fellowship honoring a former faculty member, or for a student to study affordable housing, or the generous gift of two friends in support of a new design prize in real estate, GSD donors are sustaining the School’s ongoing commitment to the essential challenges facing cities today.
Interdisciplinary, experimental design is integral to the work of Sheila Kennedy, FAIA, MArch ’84 and J. Frano Violich, FAIA, MArch ’84. Their firm, Kennedy & Violich Architecture (KVA MATx), located in Boston’s emerging Newmarket District, has established a new model for practice that integrates material research with the practice of architecture.
As the GSD looks ahead to an ambitious academic year of groundbreaking initiatives, including our inaugural class of Design Engineering students and broadening research agenda, the topic of innovation is salient. Dean Mostafavi sat down with Blueprint magazine to talk innovation, invention, and collaboration. I think a lot of the time when you talk about innovation,…
As the Chair of the GSD Alumni Council, Allyson Mendenhall AB ’90, MLA ’99, is passionate about the Council’s role as ambassadors to the greater alumni body and for current students who are “alumni-in-training.” She also serves as a GSD Appointed Director to the Harvard Alumni Association working to raise the School’s profile. In support of her aspiration…
A Harvard Graduate School of Design student design project has been named the 2016 Student Winner in the Built Environment category of Core77’s annual Design Awards. Core77 awarded the honor to Alpine Shelter Skuta, designed by Frederick Kim, Katie MacDonald, and Erin Pellegrino (all MArch ’16). The trio designed the project as part of Fall 2014 option-studio…
With the aspiration of promoting engagement of the alumni community and advancing the Graduate School of Design’s impact in the world, the Alumni Council is the primary representative body of the GSD. These distinguished practitioners and academics are highly engaged in contemporary design, planning issues, and their communities’ professional, governmental, civic, and business affairs. Council…
GSD Reunion 2016 classes: 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2005, and 2011 GSD reunion classes will descend on the hub of design discourse, Gund Hall, on September 30-October 1, 2016 for a festive weekend marking their 5th to 60th reunions and those years in between. We hope you…
We are proud of the GSD’s leading position in the 2016 DesignIntelligence “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools” rankings; our architecture and landscape architecture programs were named first in the nation, reinforcing the GSD’s exceptional ability to prepare our graduates for professional practice. Our architecture program has ranked first for 14 of the past 15…
The GSD held its Inaugural Fellowship Reception on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, which honored the contributions of fellowships and financial aid support for GSD students. This powerful evening in Piper Auditorium convened 33 donors, friends, and faculty with 84 students who were mutually inspired by stories of impact and inspiration. During the Reception, Bart Voorsanger MArch ’64 shared…
In August 2016, Ila Berman MDes ’91, DDes ’93 will join the prestigious list of GSD alumni who have been appointed to deanships in recent years when she assumes the role of Dean of the University of Virginia School of Architecture. Other GSD alumni in deanship roles include: Amale Andraos MArch ’99 of Columbia University Graduate…
In April, there was much to celebrate with the GSD’s Inaugural Fellowship Reception on Wednesday, April 13, which honored both the contributors to and recipients of fellowships for financial aid for GSD students. This powerful evening in Piper Auditorium convened 33 donors, friends, and faculty with 84 students who were mutually inspired by stories of…
The Unsung Hero Book Prize, given annually by the GSD Alumni Council, honors students who make a difference in the Graduate School of Design (GSD) community without recognition from others.
As the premier design school, the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) has a legacy of leadership, innovation, and social responsibility. Fueled by the visionary leadership of Dean Mohsen Mostafavi, leading-edge faculty, and a talented student body, the GSD is increasingly exploring vital, global issues through its growing span of option studios. Utilizing a comprehensive…
Financial aid is a prerequisite for design education. Help the GSD achieve 300 donors to the GSD Fund that will unlock $25,000 from an anonymous alumna of the GSD. Join fellow alumni in meeting this challenge, helping to grow your support for the 90% of the GSD’s students with financial aid. Make your impact count today….
The GSD attracts the most talented, creative, and wildly ambitious students. Hear from 12 students about their passions, pursuits and career plans.
Three GSD architecture students have relished participating in the School’s Studio Abroad program, studying the interplay between architecture and urbanism in Basel, Berlin, and Tokyo, as the first three recipients of the David Kenneth Specter Fellowship. In 2014, Patricia Brown Specter, and sons Matthew and Evan, decided to celebrate the life and career of David…
Dear Alumni and Friends, I am writing to share with you some of our current initiatives and commitments in relation to the study and development of real estate at the GSD. During the past few years, I have had the privilege to meet many individuals and organizations involved in investing in, developing, and constructing important…
The Plimpton–Poorvu Design Prize to recognize students who exemplify excellence, innovation, and enhancement through their work at the GSD.
