Independent Study on Multi-Cultural Design Environments (January Term)

Independent Study

Independent Study on Multi-Cultural Design Environments

An examination and comparison of design practices in a professional setting.

This course is open only to students who will be undertaking an internship or conducting research in a country other than their own, during the summer between academic years, or in their final semester of study, with further restrictions. Students who wish to enroll in this course should contact the Registrar’s Office, [email protected], for the required forms that must be submitted for enrollment.

 

 

Unsettling the University

“A Third University is Possible” is the title of the book and the promise provided by La Paperson in their important contribution to settler colonial studies, in which they conclude “it exists within the First” (University of Minnesota Press, 2017). While we study, labor, and work within the first university, La Paperson proposes that we work towards a third university: a university that, among other endeavors, seeks to disentangle and unsettle the legacies of dispossession that built the first university. In recent years, these legacies have been researched and discussed, in some cases leading to efforts towards reparation and memorialization. This course argues that the long road to reparation starts by understanding the complex narratives that have shaped the institution. Standing between research and reparation, this project-based seminar will be a space for us to learn these spatial histories and work together to visualize them in order to communicate them to a broader public.

Unsettling the University examines the historical links between Harvard University and its campus to systems of land dispossession from its occupation of Indigenous lands to its connection to plantation economies, as well as more recent histories of gentrification and displacement. We will build on prior courses at Harvard including The Archeology of Harvard Yard (ANTHRO 1130) and its examination of the Harvard Indian College site, Harvard and Native Lands (HIST 15H, HIST-LIT 90AD, ENG 90LN) on the settler colonial history in which the institution is imbricated, and the recent report on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery (HIST 84G). We will also look at twentieth century histories of gentrification and dispossession, and other contemporary dispossessions beyond the campus. Finally, we will learn about ongoing efforts to resist, rewild, repair, and memorialize, including the ongoing course and project Rewilding Harvard (HIST 1973), as well as case studies at other institutions reconciling with their histories.

The seminar will be divided in two parts. In the first half we will read and learn the long spatial histories of the institution and the broader context these histories are part of: the settler colonial role of universities, their complicity with plantation economies, and their role in land dispossession. As we learn these histories, we will compile a shared timeline and map of relevant sites. In the second half, we will work together on a group project to visualize these histories in the form of an annotated campus guide that might take many forms including a campus map, a podcast recording, virtual environment annotations, and/or a series of public events. More broadly, the course engages with contemporary forms of practice that bring together the tools of historical inquiry with those of spatial knowledge towards public outreach.

While the course concludes with a collective project, evaluation will be based on your individual commitment to the course through your attendance, input into collaborative documents, and participation in the group project. We will have a midterm check-in in which we will provide each other with mutual feedback on how the course is going. Many skills are needed for this project, and we will work collaboratively to maximize each other’s abilities. Students with skills in archival research, history writing, data compilation, GIS mapping, and/or data visualization are all welcome. Overall, the most important requirement is an investment in spatial politics and justice.

 

Belonging (1-unit Module 2 Lecture)

What differentiates a building designed in Paris from one in Jerusalem, or Houston from one in Amsterdam or China or the Arabian Peninsula? A national museum for the Sikh’s or the Cherokee Nation? 

Over my career I have been asked to design projects for people and places that I didn’t know. In Africa, in Iran, in Asia, and in Texas to name a few. My mission going into each relationship was always to immerse myself in the culture and the place; to extract some clues that would support my belief which is that when architecture represents the essence of the place where it is built, it resonates with people in a way that is long lasting and profound. My belief is that architecture has the power to bring people together, to unite all kinds of differences, and that as architects we have a deep responsibility to create buildings and places that BELONG.

But how does an architect born in Israel, who finds a life in Canada and then here in Cambridge have the knowhow and sensibility to design for a people and place that they simply do not know? And how can we all learn and be better at walking in other people’s shoes?

How does a design become particular to place and program? As architects, we must decipher the secrets of the site, understand the climatic and environmental context, reflect upon the cultural heritage and history, and study the technology of construction that is most appropriate.

