From 3D-printed face shields to strategies for a just recovery: How the Harvard Graduate School of Design community is contributing to COVID-19 response efforts

Amid the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Harvard Graduate School of Design community is working to leverage its skills and resources to contribute to response efforts. This website provides a centralized resource page for updates from across the GSD: news from the Fabrication Laboratory on production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other gear, relevant essays by leading design academics, remembrances of those we’ve lost, and other news from the GSD network.

• News on Production of Medical Equipment
• Essays from GSD Scholars
• In Memoriam

News on Production of Medical Equipment

April 22, 2020: Face shield and Patient Isolation Hood (PIH) updates

The Fabrication Lab has 3D printed 948 mounts/visor and laser cut 914 shields. As materials are replenished, staff will continue making gear in collaboration with what is requested by medical personnel.

Four Patient Isolation Hood (PIH) prototypes have been completed by a team led by GSD and Harvard colleagues working in the GSD’s Fabrication Lab. Three will be delivered to Massachusetts General Hospital and one will go to Boston Children’s Hospital for review.

April 15, 2020: GSD begins patient isolation hood (PIH) design and fabrication alongside ongoing PPE efforts

The GSD’s Digital Fabrication Specialist Chris Hansen has collaborated with an array of Harvard and GSD colleagues to design two PIH prototypes, fabricating them on April 13 and delivering them to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) on April 14. Hansen and colleagues spent much of April 15 on continued design and prototyping; by the end of this week, the GSD aims to have produced between 20 and 30 PIHs for a trial run in MGH’s intensive care unit. Read more.

April 7, 2020: GSD begins producing personal protective equipment (PPE) for Boston-area hospitals

With a stable of 3-D printers, other state-of-the-art fabrication technologies, and expert guidance from across Harvard University, the Harvard Graduate School of Design has begun production of personal protective equipment, or PPE, for front-line medical personnel at area hospitals. GSD fabrication began on April 5, and on April 6, the school delivered a first run of 90 face shields to Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and set up over one hundred 3-D printers in the school’s Gund Hall for continued production. Read more.

March 26, 2020: GSD’s Fabrication Lab facilities being considered for possible production of medical supplies

GSD Assistant Dean for Information Technology Stephen Ervin and 3-D Fabrication Specialist Chris Hansen have been in consultation with the newly formed Mass General Brigham (MGB) Center for COVID Innovation to explore whether and how the GSD’s Fabrication Lab facilities, including 3-D printers, might be put to work to address critical shortages in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for front-line medical personnel—PPE such as face masks, and diagnostic aids such as nasopharyngeal test swabs. Together with the GSD’s Martin Bechthold, Kumagai Professor of Architectural Technology and Director of the Doctor of Design Studies and Master in Design Engineering programs, Ervin and Hansen are coordinating with other Harvard partners. Read more.

Essays from GSD Scholars

Jeffrey Schnapp on the spatial logic of quarantine: “When the world is again unparked, will it know how to unplug?”

“Being grounded has a way of regrounding people’s values and I am persuaded that shelter-in-place policies are fostering a new hyperlocalism—a rerooting in situ that is likely to continue to favor walkable and bikeable mobility over long-distance displacements.” Jeffrey Schnapp holds the Carl A. Pescosolido Chair in Italian and Comparative Literature in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and is also affiliated with the Department of Architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Read more.

Resources for a just recovery from the GSD’s CoDesign Field Lab

“The coronavirus outbreak has both revealed and exacerbated structural inequities in American cities. Challenges faced by low- and moderate-income communities have escalated during the pandemic, with respect to housing insecurity, precarious work arrangements, lack of access to healthcare and affordable childcare, and a shortage of safe and healthy recreational spaces.” This post was written in the context of the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s project-based research seminar “CoDesign Field Lab: Program Evaluation for Change Leadership” (Spring 2020). Read more.

A radical transformation in building and designing for health is underway—but not everyone will benefit equally

GSD faculty including Malkit Shoshan, Rahul Mehrotra, Stephen Gray, Martha Schwartz, Michael Hooper, and Chris Reed examine the positive and negative implications of designing for health, particularly for marginalized and oppressed communities. Read more.

The pandemic has caused an unprecedented reckoning with digital culture. Architecture may never be the same again (and why that’s okay)

Reflections on creating architectural culture online during the pandemic, based on interviews with members of the GSD community: Jeanne Gang, Antoine Picon, Jose Luis García del Castillo y López, Michelle Chang, Ana Miljački, Lisa Haber-Thomson, and Dan Sullivan. Read more.

Pandemics and the future of urban density: Michael Hooper on hygiene, public perception and the “urban penalty”

“Prior to the pandemic, I was intrigued by the relative lack of empirical, contemporary research on the relationship between hygiene and attitudes toward density. This gap was particularly interesting because there is a substantial body of fascinating tangential evidence that suggests people’s attitudes to urban density might be influenced by hygiene concerns.” Michael Hooper is Associate Professor of Urban Planning. Read more.

How to mitigate the impact of an epidemic and prevent the spread of the next viral disease: A guide for designers

“Designers play an essential role in the prevention, control, and response of many of these diseases, so getting involved is not a matter of a choice anymore, but a duty.” Dr. Elvis Garcia is an expert in epidemics and a lecturer in the Department of Architecture. Read more.

What role do planning and design play in a pandemic? Ann Forsyth reflects on COVID-19’s impact on the future of urban life

“For the past decades, those looking at the intersections of planning, design, and public health have focused less on infectious diseases and more on chronic disease, hazards and disasters, and the vulnerable. The current pandemic brings the question of designing for infectious diseases back to the forefront and raises important questions for future research and practice.” Ann Forsyth is Ruth and Frank Stanton Professor of Urban Planning. Read more.

In Memoriam

Michael McKinnell (1935-2020); Professor and Boston City Hall architect

Michael McKinnell, a fixture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and in the architectural canon, died on March 27 at the age of 84 from COVID-19-induced pneumonia. He is survived by his wife, Stephanie Mallis (MArch ’78), and two daughters. As co-founder of Kallmann, McKinnell and Knowles, McKinnell’s built projects include Boston City Hall, Hynes Convention Center, and Harvard Law School’s Hauser Hall. At the GSD, he enjoyed a storied teaching career, joining the Department of Architecture faculty in 1966 and being named as the Nelson Robinson, Jr. Professor of Architecture in 1983, a role he held until 1988. Read more.

Michael Sorkin (1948–2020); Architect, designer, critic, pedagogue

Michael Sorkin died on March 26, 2020, at the age of 71 after contracting the coronavirus. For decades, Sorkin contributed inspiration, incisive criticism, and forward-minded design around the halls of the Harvard GSD. He studied at the GSD in the 1970s and taught there in 2002 and in 2015. He also participated in a variety of review panels and public programs over the decades, including 2015’s “Writing Architecture.” Read more.

