Harvard Graduate School of Design

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is Harvard University's graduate school for the design of the built and natural environment. It says its purpose is to educate "leaders in design, research, and scholarship to make a resilient, just, and beautiful world." The school has three departments: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design. It has granted degrees since 1936, and architecture teaching at Harvard goes back to 1874. Alongside its degree programmes, it runs research centres and labs, executive education, a mid-career fellowship, and a public programme of lectures, exhibitions and publications, including Harvard Design Magazine.

Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Major Areas of Work

• Architecture: Design teaching and research on buildings, architectural history and theory, and architectural technology.

• Landscape Architecture: Design and research on landscapes, ecology, parks and the relationship between land and cities.

• Urban Planning and Design: Planning, urban design and real estate, covering how cities grow, are governed and are financed.

• Design Engineering and Technology: Systems-level work across design and engineering on problems such as rapid urbanisation, climate change and resource scarcity, supported by its Laboratory for Design Technologies.

• Housing, Sustainability and the Built Environment: Research through the Joint Center for Housing Studies, the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities, the Just City Lab and the Healthy Places Lab.

Major Initiatives and Programmes

• Architecture degrees: Master of Architecture I, Master of Architecture I AP and Master of Architecture II, for students entering the profession and for those who already hold a professional architecture degree.

• Landscape Architecture degrees: Master in Landscape Architecture I, I AP and II, structured on the same entry levels as the architecture degrees.

• Urban Planning and Design degrees: Master in Urban Planning, Master of Architecture or Landscape Architecture in Urban Design, and Master in Real Estate.

• Master in Design Engineering: A degree run jointly with the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, combining design and engineering to address large social and environmental problems.

• Loeb Fellowship: A one-year programme for experienced mid-career practitioners who shape the built and natural environment, including planners, designers, civic leaders and journalists, who audit classes at Harvard and MIT. A university degree is not required to apply.

Impact

The GSD states that the Loeb Fellowship, which traces its roots to 1968, has an alumni network of more than 450 members. It maintains partnerships with the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which co-runs its design engineering degree, and with MIT, where Loeb Fellows also take classes.

Leadership

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

• Martin Bechthold, Academic Dean

• Mark Goble, Administrative Dean

• Janice Gilkes, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

A role at the GSD places you inside a research university where architecture, landscape, planning, real estate and engineering are taught and studied side by side. Staff and researchers work alongside faculty, students and visiting practitioners from around the world, and the school runs a steady programme of studios, research labs, exhibitions and publications. It suits people interested in design education, academic administration, urban and environmental research, or public programming, who want exposure to how the built environment is studied and shaped at an international level.