In our own practice over the past fifty years, we have been confronted with a series of significant projects in a wide variety of geographies and cultures, including those on home territory, which framed for us the issue, can we achieve buildings which will be perceived to have a strong sense of belonging?  I will share a series of stories via the projects and the people I have worked with for over fifty years. In three lectures, followed by discussion, I will analyze from our own work, often with references to the work of others, successes and failures in the quest for achieving designs that belong. This 1 credit course will also include a visit to our studio space in Somerville to discuss further the subject matter.

To receive credit, students will be required to attend all four sessions. After each lecture there will be a discussion session.  At the end of the course, students will prepare a paper on their findings from the course. The course meets four evenings: March 26, April 2, April 9 ,and April 16. This course is not open to cross-registration.

If you are a GSD student and interested in enrolling, please add this course to your Crimson Cart. The registrar’s office will officially enroll you on February 10 and do another round of enrollments on March 24. Note that the registrar’s office will officially enroll you in the course from your Crimson Cart, EVEN IF IT WOULD MEAN YOU WILL BE EXCEEDING YOUR MAXIMUM UNITS. You will not need to receive program director approval for exceeding your maximum units to be enrolled in this course. Those who exceed the following units by degree program will be charged extra tuition in early April: 20 units for MDES, 22 units for MDE, and 24 units for all other GSD programs.

Regenerative Design in the Territory: Recalibrating Supply Chain Ecologies

This research seminar explores how design, ecology, and systems thinking can address critical challenges in sustainability at regional scales. Focusing on supply chains for essential resources like food, water, and energy, the course examines how these systems shape and transform the built and natural environments.

Students will investigate current systems’ environmental and social impacts on local ecologies and communities. We will ask: How can we reimagine the landscapes of supply systems, meaning the sourcing and movement of essential products and resources to restore balance and recalibrate human and environmental relationships for a better future?

We will use methodologies of design, with an emphasis on multi-disciplinary research, design-thinking frameworks for actionable proposals. The class will introduce regenerative design principles for resiliency, equity, and the healing of ecosystems. The class will include guest lectures and presentations of case studies of projects.

At the end of the semester, each student will present a proposal for the redesign of a supply chain system and its corresponding built and natural environment. Open to all disciplines; the course provides a platform for envisioning alternative futures where supply chains act not as extractive systems but as regenerative networks.

Disclaimer:
This is not a course about supply chain economic optimization; it focuses on raw materials, extraction and transformation (for example, coffee, cacao, paper, minerals…)  and the impact that such processes have on the land, environment, and communities. The emphasis is on redesigning and reconfiguring the places and relationships of said supply chains.

Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation Building II (at HKS)

This community based research course focuses on some of the major issues Native American Indian tribes and nations face in the 21st century. It provides in-depth, hands-on exposure to native development issues, including: sovereignty, economic development, constitutional reform, leadership, health and social welfare, tribal finances, land and water rights, culture and language, religious freedom, and education. In particular, the course emphasizes problem definition, client relationships, and designing and completing a research project for a tribe, tribal department, or those active in Indian Country. The course is devoted primarily to preparation and presentation of a comprehensive research paper based on work with a tribal community. In addition to faculty presentations on topics such as field research methods and problem definition, students will make presentations on their work in progress/near-ultimate findings.

This course is offered by the Havard Kennedy School as DEV-502, and is also jointly listed with the Graduate School of Education as A-102, and the Faculty of Arts and Science as EMR-121, and the Chan School of Public Health as ID-248, and the Graduate School of Design as SES-5427. For students interested in additional courses on Native America please also see HKS DEV-501M “Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation Building I” (Joseph Kalt and Angela Riley) and GSD SES-5513  “Native Nations and Contemporary Land Use” (Eric Henson).

This course meets at HKS in room Wexner 330. Please see the HKS website for information regarding first class meetings. 

Structural Design I

This course introduces students to the analysis and design of structural systems. The fundamental principles of statics, structural loads, and rigid body equilibrium are considered first. The course continues with the analysis and design of cables, columns, beams, and trusses. The structural design of steel follows, culminating in the consideration of building systems design. The quantitative understanding of interior forces, bending moments, stresses, and deformations are an integral part of the learning process throughout the course. Students are expected to have completed all prerequisites in math and physics.

Objectives:

Topics:

We will be placing a copy of “Structures” (7th Edition): Daniel Schodek, Martin Bechthold on reserve in the Loeb Library. This text is NOT a course requirement but will be on reserve as a reference for those seeking additional background information on course topics.