GSD shortlists three architects for 2020 Wheelwright Prize

The Harvard Graduate School of Design has announced three shortlisted architects for the 2020 Wheelwright Prize. Now in its eighth cycle, the Wheelwright Prize supports innovative design research, crossing both cultural and architectural boundaries, with a $100,000 grant intended to support two years of study. Previous winners have presented diverse research proposals, including studies of kitchen typologies around the world; the architecture and culture of greenhouses; and material flows and techniques as used in the design and construction of film sets. The 2020 Wheelwright Prize drew 168 applicants from over 45 countries. A first-phase jury deliberation was conducted in early March; a winner will be selected in late April. Wheelwright Prize finalists traditionally present their work and proposal to an audience and panel of jurors at Harvard GSD, with a winner named in April. However, given the unprecedented global context created by the COVID-19 crisis, the 2020 Wheelwright Prize cycle is being conducted almost entirely via digital means. The first phase of jury deliberations was conducted via Zoom teleconferencing in early March, and finalist presentations will be conducted similarly throughout April. Such focus on digitally grounded dialogue mirrors similar efforts being applied across Harvard GSD and the field of architecture, as architects and designers confront a new landscape for practice and teaching. This year’s jury includes 2016 Wheelwright Prize Winner Anna Puigjaner; Harvard GSD’s Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture, Sarah M. Whiting; Harvard GSD’s Chair of the Department of Architecture, Mark Lee; Harvard GSD Assistant Professor of Architecture Megan Panzano; British architect Tom Emerson; and Belgian architect Wonne Ickx.

2020 Wheelwright Prize Finalists

The three finalists for the 2020 Wheelwright Prize, and their proposals, are:

Dilip da Cunha awarded a 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship

Dilip da Cunha, lecturer in urban planning and design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, is one of two Harvard University professors among the 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship’s 175 awardees. Since its establishment in 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has granted Guggenheim Fellowships to scores of Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, poets laureate, members of the national academies, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Turing Award, Bancroft Prize, National Book Award, and many other internationally recognized honors. This year, the foundation awarded its fellowships to a diverse group of 175 writers, scholars, artists, and scientists, chosen through a rigorous peer-review process from almost 3,000 applicants in the Foundation’s ninety-sixth competition. Collectively, the 2020 Fellows represent 53 scholarly disciplines and artistic fields. Da Cunha is an architect and planner, with practice based in Philadelphia and Bangalore. In addition to his role as lecturer in urban planning and design at the GSD, he co-directs the GSD’s Master in Design Studies program’s Risk and Resilience concentration, and is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s GSAPP. Da Cunha’s latest book is The Invention of Rivers: Alexander’s Eye and Ganga’s Descent (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018); the book and its subject matter were the topic of Da Cunha’s 2019 Daniel Urban Kiley Lecture at the GSD. He is also author, with Anuradha Mathur, of Mississippi Floods: Designing a Shifting Landscape (2001); Deccan Traverses: The Making of Bangalore’s Terrain (2006); Soak: Mumbai in an Estuary (2009); and Design in the Terrain of Water (2014). In 2017, Mathur and da Cunha launched Ocean of Rain, a design platform that seeks to situate the past, present, and future of habitation in a ubiquitous wetness rather than on a land-water surface. Also in 2017, Mathur and da Cunha received a Pew Fellowship Grant. “I am honored to be named a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation,” da Cunha says. “It will go a long way in furthering the Ocean of Rain project that I am working on as a sequel to The Invention of Rivers. It is a project that I hope will make a difference on how we see and design our ground of habitation and infrastructure, particularly in the wake of the current crisis.” Created by Senator Simon and Olga Guggenheim in memory of their son, the Guggenheim Fellowship program remains a significant source of support for artists, scholars in the humanities and social sciences, and scientific researchers. In addition to the generous support of Senator Simon and Mrs. Olga Guggenheim, new and continuing donations from friends, Trustees, former Fellows, and other foundations have ensured that the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation will maintain its historic mission. An exceptionally generous bequest in 2019 from the estate of the great American novelist Philip Roth, a Fellow in 1959, is providing partial support for the wide variety of writers supported by the Foundation. The full text of the 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship news is available via the Guggenheim Foundation announcement.

GSD announces April 2020 virtual events series

Harvard Graduate School of Design has organized a series of virtual public lectures across the month of April, an effort toward sharing and stoking design discourse amid today’s almost-entirely digital context. GSD faculty including Dan D’Oca, Oana Stănescu, Jenny French, and David Moreno Mateos will offer looks into their ongoing and upcoming design preoccupations, while voices from outside the school bring welcomed insights and dialogue. The GSD’s series of talks and webinars will be broadcast to our audiences via Zoom and live-streamed to the GSD’s Facebook page. Only viewers who are attending the lecture via Zoom will be able to submit questions for the Q+A. Zoom viewers must register to attend each lecture via the respective lecture’s webpage, available below; once registered, guests will be provided with a link to join the lecture via Zoom. The April 2020 virtual events series includes: Tuesday, April 7, 12:00 pm EST Daniel D’Oca, “Who What Where” D’Oca is Associate Professor in Practice of Urban Planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Principal and Co-Founder of Interboro Partners, a New York City-based architecture, urban design, and urban planning firm. Designers and planners do community engagement for all kinds of reasons, D’Oca argues; for some, it’s a scope requirement that results in empty evening meetings and obligatory “dotmocracy” activities. At worst, it’s an act of coercion: an opportunity to sell a predetermined, independently-generated idea to an unwilling public whose support is needed for approval. Increasingly, community engagement events are PR platforms—photo ops staged to showcase a designer’s willingness to work with “the community.” Rarely is community engagement what it should be, namely, an open-ended, inclusive, and meaningful (and fun!) dialogue that generates something unique and site-specific. In this talk, Dan will talk about some of Interboro’s recent and not-so-recent adventures in community co-design, in which they have deployed engagement, close observation, and learning tools to create regional, citywide, and neighborhood plans, parks and open spaces, public art installations, and other co-authored urban environments.. Friday, April 10, 12:00 pm EST Oana Stănescu, “Breather” Stănescu is a Design Critic in Architecture at Harvard GSD and runs her eponymous design studio from New York. In this lecture, she will discuss the design process seen through the lens of a range of projects in progress. Stănescu’s projects include the collaborative +POOL, a floating, water filtering swimming pool, as well as a wide range of collaborations with Nike, Virgil Abloh, The Office of PlayLab, 2×4, Arup, New Museum, the Storefront for Art and Architecture, Need Supply, Fool’s Gold, and many more. Stănescu’s work has been celebrated in publications such as The New York Times, Forbes, Madame Figaro, Architect magazine, New York magazine, Mark, Time magazine, and Cultured, to name a few. Prior to establishing her own studio she was a co-founder of the New York-based practice Family. Monday, April 13, 12:00 pm EST Aga Khan Program Lecture: Laleh Khalili, “Tankers, Tycoons, and the Making of Modern Regimes of Law, Labor, and Finance” Khalili is a Professor of International Politics at Queen Mary University of London, and the author of Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine (Cambridge, 2007) and Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies(Stanford, 2013). Her Sinews of War and Trade, on the politics of maritime infrastructures, is published by Verso. Focusing on the tanker terminals of the Arabian Peninsula since the 1930s and the subsequent burgeoning of tanker-ships plying the trade between the Peninsula and the rest of the world, Khalili will illuminate the radical changes in political economy, labor, law, and production the specificities of tanker trade has wrought. Friday, April 17, 12:00 pm EST French 2D (Anda and Jenny French), “Together Again” French 2D is Boston-based architecture studio founded by Anda and Jenny French. Their intimate knowledge of Boston, where the sisters were born and raised, allows the close practice to be both deeply engaged and work critically with local issues of housing, public space, history and identity. French 2D works on housing and mixed-use projects with a focus on strange housing types that combine familiar ideas of home with radical organizations and typologies, found in their cohousing and micro-housing projects. The practice also works on civic installations and exhibitions that call upon the domestic to bring people together for familiar rituals in unfamiliar spaces, found in serial dinner-parties, fuzzy bartering environments, and out-scaled dresses. Saturday, April 18, 12:00 pm EST Heinz Emigholz and Anselm Franke, “Goff in the Desert” A live, online screening of Heinz Emigholz’s Goff in the Desert, a sweeping, cinematic meditation on 62 buildings designed by the American architect Bruce Goff. Apprenticed at age 12 but never formally educated as an architect, Goff’s work followed its own trajectory, apart from most 20^th-century architecture. Goff in the Desert is one installment of a series of films Emigholz has made under the title Architecture as Autobiography. The screening will be preceded by a conversation between Emigholz and curator Anselm Franke. Tuesday, April 21, 12:00 pm EST David Moreno Mateos Moreno Mateos is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard GSD and a restoration ecologist interested in understanding the long-term recovery of ecosystems degraded by human development. He is interested in estimating how long it takes for ecosystems to recover their less resilient attributes, like the interactions among soil organisms and plants. Understanding this will allow for the discovery of tools to increase the currently limited performance of ecosystem restoration, and increase our ecological understanding of landscape architecture. To do so, he investigates how the structure of species interactions and the deriving functionality of recovering ecosystems re-assemble over the long term. Thursday, April 23, 6:30 pm EST David Joselit, “Heritage and Debt: Art in Globalization” Joselit is Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies in Harvard’s Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies. Globalization has generated a new model of regional museums of modern and contemporary art whose purpose, Joselit argues, is to develop an alternative to the authority of the so-called Encyclopedic Museums of former imperial capitals in the West, such as London, Paris, and Vienna—a type that can no longer be reproduced. In this lecture, he will consider the National Gallery Singapore, The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, M+ Hong Kong, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi as exemplars of a new model in which the universality associated with European encyclopedic museums are replaced by claims of regional representation whose expansive territorial ambitions are grounded by archaeological situatedness in a local site or culture, often literally through the repurposing and reanimation of existing buildings.

