Contact

Graduate School of Design
48 Quincy Street
Gund Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138

Student Forum

STUDENT GROUPS FALL 2008 - SPRING 2009

Student Forum currently provides annual funding to a number of Student Groups. These organizations are entirely established and run by members of the GSD student body. Any student is free and encouraged to establish a new group that they feel offers new knowledge and experiences to the GSD community. Click here to read the guidelines for GSD student organizations.

Asia GSD
Beer n Dogs
China GSD
Critical Digital
EuroGSD
Green Design
GSD Whiffle Ball
Harvard Graduate Council
HUPO (Harvard Urban Planning Organization)
HousingGSD
Korea GSD
LandGSD
Latin GSD
MDesS Club
Out Design
RED (GSD Real Estate Development Club)
SoCA (Social Change and Activism)
Student Exhibition Wall
Trays
Urban Mobilities
Women in Design

Student Group FAQ

Online Student Group Forms

Below are forms pertaining to Student Groups. The first two forms outline GSD Student Group guidelines. The remaining forms are ones that can be turned in to the Student Forum mailbox in Student Services, Room 422 to establish a new organization, request funding, and seek reimbursement for expenses made after funding requests have been awarded. Registration forms should be turned in by ALL groups on September 29 whether or not a budget will be requested.

Current Student Organizations

Architecture for Humanity Boston GSD
AfHBGSD is a subset of Architecture for Humanity Boston. AfHB is dedicated to innovations in architectural and design solutions to humanitarian crises and to provide design services to communities in need. AfHB works not only within the Boston area, but according to our membership's interest, in as many places from New Orleans to Pakistan. (Contact officers)

Asia GSD
Founded in 1994, AsiaGSD is a student organization at the Harvard Design School for students interested in the design issues of the Asia Pacific region. Its mission is to promote awareness of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and design, and related disciplines in visual and design arts within an Asian context and its implications in a broad regional framework. Asia GSD is committed to fostering dialogues on professional and scholarly concerns between students, academics and professionals around the word. (Contact officers)

Canada GSD
Canada GSD seeks to act as a resource for those interested in Canadian topics, and to foster more communications among Canadian designers all around the world. (Contact officers)

China GSD
The China GSD seeks to act as a resource for those interested in topics on China, and to foster more communications among Chinese designers all around the world. (Contact officers)

Beer and Dogs
Description coming soon. (Contact officers)

Critical Digital
The purpose of Critical Digital is to foster the dialogue about digital media, digital technology and design, and to challenge the basis of contemporary digital media arguments. The intention of the group is to identify, distinguish and offer a critique for current trends, tendencies and movements in digital culture. Through diverse activities it intends to develop a direction of thought into a proposed framework to sustain discourse that will challenge what is rapidly becoming the mainstream. It will provide a permanent forum for discussion and enrichment of the experiences in this field of study in the Harvard - GSD community, and also pursue to establish a vital link and presence with outside communities. (Contact officers)

Harvard European Design Circle
To create a network: To facilitate student interaction. To help anyone (Europeans or others) who need information about living/working here in the US or in Europe. To organize events that facilitate people’s integration into the Harvard community and Boston area community. (Contact officers)

Green Design
Founded in fall 2005, GSD Green Design offers a platform to discuss sustainable design. We bring in practitioners leading the field in all aspects of green design with the aim of putting sustainability at the forefront of design thinking at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. (Contact officers)

GSD Whiffle Ball
Declared by one faculty member to be, "The best use of Piper Auditorium ever," GSD Whiffle seeks to determine the best and brightest designers through the medium of plastic ball and bat. Loosen up and have some fun. Orange slices and Capri Sun provided. (Contact officers)

Harvard Graduate Council
The HGC is the recognized student government for the eleven graduate and professional schools of Harvard University. The organization is dedicated to: developing a strong graduate community by creating opportunities for students to interact, addressing issues and concerns by working with administration, faculty, and organizations, improving the quality of life of the Harvard Graduate students. Our mission is to build a strong graduate student community at Harvard! (Contact officers)