Cultural Cartographies: Visualizing Cultural Narratives in the Built Environment

This seminar explores the intersection of spatial visualization and cultural storytelling. In this course, students will investigate how qualitative and quantitative data specific to the built environment can be spatialized and visualized to reveal underlying narratives, inequities, and opportunities within architectural and urban spaces. Through readings, discussions, and hands-on visualization projects, we will critically examine issues of power, inclusion, and social justice as they manifest in the physical spaces we inhabit. We will look at various case studies and examples that highlight how architects, landscape architects, urban planners and designers can use data visualization as a powerful tool to address these pressing issues and foster more inclusive environments.

Students will gather, analyze, and communicate spatial data through various architectural representation techniques, including mapping, diagramming, and 3D modeling. We will explore how these visualizations can be crafted to tell compelling stories about the social, cultural, and political dimensions of the built environment, as well as understand the impact of these narratives on public perception and policy. 

The course will engage in topics such as housing inequity, accessibility, environmental justice, and the uneven distribution of resources and amenities in cities. We will examine how these topics intersect with broader societal issues, including racial inequality, economic disparity, and climate change. Students will have the opportunity to research specific architectural or urban issues and produce their own creative spatial data portraits that render visible the often unseen dynamics shaping these environments. Additionally, students will be encouraged to think about how their work can influence real-world change and the ways in which spatial data storytelling can be impactful to a range of design interventions. By the end of the course, students will have developed comprehensive tools and techniques to craft powerful, engaging narratives about the built environment, fostering a greater awareness of the potential of architecture to influence positive social outcomes.
 

Is the Grass Any Greener? Architectural Practice & Project Delivery Around the World

Conversations about how architectural practice is regulated, how architects do their work, and how construction projects are delivered are typically constrained by regional and national borders. Indeed, it is (perhaps unsurprisingly) easy for one’s understanding of architectural practice to be wholly shaped by the particularities of the place and culture within which they are living, studying and working. However, at a moment when so many received ways of doing things are breaking down and/or being questioned, what could be learned from how other nations and cultures approach the production of both architects and buildings? This seminar course will undertake a methodical, research-intensive study of practice and project delivery across six continents and multiple nations in search of the answer to a deceptively simple question: is there any better way?

Course Format
Lectures by course instructor and guests; in-class discussions; collaborative and individual research, presentations and projects.

Requirements
Consistent class attendance and engagement; satisfactory participation in and completion of collaborative and individual projects including primary source research and interviews.

Prerequisites
Students must have already taken PRO-7212 Foundations of Practice or an equivalent introductory professional practice course at another college or university.

Products of Practice: A Critical History and Uncertain Present

This research seminar traces the dynamic dance between the shape of design practice and the society it serves through the lens of the defining media and practical instruments of our time, the “products of practice.” Through an engagement with history, theory, and the mechanics of everyday practice, the course aims to frame structural change within practice and for the role of the architect in society in order to prepare students to innovate, define, and lead future design practice.

Within the cacophony of contemporary media, under the pressures of financial instruments, and with an expectation of artificial intelligence, this practice seminar looks to the past to explore the product of the architect as an artifact of circumstance, framing and projecting practice potentials now and into the future. Critically tracking the development of our practice, we will research design context, instruments of service, and the media of production as cultural and temporal constructs that limit or expand the role of the architect in practice. Our collective goal is an exploration of the relationship between — and the limits of — discipline, practice, and profession to better understand their structural potentials.

Course content will be organized thematically, exploring the origins of contemporary practice and its products at any given moment — from built form to model to drawing to code — as the architect evolved from master builder to author to project manager. Legal and technical issues, client types, and structures of fee and control will be considered alongside cultural impact. Students will develop critical positions on the renewed debate between empirical vs. cultural practice, on mediatic production and instruments of service for single projects vs. systems of design deployment, and rapid technological change as it intersects with changing structures of labor.

Class time will include framing lecture content as well as group discussion around evolving student research, media, and readings. Guests from practice and related sectors will be assembled to add perspective to specific topics, particularly around the issue of emerging modes of production and instrumentation. Guest speakers with perspectives on the history and theory of architectural practice will also join the class to assist in framing essential questions relevant to the topic at hand.