Brian D. Lee MArch ’78 and Wendy Szeto Lee made a significant philanthropic investment in the School this year aimed toward student financial aid. After nearly four decades of successful professional practice, Brian and Wendy are big believers in the continued relevance of a GSD education and the capacity of cutting-edge research and forward-thinking curriculum…
By way of pedagogy, exhibitions, lectures, research, and the act of making, the GSD is championing the vital role of the arts and culture in Gund Hall and beyond. Art’s purpose lies deeper than aesthetic delight; it has the power to question, unite, and change cultures. The broader GSD community is increasingly supportive of the…
With a contribution of $10 million to the Harvard GSD, John K. F. Irving AB ’83, MBA ’89 and his sister, Anne C. I. Oxley, kickstarted the School’s Grounded Visionaries campaign. The gift was inspired by their late father’s passion for both built and natural environments. “Our father (John E. “Jack” Irving)’s first job was working in the…
The GSD celebrates the life and contributions of Zaha Hadid. Hadid first taught at the GSD in 1986 as a Design Critic in Architecture, and then again in 1994 as Kenzo Tange Visiting Professor of Architecture. She last spoke at the School in 2013. Zaha Hadid will be remembered for her creativity, her persistence, and her loyalty…
“A beautiful failure in which the reach exceeds the grasp.” -Keith Krumwiede, Associate Professor of Architecture in the College of Architecture and Design at the New Jersey Institute of Technology The Harvard×Design Conference, the annual exploration of all things design, centered its 2016 conference on the process of productive failure. “Failure×Design,” held on Saturday, February…
The year has been off to a vibrant start for our community bringing together alumni, friends, and distinguished speakers for stimulating conversation and thought-provoking discourse. Over 400 GSD alumni and friends from around the world connected with colleagues and the GSD during ten events in Berkeley, Jakarta, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Taipei, and Cambridge….
Architect Frank Gehry has been named the recipient of the 2016 Harvard Arts Medal, which will be awarded by Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust at a ceremony on Thursday, April 28.
Dean Mohsen Mostafavi recently announced faculty appointments and promotions—all of whom are GSD alumni. The appointments will strengthen the intellectual underpinnings of cutting-edge pedagogy and research at the GSD. In the Architecture Department, Jeannette Kuo MArch ’04 was appointed Assistant Professor in Practice of Architecture. In the Urban Planning Department, the appointments include Daniel D’Oca…
Making urban environments more resilient is a charge taken on with urgency for many city leaders, the United Nations, and recently the Rockefeller Foundation with its 100 Resilient Cities initiative. For over a decade, Susannah C. Drake MArch ’95, MLA ’95, has tackled challenges of resiliency and ecologically productivity with her firm DLANDstudio, an award-winning…
Three alumni of the GSD have been elected for one of the most coveted awards in North American architecture: The Architectural League of New York’s 2016 Emerging Voices. Jon Lott MArch ’05, design critic in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Alex Anmahian MArch ’90 and Nick Winton MArch ’90, principals and co-founders…
Dana McKinney MArch ’17, MUP ’17, reflects on her spring 2016 studio experience. I am both a designer and a planner, pursuing concurrent degrees in the Architecture and Urban Planning and Design Departments. I came to the GSD because it emphasizes interdisciplinary study. The environment has challenged me, inspired me, and reaffirmed my desire…
The Harvard Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD), with Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP), is pleased to announce the symposium Collaboration: The Lineage of an Architectural Practice, to be held Thursday 17 March from 4.00pm – 8.00pm at the Leadenhall Building in London. RSHP’s history offers a remarkable lens on the task and the potential of…
Photos from the 2/24 design lecture, Elective Affinities: Architecture Across Scales in the Contemporary City, given by Felipe Correa MAUD ’03, and reception in Jakarta. Felipe Correa MAUD ’03 is Associate Professor of Urban Design also serves as Director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design and Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban…
On Tuesday, January 26, 2016, over 100 GSD students and recent graduates filled Piper Auditorium for Get Hired! (No Promises) panel discussion and reception. Alumni and friends from the GSD’s core disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, and design studies shared their expertise on the hiring process and career navigation. Sponsored by Development and…
In November, the GSD launched the Office for Urbanization, a trans-disciplinary initiative designed to focus the intellectual and practical capabilities of the School on a range of applied design research projects attendant to the contemporary city. The Office’s founding director, Charles Waldheim, John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture, is enthusiastic about the Office’s capacity for impact through topical projects
Designing some of the world’s most respected cultural institutions at global design firm Perkins+Will has garnered Ralph Johnson MArch ’73 much national and international acclaim. Johnson is a humble visionary who was honored to hear the news in October 2015 that he was elected to the National Academy – an institution devoted to building and sharing the heritage of the arts in America – for his profound contributions.
DesignIntelligence’s 2016 ratings recognize the GSD for excellence in education and education administration. The architecture and landscape architecture programs were named first in the nation in its 2016 “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools” ranking. Additionally, Dean Mohsen Mostafavi and three notable alumni were named to DesignIntelligence’s “25 Most Admired Educators” list. DesignIntelligence’s annual survey,…
The GSD recently hosted a number of events engaging with alumni and friends in Miami, New York, and Cambridge. On campus, the fall lecture series continued with distinguished speakers like the inaugural lecture of the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities featuring Norman Foster held on Thursday, November 5, 2015. Just two days later, on November 7, 2015,…
The annual Design Miami fair traditionally features an entry pavilion designed by early-career architects, a public installation that serves as a beacon for the fair and that provokes consideration and curiosity among the thousands of visitors who visit the fair’s programs and galleries. For the 2015 pavilion design, Design Miami announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration with…
What does architecture have to do with fashion? If you’re designer Calvin Klein, actually quite a lot. Speaking before an overflow crowd at Gund Hall Monday evening as part of the Rouse Visiting Artist Program at Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), Klein discussed how form, setting, space, and light have deeply informed his work as a…
Reacting to a St. Louis nonprofit group dedicated to improving the quality of life on the nearly 900 streets across the nation named for King, D’Oca began teaching a new studio course this semester that asks students to use urban planning and design, architecture and landscape architecture to help local residents begin to remake their neighborhoods.