GSD’s Fabrication Lab facilities being considered for possible production of medical supplies

Members of the Harvard GSD community are proactively exploring how we might best leverage our skills and resources to help with the COVID-19 outbreak and its impacts in any ways that we can. Most recently, the GSD’s Assistant Dean for Information Technology Stephen Ervin and 3-D Fabrication Specialist Chris Hansen have been in consultation with the newly formed Mass General Brigham (MGB) Center for COVID Innovation to explore whether and how the GSD’s Fabrication Lab facilities, including 3-D printers, might be put to work to address critical shortages in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for front-line medical personnel—PPE such as face masks, and diagnostic aids such as nasopharyngeal test swabs. Together with the GSD’s Martin Bechthold, Kumagai Professor of Architectural Technology and Director of the Doctor of Design Studies and Master in Design Engineering programs, Ervin and Hansen are coordinating with other Harvard partners, including the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The MGB Center for COVID Innovation is organizing working groups to find rapid ways to pare down the hundreds of PPE designs currently available on the internet to the designs that are the most promising and feasible. The goal is to identify the best designs for printing and implementation strategies of 3-D printers, whether it be home printers, large-factory 3-D printers, or clusters of 3-D printers such as those in Gund Hall. These designs must then be prototyped, tested, and validated by medical professionals, since they are to be used in clinical settings. These GSD staff and faculty are working with Harvard’s Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) group, GSD’s Director of Facilities Management Kevin Cahill, GSD Building Services staff, and custodial personnel to establish internal safety controls, so that a small number of GSD Fabrication Lab staff and others might enter Gund Hall in coming weeks to proceed with production. The urgency and gravity of the needs are evident, as is the requirement that these contributions meet strict public and personal health requirements. As soon as we can move forward, we will do so.

Covid-19: Guidance for the Harvard Graduate School of Design Community

The health, safety, and well-being of our community, on and off campus, is our top priority. As of Friday, March 13, 2020, the Harvard Graduate School of Design has shifted to online coursework. The GSD will continue with remote teaching through the entire Fall 2020 semester. All university-related international travel and non-essential domestic travel are prohibited. All in-person school-wide events and public programs are cancelled. We thank our students, faculty, staff, and our circle of alumni and friends for their spirit of cooperation, patience, ingenuity, and kinship in response to this unprecedented situation. For more information, visit Covid-19 Information for Current and Incoming GSD Students, Covid-19 Information for GSD Faculty, and Covid-19 Information for GSD Staff.

Resources

Covid-19 Information for Current and Incoming GSD Students Covid-19 Information for GSD Faculty Covid-19 Information for GSD Staff Harvard Coronavirus Website Harvard Coronavirus Workplace Policies Travel Cancellation and Reimbursement FAQs Employee Assistance Program Prepare to Learn Remotely Prepare to Teach Remotely Prepare to Work Remotely Virtual Help Desk Do I Need to Self-Isolate for COVID-19?

Latest Updates

The feed below shows time-stamped updates made to the resources linked above, as they happen.

Updates from the Frances Loeb Library

August 3, 2020 at 14:23 You may now borrow print materials and request items from Scan and Deliver from Loeb Library, Lamont, Widener, Tozzer, Yenching, the Harvard Depository and other libraries using our Front Door Pickup service. Instructions can be found on the COVID-19 Information for Students and the COVID-19 Information for Faculty resource pages.

Teaching Assistant: How to Apply

Jul 20, 2020 at 11:40 A link to the Teaching Assistant: How to Apply resource page, which includes Fall 2020 updates, was added to the Table of Contents of the COVID-19 Information for Students resource page.

HUSHP Changes for Academic Year 2020-2021

Jun 10, 2020 at 14:35 Find a list of changes being implemented to the Harvard University Student Health Program (HUSHP) plan for the 2020-2021 Academic Year on the HUSHP website. Some changes are related to the pandemic and others are standard changes. This link has also been added to the FAQ section of the COVID-19 Information for Students resource page.

Harvard Update on Operational and Financial Planning

Jun 9, 2020 at 12:14 On June 9, 2020, Executive Vice President Katie Lapp sent a message to the Harvard community to share a few updates regarding University operations and finances, as well as updated workforce programs and policies. Read the full message.

Updates from the Frances Loeb Library

Jun 9, 2020 at 12:11 Updates as of June 8, 2020, regarding online research support, library services, and physical collections can be found on the Frances Loeb Library webpage. Corresponding text and links are also on the COVID-19 Information for Faculty and COVID-19 Information for Students resource pages.

Fall 2020 Announcement

June 3, 2020 at 09:55: A message from Dean Sarah M. Whiting regarding the fall 2020 semester: Dear GSD community, After intensive scenario planning, I am writing to you today to share our decision that the GSD will continue with remote teaching through the entire fall semester. Three factors influenced our thinking most. First, our concern for the health and safety of the entire GSD community remains our top priority, and based on current guidance from Harvard University Health Services, we have decided that the uncertainty of the coming months warrants our decision to continue with remote teaching. Second, our international students face very steep and unpredictable challenges obtaining necessary visas for entry into the United States, and international and even domestic travel will continue to pose logistical difficulties for everyone. And finally, we believe it is important to commit now to a full semester online, so that new students and returning students who will eventually need to move back to Cambridge and secure new housing accommodations can make their plans for the fall with certainty, and without any lingering possibility that circumstances may suddenly change in the middle of the semester. On Friday [June 5, 2020], you will receive a longer email with specific details about what students can expect in the summer months and fall semester. Kindly, Sarah

Leave of Absence Deadline Now June 15, 2020

May 22, 2020 at 10:33 As of May 22, 2020, the deadline to apply for a Leave of Absence for the fall has been extended to June 15, 2020. Find more information and FAQs around leaves of absence on the COVID-19 Information for Students resource page.

New FAQs

May 22, 2020 at 10:31 New FAQs on the re-opening Gund Hall, returning international students studying remotely, and leaves of absence have been added to the COVID-19 Information for Students resource page.

