Tag: harvard-gsd | ArchDaily

Pedagogy in Space: Architecture Schools' Hidden Curriculum

Jonathan Yeung — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 07:30:00 +0000

This article is part of our new Opinion section, a format for argument-driven essays on critical questions shaping our field.

Staging Culture: The Architect as Curator

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture has never been confined to the act of building. It constantly negotiates between material practice and intellectual reflection, yet throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, many architects felt that the built project alone was insufficient to address the full range of questions facing the discipline. Economic pressures, political contexts, and programmatic demands often narrowed the scope of practice.

Hanif Kara of AKT II Receives 2024 Soane Medal for Pioneering Engineering and Architectural Innovation

Nour Fakharany — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 05:30:00 +0000

Sir John Soane's Museum has announced Hanif Kara, a celebrated structural engineer and co-founder of AKT II, as the recipient of the prestigious 2024 Soane Medal. This marks a historic moment as Kara becomes the first engineer to receive the accolade, traditionally awarded to architects and theorists. The recognition highlights his profound impact on the built environment, particularly through his pioneering approach to interdisciplinary collaboration. Kara will deliver the Soane Medal Lecture at the Royal Academy on November 26.

Harvard GSD Inaugurates Polinature, a Plug-In Public Space to Transform Urban Climates

Maria-Cristina Florian — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 06:30:00 +0000

Architects Belinda Tato and Jose Luis Vallejo of Ecosistema Urbano have designed a plug-in public space designed to address the effects of climate change in ill-equipped urban environments. Titled Polinature, the installation has been funded by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard, and is now installed in the backyard of the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities. The pavilion, featuring native plans set into a scaffolding, with an inflatable bioclimatic canopy, aims to demonstrate how small-scale interventions can create compound positive effects for the local micro-climate and biodiversity.

The Rise of Night Mayors: Managing Economy, Culture Security and Climate Change after Dark

Thomas Schielke — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 03:30:00 +0000

Over the years, the nocturnal landscape of cities has witnessed a significant transformation, marked by the emergence of more than 80-night mayors globally, a trend that has been on the rise since the early 2000s. Andreina Seijas, currently working as an Associate at Gehl, has analyzed these shifting dynamics of night-time governance in her research and during her doctoral studies at Harvard GSD. Seijas speaks in the interview about this development, challenges, and opportunities with night mayors, global differences, and the role of climate change. Seijas' upbringing in Caracas, Venezuela, where safety concerns dictated strict curfews, ignited her passion for creating safer, more inclusive urban environments, particularly for the youth. Her quest for a better future for the urban night explores the potential for cities to become safer, more inclusive, and more productive by creating spaces for work and leisure after dark.

Harvard Graduate School of Design Awards Thandi Loewenson Wheelwright Prize 2024

Nour Fakharany — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 05:30:00 +0000

Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) has just announced Thandi Loewenson as the winner of the 2024 Wheelwright Prize. The prestigious $100,000 grant is dedicated to supporting innovative research in contemporary architecture with a global perspective. Loewenson’s project, “Black Papers: Beyond the Politics of Land, Towards African Policies of Earth & Air,” explores the social and spatial dynamics in modern Africa.

Pritzker Prize Laureate Fumihiko Maki Passes Away at 95

Nour Fakharany — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 05:30:00 +0000

Esteemed Japanese architect and Pritzker Prize laureate Fumihiko Maki passed away at his Tokyo home last Thursday at the age of 95. Celebrated for his modernist approach, Maki was responsible for significant works, including the 4 World Trade Center, a skyscraper at the site of the former World Trade Center in New York. Maki was recognized in the architecture industry various times, including receiving the Pritzker Prize and becoming the 67th AIA Gold Medalist. His influence in inventing a unique modernist style of Japanese origin cannot be underscored.

Top-Rated Universities for Studying Architecture in 2024, According to QS World Rankings

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 06:30:00 +0000

QS, Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, has announced the annual list of the top universities to study Architecture and the Built Environment in the year 2024. The ranking evaluates over 1,500 institutions from over 100 locations. The evaluation system has been updated this year to include new metrics such as sustainability, employment outcomes, and international research networks.

The Loeb Fellowship at Harvard GSD Announces the Selection for the Class of 2025

Maria-Cristina Florian — Wed, 22 May 2024 04:30:00 +0000

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) has announced the Class of 2025 Loeb Fellows. Ten practitioners and activists from around the world have been selected to join the Loeb Fellowship program to expand their careers and advance their programs and initiatives focused on equity, resilience, and collective action.

