Student Projects
Programs
PROJECT LINK
2008-present
PROJECT LINK was created, planned and initiated by graduate students in the fields of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at the GSD. This program is a student run and university funded opportunity to extend a hand to Boston and Cambridge communities to introduce design opportunities for underprivileged and talented high school students.
PROJECT LINK is an intensive four week program that seeks to immerse rising high school sophomores, juniors and seniors into the world of design. Students are exposed to drawing, modeling and representation techniques associated with architectural design as well as the alternate design perspectives of landscape architecture, graphic, industrial and fine arts design. PROJECT LINK strives to foster design skills and put students on track for exploring these ideas at the collegiate level. By exposing students to the possibilities of design, PROJECT LINK hopes to instill a passion for design in local communities.
PROJECT LINK Website
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
New in 2009: LinkLite
A Saturday morning class that works to extend the curriculum of PROJECT LINK.
Conferences
FUTUREPRESENT SYMPOSIUM
April 3, 2008
The goal of the FuturePresent Symposium (PDF) was to amplify discussion of the interrelationship between marginalized cultural environments, (schools of) architecture, and renewed leadership of minority architects. FuturePresent sought to energize a network of students, professionals and academics to think critically across the design disciplines and to proactively work to increase diversity within landscape/architecture, urban planning and design.
Photo on left © R. Steven Lewis
FuturePresent asks, "What can today’s new generation of young designers do now to increase underrepresented minority presence in academia and practice?"
SYSTEMS FOR INCLUSION
April 4-6, 2008
The GSD, in association with Design Corps, hosted the eighth offering of the annual Structures for Inclusion (SFI) conference series. Entitled “Systems for Inclusion,” SFI8 explores the interface of design and systemic social action: Can design(ers) challenge globally networked systems of exclusivity and inequality? What are the relationships between design and political power, economic and ecological sustainability, justice and community?Targeted at students and young professionals who want to move beyond a purely aesthetic discussion--who see landscape/architecture and urban planning/design as an integrative and interconnected project--the conference's goal was to jumpstart a new conversation about the social dimensions of the natural and built environments.
Japanese architect and keynote speaker Shigeru Ban is internationally acclaimed for his humanitarian efforts and his innovative use of building materials. First in the world to construct a building out of recycled paper, Ban built the “Community Dome,” a meeting place for victims of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan. His “Paper Log Houses” provided temporary shelter for the earthquake victims. Through his material research into the structural capacity of organic materials, such as paper tubes, bamboo and wood, Ban has created a new vocabulary for contemporary architecture based in environmental and social concerns.
PROGRESS IN PROCESS SERIES & SYMPOSIUM
March 13, 14, 20, April 14, 2008
Women in Design (WiD) works to increase the visibility of practicing women designers and to further incorporate their experiences into our education at the GSD. WiD hosted a speaker series and larger-scale symposia, Progress in Process, on issues facing women in the design fields today.
WiD offers a supportive network and a critical forum in which students from all departments of the school - Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design - discuss topics ranging from studying at the GSD to operating in the professional environment. Other activities, including conversations with GSD faculty and visiting practitioners, aim at connecting current students to practicing designers while simultaneously addressing some of the fundamental issues students face when they transition into the professional world.
ARCHI-OLYMPICS: THE SHAPING OF A NEW BEIJING
March 15, 2008
Archi-Olympics: The Shaping of a New Beijing addressed the unprecedented architectural and urban transformation of Beijing, perhaps the largest such undertaking in the world, as motivated by the 2008 Olympic Games. The symposium focused on a critique of the main architectural works and urban transformation in Beijing, China, followed by a discussion on how changes from the Olympics affected social, economic, architectural and urban development in the capital city. Sponsored by student group ChinaGSD.