Harvard Guidance in response to Massachusetts Phased Re-Opening

May 19, 2020 at 12:39 On May 18, 2020, Provost Alan M. Garber (AB ’77, PhD ’82, MD) and Executive Vice President Katie Lapp sent a message to the Harvard community regarding Harvard guidance in response to Massachusetts phased re-opening. Read the full message.

2020 Summer Work and Grant Opportunities for Graduating and Returning Students

May 14, 2020 at 12:30 Information regarding 2020 summer work and grant opportunities for returning and graduating students can now be found on its own resource page, which includes frequently asked questions.

Update on International and Domestic Travel Guidance

May 11, 2020 at 16:20 On May 11, 2020, Provost Alan M. Garber (AB ’77, PhD ’82, MD), Executive Vice President Katie Lapp and Executive Director, Harvard University Health Services Giang T. Nguyen MD, MPH, MSCE, FAAFP sent a message to the Harvard community regarding updated international and domestic travel guidance. “University-related travel, both international and domestic, is prohibited until further notice and should not be planned or scheduled at this time,” states the message. “This applies to all community members—students, faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and other academics. We encourage you to explore creative options for alternative study, research, work, and collaboration. We also strongly discourage personal travel, both international and domestic.” Read the full message.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Order Requiring Use of Face Coverings

May 4, 2020 at 16:09 May 4, 2020, message from Katie Lapp, Executive Vice President, to the Harvard community: On Friday, May 1, 2020, Governor Baker issued an Order requiring people in Massachusetts to wear face masks or cloth face coverings in public places where social distancing is not possible. The Order takes effect Wednesday, May 6, 2020. This applies to both indoor and outdoor spaces. Exceptions include children under the age of 2 and those unable to wear a mask or face covering due to a medical condition. Full details can be found here: https://www.mass.gov/doc/may-1-2020-masks-and-face-coverings/download A violation of this order may result in a civil fine of up to $300 (per violation). As a reminder, a face covering is not a substitute for physical distancing and regular hand washing, which remain among the most effective ways to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Summer Support for Returning Students and New Graduates

Apr 30, 2020 at 17:56 New and emerging opportunities for grants and jobs that the GSD will be providing this summer for returning students and new graduates are posted to the FAQ section of the COVID-19 Information for Students resource page.

City of Cambridge Issues Emergency Order Requiring Use of Face Coverings

Apr 28, 2020 at 14:37 April 28, 2020, message from Katie Lapp, Executive Vice President, to the Harvard community: The City of Cambridge issued an emergency order requiring that face coverings be worn in all public places. The order takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, April 29, and applies to everyone over the age of five years old. The order applies to everyone in public places, to anyone working in or visiting an essential business (including shoppers and consumers), and in common areas of residential buildings of two or more units. Full details of the order can be found here: https://www.cambridgema.gov/covid19/News/2020/04/emergencyorderonfacecoverings The Cambridge Police Department will be focused on educating violators and may issue warnings to those residents who do not cooperate. For those who willingly refuse to comply, they may be subject to a $300 fine. There will be a one-week grace period to allow time to comply. As a reminder, a face covering is not a substitute for physical distancing and regular hand washing, which remain among the most effective ways to slow the spread of COVID-19. Face coverings enhance the effectiveness of physical distancing. The single most effective way to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 is to stay home.

Planning for Fall 2020

Apr 28, 2020 at 14:35 On April 27, 2020, Provost Alan M. Garber (AB ’77, PhD ’82, MD) sent a message to the Harvard community stating that “Harvard will be open for fall 2020.” He continued, “Our goal is to bring our students, faculty, postdoctoral fellows and staff to campus as quickly as possible, but because most projections suggest that COVID-19 will remain a serious threat during the coming months, we cannot be certain that it will be safe to resume all usual activities on campus by then. Consequently, we will need to prepare for a scenario in which much or all learning will be conducted remotely. Even if conditions do not allow for a traditional fall experience on campus, we are committed to ensuring that the learning and research of our students will continue at the highest levels of excellence and that we will do our part to enable them to achieve their aspirations.” Read the full message.

Leave of Absence Requests

Apr 28, 2020 at 09:02 Information regarding Leave of Absence Requests has been added to the Covid-19 Information for Current and Incoming GSD Students resource page.

Scan & Deliver Services from Harvard Library Available Again

Apr 8, 2020 at 14:25 As of April 8, 2020, Scan & Deliver Services from Harvard Library are available again. Requests may be placed through HOLLIS. If the item you are interested in is eligible, the Scan & Deliver link will appear in the item record. You may also submit a Scan & Deliver request manually via your Scan & Deliver account. Find current updates for library services on our website.

Update on Travel Prohibitions, Summer Programs, and Visas

Apr 7, 2020 at 09:52 On April 6, 2020, Harvard issued an update on travel prohibitions, summer programs, and visas stating: Current prohibitions on University-related international travel and non-essential domestic air travel are extended through at least May 31. Harvard-organized and Harvard-funded international travel for all students that is scheduled to start and end between now and August 31 is prohibited. The worldwide suspension of routine visa processing at U.S. consular locations is being closely monitored and Harvard is working to advise international students and scholars accordingly. Read the full update. Additional information as of April 6, 2020, regarding summer international travel guidance for students from Harvard’s Vice Provost for International Affairs can be found on the Harvard COVID-19 website.

Academic Accommodations

Mar 25, 2020 at 14:32 An FAQ regarding academic accommodations, including classroom accommodations, exam accommodations, and registering for accommodations, has been added to the COVID-19 Information for Students page.

Massachusetts Governor Issues Stay at Home Advisory For Two Weeks

Mar 23, 2020 at 11:29 Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has issued a stay-at-home advisory and is ordering non-essential businesses in the state to close beginning Tuesday, March 24 at noon through April 7 at noon. Grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open and you are permitted to go outdoors, as long as you practice strict social distancing measures. Staff: if you are not sure if you are an essential employee, please contact your manager.

Publishers and Vendors Offering Free Content

Mar 23, 2020 at 09:47 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of publishers and vendors are making an assortment of content—ebooks, streaming services, image resources, and more—freely available. A Harvard Library colleague has put together a site compiling the offerings. This is an evolving list.

Do I need to self-isolate for COVID-19?

Mar 17, 2020 at 14:48 HUHS has put together a one-pager of potential scenarios based on the best scientific advice currently available.

Library Updates Regarding Checked Out and Getting Materials

Mar 17, 2020 at 14:40

If you have materials checked out:

Returns: Hold on to everything you have. This includes books, Borrow Direct and Interlibrary Loan materials, DVDs, periodicals, etc. There’s no way to return anything right now. Fines: All recall fines that accrue while the Library is closed will be waived. Reach out to us if you see fines on your account. Due dates: All due dates can be extended. Nothing should be due in the immediate future. Reach out to us if you need help extending a due date. Graduating seniors: We are working on solutions specifically for you, but hold on to loans for now.

If you need materials:

Electronic materials: You may submit Scan & Deliver requests for book chapters and journal articles, and we will try to fill as many requests electronically as possible.

• Scan & Deliver requests may be placed through HOLLIS. If the item you’re interested in is eligible, the Scan & Deliver link will appear in the item record.
• You may also submit a Scan & Deliver request manually via your Scan & Deliver account.

Physical materials: The borrowing of print materials has been suspended until further notice. Physical items are no longer requestable in HOLLIS.