Architecture in South Asia: Transitions in Patronage, Practitioners, and Public Perception

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 20 May 2024 04:00:00 +0000

South Asia has undergone notable transformations across economic, political, social, and various other spheres. Mirroring these patterns of societal change are the architectural practices across this region. The modern nation-states of South Asia – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – share similar histories and a future characterized by rapid economic development and urbanization. However, each region exhibits distinct nuances concerning the present and potential state of architectural praxis, informed by their socio-cultural contexts and emerging political climates.

The Intersection of Design and Desserts: Dinara Kasko's Architectural Culinary Creations

Patrick Lynch — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 02:30:00 +0000

Part of the beauty of an architectural education is that it provides you with design skills that can be applied to a wide variety to jobs. So when it came time for Kharkov University Architecture School graduate Dinara Kasko to select a career path, she chose to pursue something a little bit sweeter: architectural pastry chef.

QS World Rankings Selects Best Universities to Study Architecture in 2023

Christele Harrouk — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 04:30:00 +0000

QS- Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings just announced the 2023 top universities to study Architecture and the Built Environment. The index rates over 1,400 schools and covers a total of 54 disciplines, grouped into five broad subject areas, based on five indicators "to effectively reflect their performance, taking into account academic reputation, employer reputation, and faculty research".

“As Architects, We Don’t Discover Our Identity, We Construct It”: In Conversation with Rahul Mehrotra

Vladimir Belogolovsky — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 03:30:00 +0000

Rahul Mehrotra is a practicing architect based in Boston and Mumbai and he has been teaching at Harvard’s GSD where he is currently Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design and Director of the Master in Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program. Born in 1959, Mehrotra grew up in Lucknow, a city in Northern India and an important cultural and artistic hub. His father was a manager at a large machine tool company. The family moved a lot following Mehrotra senior’s frequent promotions, which led to changing residences owned by his company. Besides a few years in Lucknow and Delhi, they lived in different neighborhoods within Mumbai.

Hanif Kara: As Engineers We Are Still Judged by What We Finished, Not What We Wrote About

David Basulto — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 04:00:00 +0000

In the complex trade of architecture and construction, you are never alone. And behind every great building there is a strong team of professionals combining their expertise.

Marina Otero Wins 2022 Wheelwright Prize with a Project Focused on Data Storage Architecture

Maria-Cristina Florian — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 05:30:00 +0000

Harvard University Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) has announced Marina Otero as the winner of the 2022 Wheelwright Prize. The 100,000 USD grant funds two years of research and travel to support contemporary architecture's investigative approaches, with an emphasis on globally minded research. The winning proposal, “Future Storage: Architectures to Host the Metaverse”, examines a new architecture paradigm for storing digital data. The project looks at how reimagining digital infrastructures could provide answers to the unprecedented demands facing the world today. The field research, data collection, and prototype development will result in an open-source manual for data center architecture design containing examples of ecological, circular, and egalitarian data storage models.

Mariam Kamara Could Profoundly Change Design Pedagogy Everywhere

Kelly Beamon — Thu, 05 May 2022 03:30:00 +0000

Architect Mariam Kamara—founder of Niamey, Niger-based firm Atelier Masōmī—is a contrarian of design pedagogy as it is largely practiced today. To Kamara, modern is not synonymous with European forms, architecture is not only for Westerners to define, and the so-called canon of great buildings actually ignores most of the built world. The Niger-based architect's rapidly growing practice informs a series of lectures she has delivered recently at MIT, Columbia University GSAPP, the African Futures Institute in Ghana, and Harvard GSD.

The Second Studio Podcast: Interview with Sarah Whiting

The Second Studio Podcast — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 03:30:00 +0000

The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.

Germane Barnes Wins 2021 Wheelwright Prize

Eric Baldwin — Mon, 10 May 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Germane Barnes has won the 2021 Wheelwright Prize from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The $100,000 prize will fund two years of travel and research for Barnes’s proposal Anatomical Transformations in Classical Architecture, an examination of classical Roman and Italian architecture through the lens of non-white constructors. Barnes will study how spaces have been transformed through the material contributions of the African Diaspora while creating new possibilities within investigations of Blackness.