The Alumni Council of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) and the Frances Loeb Library are pleased to honor three students with the 2025 Unsung Hero Book Prize. This year’s honorees are Navya Raju MDes ’25, Miriam Hernandez Medina MLA ’26, and Allen Wang MDes ’25. “Navya, Miriam, and Allen have done a simple thing that takes…
The Harvard University Graduate School of Design’s Alumni Council and Frances Loeb Library are pleased to honor three students with the 2024 Unsung Hero Book Prize. This year’s honorees are Ashutosh Lohana MDes ’24, Makio Yamamoto MLA ’25, MUP ’25, and Steve Hemmann MRE ’25. “The GSD is a truly global community, and when we look at our…
Celeste Martore’s journey to completing her master of architecture at the GSD followed a nontraditional path that started on the soccer field, in theaters, and on film sets. Celeste attended UC Berkeley to play soccer and earned her undergraduate degree in sustainable environmental design. With the rigors of collegiate soccer, she was unable to pursue…
“You’ll be looking at industrial buildings in a design class, and then the next day in a finance class you’ll have a guest lecturer who built an entire investment trust focused on industrial properties. He’ll make an offhand comment—something about the square footage of the building. And you realize: I know exactly what he’s talking…
“Why do drains look the way they look? Why is the mulch higher here, and why is it that color? Why does that stormwater drain sit the way it does? Whatever I make in life, I hope someone asks, ‘Why did you do this that way?’ because we can’t be confident that everything that’s been…
“For people without an architecture background, it can be difficult to even consider pursuing an education in the field. Financial aid plays a crucial role in motivating and supporting nontraditional architecture students such as myself. Many students without an architectural background can bring forth unique perspectives, adding richness and diversity to the future of architecture.”…
“Financial assistance was what made it possible for me to choose the GSD, and is especially important for students of color, who may not come from financial privilege. Going back to school at age 34 is valuable—because with age comes maturity, and there is always more to learn. This time around, my focus is on…
“Winning the Cossutta Prize helped my financial situation immensely, and my work and school performance have benefited. On top of that, I felt like I was affirmed for the work I had done these past two years. It made me much more confident as a designer.” —Maggie Musante MArch I ’24 _____ In Maggie’s undergraduate…
“For people without an architecture background, it can be difficult to even consider pursuing an education in the field. Financial aid plays a crucial role in motivating and supporting nontraditional architecture students such as myself. Many students without an architectural background can bring forth unique perspectives, adding richness and diversity to the future of architecture.”…
“With more financial aid, we could have a greater diversity of students at the GSD. I know many people who would never consider applying because they don’t have the financial means. That could have been me, easily. If I leave the GSD and I end up with the means, I plan to give back because…
“Winning the Cossutta Prize helped my financial situation immensely, and my work and school performance have benefited. On top of that, I felt like I was affirmed for the work I had done these past two years. It made me much more confident as a designer.” —Maggie Musante MArch I ’24 ________ Maggie’s journey to…
The Harvard University Graduate School of Design’s (GSD) Alumni Council and the GSD’s Frances Loeb Library are pleased to honor four students with the 2023 Unsung Hero Book Prize. This year’s honorees are Alexandra Barnes MDes ’23, Tobi Fagbule MDes ’23, Cory Page MLA ’25, MUP ’25, and Ellie Sheild MUP ’23, MRE ’24. “Each year, I am surprised…
“Financial assistance was what made it possible for me to choose the GSD, and is especially important for students of color, who may not come from a background of financial privilege. Going back to school at age 34 is valuable—because with age comes maturity, and there is always more to learn. This time around, my…
Tosin Odugbemi MArch ’24 often inhabits several spaces simultaneously, a skill and perspective that deeply benefits her study of the built environment. A child of two doctors, Tosin moved with her family from South Africa to Canada at a young age. She grew up in the prairies of British Columbia in a predominantly white neighborhood, with…
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.
With the passing of each academic year, our community has the opportunity to reflect on our many accomplishments and to anticipate and imagine future achievements.
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 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.
The Irving Innovation Fellowship exemplifies many of the ideals at the heart of the Harvard Graduate School of Design community
William Baumgardner MLA ’18 talks about his Community Service Fellowship in Albania, traveling to Bangladesh with Marina Tabassum’s “$2000 Home” studio, and the impact of the GSD’s alumni network on the student experience. Make a Gift.
On April 12, the GSD Alumni Council honored current students with the 2018 Unsung Hero Book Prize during a celebration in the Frances Loeb Library. Sarah Diamond MLA ’19, Tim Webster MLA ’19, Ernest Haines MLA ’18, and Jasmine Roberts MDes ’18 were this year’s recipients.
The GSD along with Japanese paint manufacturer NIPSEA Group – known throughout Asia as Nippon Paint – announces the establishment of the Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund at the GSD. The Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund, initiated during the GSD’s Grounded Visionaries campaign, will provide financial aid to GSD students from Asian countries, helping to attract, enroll, and support talented design scholars from the region as they work to become leaders in transforming the social and built environment.
The Phil Freelon Fellowship Fund was established last year to expand academic opportunities for African American and other under-represented students of design.
Empowering; uplifting; sobering; timely; necessary. An event that evades simple distillation, the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s 2017 Black in Design Conference evoked a range of immediate reactions, as well as a charge for sustained dialogue over the many issues it positioned within its programming.
The GSD awarded 353 degrees to its Class of 2017 during Harvard’s 366th Commencement on Thursday, May 25.
The GSD celebrated the newly created Thomas Payette Financial Aid Fund and the power of the fellowships and financial aid during its second annual fellowship reception on Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
The 2017-2018 Hiring Professional and Student/Recent Graduate Surveys are now open for architecture & landscape architecture until Friday, May 26.
Members of the Harvard community gathered in Miami to hear from Drew Gilpin Faust, President and Lincoln Professor of History, Harvard University, as she shared her vision for the University’s future and its global impact.
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 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 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.
“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…
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…
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…
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…
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.
This past summer, the GSD announced the appointment of Diane Davis as Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design. This new role builds on her experience as the Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism, and on her many accolades, which include research fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the…
The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Graduate School of Design will open applications to a new collaborative two-year master’s program in design engineering this fall, according to SEAS spokesperson Paul Karoff. The program, first reported by The Crimson last spring and called the Master’s of Design Engineering, is intended for professionals who…
Harvard-based startup Getaway is tapping into the “tiny house movement,” and a Harvard Graduate School of Design pair is embracing the creative challenges of designing Getaway’s star attraction: so-called “tiny houses” available for vacation rental. Getaway was cofounded by Harvard Business School student Jon Staff and Harvard Law School student Pete Davis via the Millennial Housing Lab—which, in…
The GSD’s studio abroad program took students to Berlin, Germany for the spring semester to study alongside Frank Barkow of Barkow Leibinger, and Arno Brandlhuber of brandlhuber+.
Students initiate support and advocacy projects within hours of earthquake.
As part of public art project, students help to animate Harvard’s iconic campus statue.
New look for Harvard Design Magazine deepens focus on ‘Wet Matter.’
Movements in research and learning captured in trio of exhibits.
‘Grounded Visionaries’ at GSD covers International Architecture Exhibition and more.
GSD students design two sustainable houses, win awards for their work.
Harvard team wins contest for fresh ideas to speed recovery from Japanese quake, tsunami.
Design School students showcase creative prototypes for a field that’s rapidly changing.