Students: Vital Spring Break Travel Information Notice

Mar 16, 2020 at 10:28 Students: As we respond to the current, ever-shifting situation, it is very important that we are able to maintain contact with you. Please take a moment to update your contact information in my.harvard. Refer to your email for detailed instructions from Sean Conlon on how to use the site. If you are traveling domestically or internationally, be sure to register with Global Support Services. If you are traveling specifically for the spring break period and returning to Cambridge, select “Spring Break 2020,” as the purpose for your travel. Additional information on travel registration and support. If you are living in Harvard Housing or residential halls, you will need to complete the HUHS health form 48 hours before returning. Despite the fact that this form notes it is intended for those who travel to Level 3 areas, you will still need to fill this form out regardless of where you travel. Additional information is available at: Spring Break Travel Registration Instructions for Students and Residential Staff.

Closing Access to the GSD Campus

Mar 16, 2020 at 09:36 As of March 16, the GSD will close access entirely to our academic facilities, including the Fabrication Lab and Loeb Library, until further notice. Students: As of 6:00 pm on Sunday, March 15, students are expected to have moved out of GSD buildings what belongings they need to continue coursework remotely. All courses will continue online, and while students will not be able to enter any GSD buildings until further notice, the school’s administrative leadership has worked extremely hard to maintain remote accessibility of resources fundamental to the academic experience. Among the resources you will have ongoing access to are the digital collections offered by the Loeb Library. Another is a Virtual Help Desk, which starting Monday, March 16, will be open 8:00 am to 10:00 pm Mondays through Fridays to consult on and help resolve any IT-related issues. Faculty, Researchers, and Loeb Fellows: In the strongest terms, faculty are now required to work remotely, away from GSD campus buildings. Because this is a change to earlier communications, however, faculty who do need to enter our buildings to access and remove materials may do so until Wednesday, March 18, at 5:00 pm. Between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday through Wednesday, faculty IDs will gain access to all spaces they already have had privileges to enter. To access Gund Hall, please use the Quincy Street entrance. Please do not let anyone else in any building using your ID card. If you encounter any difficulties, or if you are traveling through the deadline on Wednesday and will need to retrieve belongings from your office after you return, or if you need access to other GSD buildings, please contact Trevor O’Brien or Kevin Cahill. The Wednesday 5:00 pm deadline applies to researchers and Loeb Fellows as well. Some faculty have asked whether their courses may be taught online from their offices. For at least the next two and a half weeks, please teach your courses from home. Over this time (the first week of which involves no teaching, since it is spring break), we will be monitoring this situation as it unfolds, and faculty will be notified if the school’s or the university’s position changes. Because access to Gund Hall will not be allowed, faculty will continue to have access only to the Loeb Library’s digital collections online. As of Monday, March 16, the Virtual Help Desk also will be available 8:00 am to 10:00 pm Mondays through Fridays to consult on IT-related issues. GSD Staff: As of March 16, all Harvard staff who are able are being asked to work remotely. Managers will be in contact regarding specific responsibilities and means of accessing information, and please remember to check the page for staff on the GSD’s COVID-19 webpages for the most current updates.

Faculty Affairs and Library to Offer Weekly Zoom Online Pedagogy Discussion Session for Faculty

Mar 13, 2020 at 18:52 Faculty Affairs and the Library are planning to offer a weekly Zoom online pedagogy discussion session, optional and open to all faculty, to facilitate shared learning and provide a space for instructors to talk. The first discussion will be scheduled for next week, in spite of the break, in case faculty want to discuss planning for their first online class meetings, which will take place beginning Monday, March 23. Details to follow via email.

Signing up for Direct Deposit

Mar 13, 2020 at 18:39 Information on how students can sign up for direct deposit was added to the GSD Student Payroll section of the COVID-19 Information for Students page.

Tools for Learning, Teaching, and Working Remotely

Mar 13, 2020 at 16:00 Links to Harvard tools for learning, teaching, and working remotely were added to the Resources section of this website.

GSD Student Payroll

Mar 13, 2020 at 12:55 Information regarding payroll for GSD students holding a current job at the GSD who will continue to work remotely has been added to the Covid-19 Information for Students page. It includes links to download timesheets and instructions on how to submit timesheets. It also includes further instructions for students planning to start a new job that includes remote work. Should students have any questions regarding the process, please contact payroll coordinators directly.

Moving Assistance

Mar 13, 2020 at 11:06 Moving supplies and carts will be available in Piper Auditorium for GSD students Friday March 13 through Sunday March 15 at 6:00 pm. Moving Vans and Passenger Vans will be on-site 9:00 am – 6:00 pm Friday March 13 through Sunday March 15. Visit the Covid-19 Information for Students page for additional information about moving assistance and logistics. Please direct any questions around moving to [email protected].

Student Employment for the Spring Semester, Housing, and Emergency Assistance

Mar 13, 2020 at 10:02 Additional information regarding Student Employment for the Spring Semester, Housing, and Emergency Assistance has been added to the Covid-19 Information for Students page following the email from Laura Snowdon, Dean of Students & Asst. Dean for Enrollment Services, to students at 5:50 pm EDT on Thursday, March 12, 2020.

Financial Assistance for GSD Students

Mar 12, 2020 at 18:15 The GSD is organizing an emergency fund to assist students who depend on financial aid and others who find themselves with unforeseen and insurmountable financial hurdles. Details will follow by email. Meanwhile, students who have specific and immediate financial issues should email Keith Gnoza, Director of Financial Assistance at [email protected].

Zoom Online Training

Mar 12, 2020 at 18:11 Sign up for an online training for Teaching Remotely with Zoom with HUIT. Additional resources from CRG for anyone who would like to learn more about Zoom:

• Harvard University IT knowledgebase articles: Visit Harvard’s IT Service Portal and search for “zoom.”
• Zoom’s corporate web site also offers a robust online Help Center, including how-to videos, live webinars, and FAQ’s.
• Learn best practices, available tools, and how to get support for teaching your classes online.
• Information about CRG’s Virtual Help Desk.

Virtual Help Desk

Mar 12, 2020 at 15:52 Starting Monday, March 16, the HelpDesk will host an open meeting in Zoom 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily to discuss any IT-related questions or issues.

Students Starting a University Job after March 13, 2020

Mar 12, 2020 at 15:24 If you are a student that is planning to start your first university job after March 13, 2020, you must see your payroll coordinator by close of business on Friday, March 13, 2020. This also applies to those who have not worked in over a year. See your email for a list of documents that must be presented. General payroll questions can be directed to Pilar Raynor Jordan. If you have, or had, a job during the Spring semester, this does not apply to you.

Fabrication Lab Update

Mar 12, 2020 at 15:17 The Fabrication Lab will be closing at 6:00 pm on Sunday, March 15, and will remain closed until further notice. Everything must be removed from the Project Room by this time. Anything left after that time will be discarded. The store will be open normal hours through Saturday, March 14, for returns through Crimson Cash only. It will accept items that are in good condition, not damaged or warped. Student Services is discussing procedures that will allow some limited access to Gund Hall for Fabrication Lab, 3D Printing, Helpdesk, and Digital Printing/Plotting, consistent with the School’s stated goal of limiting occupancy in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, for students whose work truly cannot be accomplished otherwise. This situation is evolving. Students should check their email and this website for updates.

Frances Loeb Library Loaned Material: No Fines

Mar 12, 2020 at 11:30 The Frances Loeb Library is taking steps to ensure that no loaned material will be due before the end of the term. This will involve pushing due dates forward, resetting renewal periods, and turning off recalls. If you have questions or problems with returning books, please respond to the Access Services email address on all Alma notices, and we will fix the issue for you.