Harvard Urban Planning Organization
The Harvard Urban Planning Organization is a student group for members of the Harvard community interested in urban planning issues. HUPO seeks to supplement the academic preparation in urban planning programs of the GSD with direct and informal contact with practitioners and professionals. HUPO also seeks to forge ties with other planning students in the Boston area, and is the student chapter of the American Planning Association. (Contact officers)

HousingGSD
This is a student group for members of the Graduate School of Design community interested in varying aspects of housing. The group seeks to organize events about housing, exchange information, and connect students with opportunities in the field. (Contact officers)

inflatables!
We are an organization trying to increase awareness in the potential utility of inflatables in architecture. Specifically, we aim to design and fabricate inflatables that will be visible and useful to the Harvard and Cambridge communities.(Contact officers)

KoreaGSD
With a focus on architectural, cultural, and political issues, Korea GSD hopes to introduce Koreans and Americans to different needs and conditions of both nations. Working closely with the Harvard Korean Society, we week to create academic and professional relationships to the Far East. (Contact officers)

LandGSD
(description forthcoming)(Contact officers) LatinGSD
The Latin GSD pursues the institionalization of the interest in Latin America as a field of thought, critique and design in the Harvard community. Its main objectives are to open a permanent space of study and exchange towards the production and discussion of Architecture, Landscape Urban Design and Planning in Latin America and to strengthen the relationship between professors, students and intellectuals. It is also in our goal to sustain subjects of cultural diversity as a search for integration, constantly aiming towards an objective representation of the ideas and regions in its means of action.. (Contact officers)

MDesS Club
(description forthcoming) (Contact officers)

Out Design
Out Design is an association for students of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer community and students interested in issues related to the LGBTQ community. We host social events and mixers with other Harvard LGBTQ graduate student groups (such as the KSG, HLS, and HBS) and similar groups at MIT, as well as with GSD alumni. We provide an email forum for the exchange of information among members regarding political issues, community events, and informal social gatherings. Our growing membership is committed to expanding the activities and visibility of OutDesign. (Contact officers)

Real Estate Development Club
The Real Estate Development Club(RED) is a student group for members of the Harvard community interested in real estate and urban development issues. A primary objective is to strengthen the relationship between faculty, students and practitioners interested in the same issues. The RED Club provides a forum for ongoing dialogue with experts, leading professionals in the field and practitioners. (Contact officers)

SoCA (Social Change and Activism)
As a group of concerned students who view social responsibility as central to our education and our profession, SoCA seeks - through a coupled advocacy and activism - to reground design and planning in the social issues of today's global reality. (Contact officers)

Student Exhibition Wall
The Student Wall organization offers students the opportunity to display their own work in the lobby of Gund Hall. Work can be in practically any medium about practically any subject. The student (or group of students) truly acts as curator of the exhibit, dictating its form and content from conception to realization. (Contact officers)

Trays
trays is a forum in which students can post their projects from inside and outside the GSD. Students may submit writing and/or images, and possibly alternative media and forms of interactivity when those become desirable. The editorial team will work with the student submitting work to prepare the piece for "publishing" on the website, through a highly flexible editing process and through a consideration of how the piece relates to other pieces on the website. Editors will also conduct interviews, contact alumni and notable professionals, and author other features that will help to give a broader sense of the range of activities and possibilities that are to be found at the GSD.(Contact officers)

Urban Mobilities
Modern human activities are conducted "on the move": this group's scope is to both theorize on and initiate such experiences. It is open to all students who wish to think on this topic, discuss and move. Urban Mobilities aim at identifying, analyzing, and designing for, human displacements in urban environments. The group will foster a dialogue about personal journeys in the urban setting, experiences of place in motion, and notions of mobile presence, co-presence and digi-presence. Networks, transportation systems and travel will be brought into discussion in terms of their socio-economic, cultural and spatial impact. Strategies of design for urban mobilities will be questioned and redefined. Urban games will be designed and played. (Contact officers)

Women in Design
To support and promote women's achievements in design.
To create an atmosphere of learning and success, which includes the active participation of women, for all students at the GSD. (Contact officers)