About

Gund Hall building exterior.

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) educates leaders in design, research, and scholarship to make a resilient, just, and beautiful world. Established as one of the degree-granting schools of Harvard University in 1936, the GSD consists of three pioneering academic departments, the Department of Architecture, the Department of Landscape Architecture, and the Department of Urban Planning and Design. Building on these legacies, the School today also offers programs in Design Engineering, Design Studies, and Real Estate.

  • Community Values, Rights, and Responsibilities

    Members of the GSD community uphold certain basic values that create an environment of trust, mutual respect, free expression and inquiry, and a commitment to truth, excellence, and lifelong learning.

  • Academic Integrity

    The GSD strives to promote the development of design excellence through teaching, learning, and research. This mission is predicated on the considerate behavior and integrity of all members of the academic community.

  • Respectful Engagement

    Transparency, honesty, and respect are critical components of the GSD community. All members of the community are expected to uphold these values and are accountable for their personal behavior in all forms of engagement.

  • Equitable Accountability

    The GSD does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, veteran status, or disability. The GSD upholds the acceptance of all within the school community, free from abusive or intimidating behavior.

Photo of the dean Sarah Whiting.

“Here at the GSD, we translate into policy, program, space, and form different ways of living together that can mitigate our climate catastrophe, can suture broken communities, and can offer new ways of working in our contemporary world. The design and planning fields combine radical interdisciplinarity with the specificity and precision of core expertise. We synthesize knowledge from across the academy and the public and private sectors to distill genuinely new Ideas in response to the complex circumstances of a place, its community, and its future.”

Sarah Whiting
Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture

Academics

The Department of Architecture originated in courses on the subject taught at Harvard beginning in 1874. The Department of Landscape Architecture, founded in 1900, is the first such department in the world. And the Department of Urban Planning & Design offers programs in both disciplines that were the first in North America, with programs on city and regional planning starting in 1923 and the urban design program starting in 1960.

Beyond its degree programs, the GSD drives public discourse about design through the practice and research of its faculty as well as through the School’s own publications, public programs, and exhibitions. Members of the GSD community—whether through teaching, learning, practice, or research—share a common aspiration to advance the outer limits of knowledge and engage the world’s most intractable social and environmental crises. 

Our Campus

Gund Hall is the central building on the GSD campus and the heart of the School’s community. Designed by the architect and GSD graduate John Andrews, Gund Hall opened in 1972 and embodies the GSD’s pedagogical mission and values. It persists as a site of intense scholarly exchange, a gathering place for members of the public, and a studio for design training. 

  • Administrative Leadership Council

    The Administrative Leadership Council is responsible for policies and decisions governing all aspects of administration, coordination, and operation of the GSD, including its financial, human, physical, and other resources.

  • Executive Committee

    The Executive Committee discusses and advises the dean on all administrative policies and the operations of the School.