Zoom Drop-in Clinics

Mar 12, 2020 at 11:28 Computer Resources Group and Library Staff will be offering a drop-in clinics for anyone who would like to receive hands-on assistance in learning how to use Zoom. Staff will be located in Frances Loeb Library/Collaboration Space 2 during the week of March 9–13 for drop-in sessions between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. Helpdesk will provide an open online Zoom meeting for Helpdesk access.

Free Live-Streaming of Yoga Classes

Mar 12, 2020 at 11:25 YogaGSD and Student Services are coordinating live-streaming of yoga classes with Elizabeth Brown. More information will be forthcoming. Meanwhile, the yoga app Down Dog is free until April 1.

February 2020 News Roundup

Toshiko Mori, Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture, is one of 13 new members inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an honor society of the country’s 250 leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. Each year the academy administers over 70 awards and prizes, exhibits art and manuscripts, funds performances of new works of musical theater, and purchases artwork for donation to museums across the United States. Francisco “Pancho” Brown (MDes CC ’20) and Angela Mayrina (MDes ADPD ’20) have been selected as New Museum/IdeasCity Singapore 2020 Fellows. They traveled to Singapore this month to attend the NTU CCA Ideas Fest 2019–20, which examined the impact of climate change on communities worldwide. The event also featured student work from the fall 2019 GSD course “Exhibit: Designing for Decentralization,” led by Malkit Shoshan, Area Head of the Art, Design, and the Public Domain MDes group. The advanced research- and project-based course was held in collaboration with IdeasCity, the New Museum’s platform to explore art and culture beyond the walls of the museum.   The Material Processes and Systems (MaP+S) Group presented “Ceramic Morphologies” at Cevisama 2020 in Valencia, Spain. The pavilion showcased the expressive potential of ceramic 3D printing, and tested the adaptation of principles of thermodynamic heat transfer to 3D printed geometry. The shape and design of the pavilion were products of current research related to the thermal performance of naturally ventilated spaces. While the exterior surface was smooth and uniform, the interior surface was heavily contoured and textured. MaP+S also displayed “Ceramic Prototype: Hypar Tower” at Cevisama. It explored the structural capabilities of slender ceramic extrusions—products commonly utilized for exterior claddings, rain screens, and sun-shading elements. An exhibition designed by Stanislas Chaillou (MArch ’19)—and featuring work from his GSD thesis—is displayed at Paris’s Pavillon de l’Arsenal. According to the exhibition website, “The ‘AI & Architecture’ exhibition takes us through the main stages of an evolution that started from the studies on Modularity, Computer-aided Design (CAD), Parametrics and, finally, Artificial Intelligence.” Bringing together research and practice, “it also explores the current scales of experimentation: plans, elevations, structures and perspectives in which AI could already make a contribution, real or speculative.” “AI & Architecture” will be on view through April 5, 2020. Honghao Deng’s (MDes ’18) thesis, “Diffusive Geometries,” advised by assistant professor of architectural technology Panagiotis Michalatos, won the Core77 Built Environment Award. “Diffusive Geometries” explores vapor as a medium to bring microclimates that exist outside into architectural space. The unique characteristics of vapor allow users to modulate visibility, create cooling gradients, and produce spatial patterns in a controlled manner. The Core77 Awards received more than 10,000 entries and selected just one student/professional winner in the built environment category. This is the second time a GSD student won, and the first win for the MDes program.      

Rahul Mehrotra appointed Chair of Department of Urban Planning and Design and John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization

Harvard Graduate School of Design announces the appointment of Rahul Mehrotra (MAUD ’87) as the Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization, effective July 1, 2020. Mehrotra joined Harvard GSD’s faculty in 2010, serving as Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design from 2010 until 2015. He most recently served as the Director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program and Co-Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program. He has also been a Professor of Urban Design and Planning at the School. “While our world continues to urbanize, while questions of housing intensify in their urgency and complexity, and as India’s population and role on the world stage both increase dramatically, the GSD’s ability to address these interconnected issues so successfully has been due to Rahul’s unique perspective, as well as his engagements on the ground,” says Sarah M. Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture. “As we look toward our collective ‘near future,’ Rahul brings an unmatched depth of insight to this contemporary moment. His extraordinary synthesis of pedagogy, practice, and a generous ethos will continue to guide us into challenging but essential debates and discoveries.” As Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Mehrotra will set the vision and agenda for Harvard GSD’s renowned urban planning and design programs, advancing the department’s ability to take on urgent, global questions and projects. It was at Harvard that the first North American programs in city planning (1923) and urban design (1960) were formally established; since then, the Department of Urban Planning and Design has graduated some of the world’s preeminent urban designers, policy-makers, and leaders. Its biannual Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design is considered the foremost award recognizing achievement in the field. In this role, Mehrotra succeeds Diane E. Davis, who led the department since 2015. “The pace and nature of urbanization are challenging how we define and teach planning and design,” Mehrotra says. “Today, the world is in a period of extreme transitions, triggered in large part by the inequities caused by globalization as well as climate change and its mark on people’s daily lives. This state of flux is obvious in the changing rhythms of nature and its impact on human settlements. Design and planning have crucial roles to play in using this condition of flux to create solutions to endemic inequalities, from conceiving innovative housing solutions to imagining entirely new urban formations.” As the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization, Mehrotra will lead Harvard GSD’s efforts to study and advance discourse on housing, especially as pressures of widespread housing shortages and unaffordability continue to mount. In this role, Mehrotra succeeds Professor Emeritus Gerald McCue, who has held that title since 1996. “During his time as Dean of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and as U.S. Labor Secretary, John Dunlop trained and inspired generations of students to tackle complex questions of housing and urbanization,” says Chris Herbert, Managing Director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the research center that led the campaign to establish the Dunlop professorship. “With this appointment, Rahul will carry on John’s legacy and continue to elevate the importance of housing in the national conversation.” With a distinguished career as a practitioner and as an academic, Mehrotra’s practice, teaching, and prodigious writing focus primarily on housing and urbanization, particularly in Mumbai and India. Mehrotra taught at the University of Michigan from 2002 to 2006, then at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2006 until joining Harvard GSD in 2010. He founded his Mumbai- and Boston-based firm, RMA Architects, in 1990. RMA Architects has designed and executed projects around the world, including government and private institutions, corporate workplaces, private homes, and other projects, among them a Library for the School of Architecture at CEPT in Ahmedabad, a software campus for Hewlett Packard in Bengaluru, and a conservation master plan for the Taj Mahal with the Taj Mahal Conservation Collaborative. Mehrotra has also collaborated with NGOs to improve conditions for people living in informal settlements in Mumbai. Among other recent achievements, in 2015 RMA Architects completed the “Lab of the Future” on the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland, and were finalists in an international design competition for the Museum of Modern Art in Sydney. In 2018, RMA Architects was awarded the Venice Architecture Biennale Jury’s Special Mention for “three projects that address issues of intimacy and empathy, gently diffusing social boundaries and hierarchies.” Mehrotra’s research on urbanism is focused on evolving a theoretical framework for designing in conditions of informal growth—what he refers to as the “Kinetic City.” From 2012 to 2015, Mehrotra led a Harvard University-wide research project with Professor Diana Eck called The Kumbh Mela: Mapping the Ephemeral Mega City. This work was published as a book in 2014, was extended in 2017 in the form of a book titled Does Permanence Matter?, and led to an invited exhibition at the 2016 Venice Architectural Biennale. His latest co-authored book is titled Taj Mahal: Multiple Narratives (December 2017). Mehrotra studied at the School of Architecture at CEPT in Ahmedabad, where he received the gold medal for his undergraduate thesis, and graduated with a master’s degree, with distinction, in urban design from Harvard GSD.

Harvard GSD announces Spring 2020 public program

Harvard GSD opens its spring 2020 public program on February 4, with an inside look at Harvard University’s footprint in neighboring Allston—the site of Harvard’s future research and innovation campus. Questions about urbanization in the United States are woven throughout the spring program, with a February 27 conversation among historian Lizabeth Cohen, former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and Harvard GSD dean Sarah Whiting on “Saving America’s Cities.” Cohen and Whiting join Alex Krieger, Thomas J. Campanella, Paul Goldberger, and Alissa Quart on April 14 to discuss writing on and about cities, while on April 17, Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies presents “In Pursuit of Equitable Development: Lessons from Washington, Detroit, and Boston.” This spring also marks the 50th anniversary of Harvard GSD’s noted urban design program, celebrated on March 12 with a lecture by former Washington, D.C. mayor Anthony A. Williams. Other events explore developing interests that extend beyond cities. On April 10, designer Jennifer Bonner and structural engineer Hanif Kara moderate the conference “Mass Timber: Beyond Instrumentality and Technology,” dove-tailing with a concurrent studio that the professors are leading at Harvard GSD. Architect and urbanist Rem Koolhaas returns on April 23 to join Dean Whiting and curator Troy Conrad Therrien for a discussion tied to Koolhaas’s much-anticipated Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum exhibition Countryside, The Future (opening February 20); Koolhaas and Whiting visit the Guggenheim the following day for a related evening event. On February 6, landscape architect Günther Vogt gives a lecture in connection with his Harvard GSD exhibition First the Forests, reinviting designers to foreground forestry and plant life in their work—a conversation to be continued on February 25, when Ron Henderson, Julian Raxworthy, and Douglas Reed join Harvard GSD’s Danielle Choi to talk “Plants in the Design Imagination.” And on March 30, curator Stefanie Hessler and artist Armin Linke will discuss their ongoing research into the intermingled social forces at play in the excavation of the world’s oceans. The full public program appears below and can be viewed on Harvard GSD’s events calendar. Please visit Harvard GSD’s home page to sign up to receive periodic emails about the School’s public programs, exhibitions, and other news. Harvard GSD spring 2020 public program “Harvard in Allston: Perspective and Next Steps”: Marika E. Reuling and Thomas Glynn February 4 C. David Tseng February 5 Frederick Law Olmsted Lecture: Günther Vogt                February 6 “Plants in the Design Imagination”: Ron Henderson, Julian Raxworthy, and Douglas Reed with Danielle Choi February 25 “Saving America’s Cities: The Past, Present, and Future of Urban Revitalization” A conversation with Lizabeth Cohen, Shaun Donovan, and Sarah Whiting February 27 Elizabeth Hoover     March 2 International Womxn’s Day Lecture: Dr. Vandana Shiva     March 3 “Words Build Worlds”: Nicolai Ouroussoff, Florencia Rodriguez, and Tom Weaver March 10 50th Anniversary of Urban Design Lecture: Former Mayor Anthony A. Williams March 12 Conference: “On the Cene: New Approaches to Building the American Museum of Natural History” with a keynote lecture by Jeanne Gang, Gary Hilderbrand, and Douglas Reed March 13 “An Anatomy of Influence,” Thomas Daniell   March 23 John T. Dunlop Lecture: “Addressing Homelessness: What Can (and Can’t) Architecture Do?” with Michael Maltzan March 24 Conference: “Thresholds: Design and Science” March 27 Rouse Visiting Artist Lecture: “Prospecting Ocean: Artistic Research in the Oceanic Anthropocene”: Stefanie Hessler and Armin Linke        March 30 Open House Lecture: Amanda Williams April 2 Kenzo Tange Lecture: OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen April 7 Sol Camacho/RADDAR      April 9 Conference: “Mass Timber: Beyond Instrumentality and Technology,” moderated by Jennifer Bonner and Hanif Kara April 10 Aga Khan Program Lecture: “Tankers, Tycoons, and the Making of Modern Regimes of Law, Labour, and Finance,” Laleh Khalili April 13 “Writing Our Cities”: Alex Krieger with Thomas J. Campanella, Lizabeth Cohen, Paul Goldberger, Alissa Quart, and Sarah Whiting            April 14 Jan De Vylder April 16 Conference: “In Pursuit of Equitable Development: Lessons from Washington, Detroit, and Boston” April 17 Hashim Sarkis        April 21 “Project for a New Decade: From City to Countryside”: Samir Bental, Rem Koolhaas, Troy Conrad Therrien, and Sarah Whiting Co-organized with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum April 23 “Project for a New Decade: From City to Countryside”: a panel discussion at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum ​Co-organized with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum April 24

Announcing winners of 2020 Richard Rogers Fellowship, the Wimbledon House’s residency program for architectural and urban research

Harvard Graduate School of Design is pleased to announce the six winners of the 2020 Richard Rogers Fellowship, a residency program at the Wimbledon House in London, the landmarked residence designed by Lord Richard Rogers for his parents in the late 1960s. Now entering its fourth cycle, the Fellowship is inspired by Lord Rogers’s commitment to cross-disciplinary investigation and engagement, evident across his prolific output as an architect, urbanist, author, and activist.

The six fellows named for the 2020 cycle were chosen from more than 150 applicants from around the world. In addition to a three-and-a-half-month residency, each fellow receives travel expenses to London and a $10,000 cash purse. They will pursue research on a variety of issues, including allocation of parking around new buildings in London, the formal consequences of building booms on the city’s urban fabric, and the civic imaginaries that may be gleaned from building code.

The GSD introduced the Richard Rogers Fellowship in October 2016, and named its inaugural class of fellows in February 2017. Since its inception, the Richard Rogers Fellowship has drawn scholars from a range of fields and backgrounds to London, where they have engaged with that city’s great research and design institutions.

2020 RICHARD ROGERS FELLOWS (biographies and abbreviated project proposals appear below):

Spring 2020
Timothy Ivison (Los Angeles, CA)
Emma Letizia Jones (Zurich, Switzerland)

Summer 2020
Sean Canty (Cambridge, MA)
Michelle Chang (Cambridge, MA)

Fall 2020
Thomas Shay Hill (Somerville, MA)
Henry Grabar (Chicago, IL)

The 2021 Richard Rogers Fellowship cycle will begin accepting applications in October 2020.

The 2020 Richard Rogers Fellowship Selection Committee was co-chaired by Mohsen Mostafavi and Sarah Whiting, and included Eve Blau, Ricky Burdett, Hanif Kara, Niall Kirkwood, Farshid Moussavi, Irénée Scalbert, and Simon Smithson.

About the 2020 Richard Rogers Fellowship Winners and Proposals

Spring 2020 Fellows:

Timothy Ivison (Los Angeles, CA): Counter Constructs
Timothy Ivison is a writer and researcher living in Los Angeles. His work is concerned with the history and political ecology of cities, with a recent focus on post-war redevelopment in London and Los Angeles. He has taught a number of interdisciplinary seminars on biopolitics, crowd theory, and urban history, most recently at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and Art Center College of Design. His urban research is also informed by a sustained engagement with contemporary art, artist-run spaces, and self-organized institutional practices. Recent collaborations with the artist Julia Tcharfas include the exhibition 710 at Before Present, Los Angeles; The Tick Memorial Library at Magic Hour, Twentynine Palms; and Science of Rehearsal at the Swiss Institute, New York.

Ivison received a BA in Visual and Critical Studies and a BFA in studio practice from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and completed his PhD at the London Consortium, Birkbeck College, University of London in 2017. From 2014 to 2016, he was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Researcher at the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

Ivison’s proposal Counter Constructs investigates the material history of a series of planning conflicts that took place within London in the late 1960s and 1970s. Focusing on the transition from post-war reconstruction to speculative redevelopment, the project points to a remarkable pattern in which communities worked with architecture students, legal advisors, ex-planners, and advocacy groups to create alternative visions of the city. Emphasizing the visual artefacts of these struggles, the project documents the production and counter-production of plans, models, and exhibitions by community groups using the visual tools of planning and architecture to challenge the redevelopment agenda and the terms of participation.

Emma Letizia Jones (Zurich, Switzerland): Built by the Book

Emma Letizia Jones is an Australian-born architectural historian and writer. She was educated at the University of Sydney and the Architectural Association, London, and obtained her PhD in 2016 from the University of Zurich with the thesis Schinkel in Perspective, a new account of the drawing practice of the Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. She has also been a design studio director at the EPF Lausanne. Alongside developing her PhD thesis for publication, Jones teaches the history and theory of architecture (1450-1850) at the GTA Institute, ETH Zurich, in the Chair of Prof. Maarten Delbeke, and is a founding member of TEN, winners of the Swiss Art Awards for architecture in 2018. Her current research is focused on the translations occurring between architecture and its drawn and printed representations with a focus on early-19th-century Britain and Germany; and the relationship between books and buildings in architectural culture. Jones’s writing has appeared in AA Files, San Rocco, Architectural Histories, and Architectural Review, among other publications, and she has organized exhibitions and teaching workshops in Switzerland, Italy, the UK, and Australia.

Jones’s proposal Built by the Book: The Global Impact of the Building Manual and Trade Catalogue in Nineteenth Century London is a study of the global dissemination of the English “building manual” and the “trade catalogue”: new types of architectural books which emerged in mid-nineteenth-century London as both a response to, and driver of, the rapid speculative development of the city’s housing stock. The research conducted while staying at the Wimbledon House will look critically at a selection of these commercial publications currently held at the Victoria and Albert Museum National Art Library and a group of other London-based archives, to understand how they emerged from a long line of books about building and ornamentation stretching back to at least the 16th century, while also investigating how they continue to inform the development of housing policy and the standardization of housing, both new and old, across London. This study is part of a wider research project supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of Technology Sydney.

Summer 2020 Fellows:

Sean Canty (Cambridge, MA): Before Images, After Pictures, and Somewhere In-between

Sean Canty is a designer and Assistant Professor of Architecture at the GSD, where he teaches architectural design in the school’s core design studios. Canty’s teaching, research, and practice explore unexpected forms of visuality, motivated by architectural type and geometry. Exploring the interrelationships between interior, envelope, and building, Canty explores montage as a spatial practice.

Canty is also one of the founding principals of Office III (OIII), an experimental architectural collective based in New York, San Francisco, and Cambridge. Office III was selected in November 2016 as a finalist for the Young Architects Program at MoMA PS1. They have also recently completed the Governors Island Welcome Centre for The Friends of Governors Island and exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Storefront for Art and Architecture, the Cooper Union, and the A+D Museum in Los Angeles. Before establishing these two respective practices, Canty was a Project Designer at IwamotoScott Architecture in San Francisco, during which he led projects including the Pinterest headquarters, Bloomberg TechHub, the Goto House, Noe Valley House, and HeavyBit Industries. He received an MArch from the GSD and a BArch from California College of the Arts.

Canty’s proposal, Before Images, After Pictures, and Somewhere In-between, is a speculative exploration in revisiting the 18th-century English Picturesque tradition. In revisiting this aesthetic discourse, the research aims to tease out the spatial, perceptual, and representational techniques for application in contemporary practice. The development of the research will happen through the construction of a visual catalog of picturesque strategies developed through written, visual, and formal analysis by surveying critical picturesque landscapes through the lens of three themes: the fragment, view constructions, and filtered forms.

Michelle Chang (Cambridge, MA): Reframing Urban Imaginaries

Michelle Chang directs JaJa Co and teaches architectural design at the GSD. She founded her independent practice in 2014 after working in offices in New York, Boston, and San Francisco. Her design work experiments with the overlaps between and among film, installation, music, and building.

Chang holds an MArch from the GSD and a BA in international relations from Johns Hopkins University. She is a former MacDowell Colony Fellow, Wortham Fellow, and a recipient of the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers. In her research, Chang studies how optics, digital media, and modes of cultural production influence translations between design and building. Before teaching at Harvard GSD, she taught at Rice University, the University of California Berkeley, California College of the Arts, and Northeastern University.

In her Richard Rogers Fellowship proposal, Chang posits that, already embedded within building codes is a civic imaginary. Professional guidelines established by governments and non-profit associations project conceptual and material potentials for the environment. She speculates that architects can more creatively engage these imagined futures by translating legal descriptions to semantic images.

Fall 2020 Fellows:

Thomas Shay Hill (Somerville, MA): Cycles of Urban Form

Thomas Shay Hill is an urban historian and PhD candidate at the GSD. Hill’s research focuses on the boom-bust cycle of urban development: a process that is at once recurrent and unpredictable. Hill is interested in the role of this process in shaping and reshaping the urban environment. He focuses in particular on the relationship between building booms and the formation of new construction techniques, architectural styles, building types, and centers of activity on the urban fabric. Hill focuses as well on the destructive implications of the construction cycle: in accelerating the obsolescence of existing buildings, typologies, and places, and in giving way to “busts” that entail vacancy, devaluation, and bankruptcy. Hill is primarily interested in the formal and spatial implications of this irregular historical process.

Hill’s professional background is in planning, design, and construction in New York City. His writing has been published in the Journal of Urban History, Environmental Research Letters, the Urban History Association’s blog Metropole, and the Routledge anthology Architecture and the Smart City. His research has received generous support from the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Harvard Graduate Society, and the GSD. Before coming to Harvard, Hill completed a BA in Urban Studies from Columbia University.

During his residency, Hill will advance his dissertation research by studying the formal consequences of building booms on the urban fabric of London. A major focus of Hill’s research is the 1980s office development boom, a global phenomenon that witnessed the birth of Canary Wharf as an alternative commercial district to the City of London. Hill plans to access historical records on London’s urban fabric—including maps, plans, construction documents, and property records—from the London Metropolitan Archives and the National Archives at Kew.

Henry Grabar (Chicago, IL): Paved Paradise

Henry Grabar is a staff writer at Slate who writes about cities. His work has also appeared in the Atlantic, Architectural Record, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications, and his research on the urban landscape of Algiers after 1962 was published in the journal Cultural Geographies. In 2018, his story on immigrants in in the meatpacking town of Fremont, Nebraska was a finalist for the Livingston Award for National Reporting by a journalist under 35. He was the editor of the Future of Transportation anthology (Metropolis Books, 2019) and is writing a book about parking for Penguin Press. He has a BA from Yale in French and American Studies, and he lives in Chicago.

As Grabar observes: In the early 2000s, London stopped requiring new buildings to include parking spots. Between 2004 and 2011, the city constructed 144,000 fewer spaces than it would have under the old laws—in square footage, the equivalent of foregoing 20 Empire State Buildings worth of parking spots, not including the years since 2011. With his proposal Paved Paradise, Grabar will explore how this decision has changed the capital’s architecture, neighborhood character, housing costs, and commuting patterns, and will draw on London’s experience to project what might be in store for the dozens of cities now following in its footsteps.