GSD Comeback: Alumni & Friends Celebration 2026

Visit the WelCOMEBACK table to check in and grab your name badge and printed materials to navigate the weekend. Staff will be ready to answer any questions and direct you to the various events throughout the space!    

Explore the Fall 2026 exhibitions in the Frances Loeb Library and Druker Design Gallery or catch a tour of HouseZero.

MDE Exhibition
Library First Floor 
Details to come.

Infrastructure in a Time of Flux: Methods, Conditions and Situations
Tour, Druker Design Gallery
As cities confront rapid demographic flux, environmental, and sociocultural shifts, temporary or impermanent infrastructures have emerged as critical tools for addressing transient needs and fostering dynamic public engagement. The works on display examine infrastructures designed for transient use—event-based pavilions, emergency shelters, mobile workspaces, and participatory art installations. These interventions span categories such as dwelling, mobility, community, entertainment, health, water, and sanitation, reflecting their multifunctional roles in contemporary cities. By revisiting case studies and presenting speculative design proposals, the exhibition explores how ephemeral architectures challenge conventional notions of permanence, prioritizing flexibility, user agency, rapid deployment, and, most importantly, employing building systems and systemic design thinking.
Curated by Rahul Mehrotra (MAUD ’87), John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization

HouseZero
Tour, 20 Sumner Road 
Alumni and friends can learn more about the Center for Green Buildings and Cities’ work to transform the building industry through research, design, and innovation in sustainable, high-performance buildings. HouseZero is a retrofitted pre-1940s building that serves as a living laboratory for ultra-efficient buildings and new approaches to building performance. Explore HouseZero’s real-time performance data.
Tour guides:
Ali Malkawi, Professor of Architectural Technology, Director of the Doctor of Design Studies Program, and Founding Director of the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities  
Pete Howard, HouseZero Automation Technology and Data Manager 
Please note that the HouseZero tour has a limited capacity of 30.

Join us for a welcome reception featuring brief remarks from Sarah M. Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture. This gathering offers Comeback guests an opportunity to connect with one another, hear directly from the dean, and enjoy refreshments before Beer ’N Dogs begins with the wider community. Enjoy live music by student musician(s), along with beer, wine, and hors d’oeuvres.

Decompress from a busy week and join us for a relaxed, but lively evening of conversation and connection as alumni, current students, and faculty gather for a beloved Friday night tradition. Enjoy delicious food offerings from local restaurants and a hosted soft bar.

Visit the WelCOMEBACK table to check in and grab your name badge and printed materials to navigate the weekend. Staff will be ready to answer any questions and direct you to the various events throughout the space!    

Start the day off right and connect with alumni and friends over a healthy continental breakfast.

Offering mini-courses to understand the GSD’s current pedagogy and join critical conversations that are centered around relevance, making an impact, and defining the critical issues of tomorrow.

Living Together by Design
Panel, Piper Auditorium
Inspired by the Joint Center for Housing Studies’ half-day event this past April, this panel will synthesize and share what we’ve learned about intergenerational housing—from households and buildings to neighborhoods and cities—and what needs to happen next in design, policy, and practice.
Featured speakers include:
Jennifer Molinsky, Director, Housing and Aging Society Program, JCHS
Tim Love (MArch ’89), Assistant Director of the Master in Real Estate Program, Lecturer and Senior Fellow in Real Estate and Urban Planning, Harvard GSD; Founding Principal, Utile
Jenny French (MArch ’11), Assistant Professor in Practice of Architecture, Harvard GSD; Partner, French 2D

Alumni-led Lightning Presentations
Location TBD
Enjoy 8–10 mini-presentations from GSD alumni. Those interested in presenting should submit to our forthcoming open call. Presenters will be selected by the Alumni Council and asked to give a quick, five-minute presentation. In lieu of an audience Q&A, guests and presenters are encouraged to continue the conversation during breaks and meals throughout the day. More details coming soon.

Spring 2026 Option Studio Presentation 
Location TBD
Details to come.

Grab a drink, snack, and recharge with fellow alumni and friends in between modules.

Infrastructure in a Time of Flux: Methods, Conditions and Situations
Panel, Piper Auditorium
As cities confront rapid demographic flux, environmental, and sociocultural shifts, temporary or impermanent infrastructures have emerged as critical tools for addressing transient needs and fostering dynamic public engagement. The works on display examine infrastructures designed for transient use—event-based pavilions, emergency shelters, mobile workspaces, and participatory art installations. These interventions span categories such as dwelling, mobility, community, entertainment, health, water, and sanitation, reflecting their multifunctional roles in contemporary cities. By revisiting case studies and presenting speculative design proposals, the exhibition explores how ephemeral architectures challenge conventional notions of permanence, prioritizing flexibility, user agency, rapid deployment, and, most importantly, employing building systems and systemic design thinking.
Featured speakers include:
Curator Rahul Mehrotra (MAUD ’87), John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization

Post Flush: Water, Waste, and Intimacy in Berlin’s Civic Realm
Spring 2026 Option Studio Presentation, Location TBD
This presentation will showcase the work of Spring 2026 Option Studio Post Flush: Water, Waste, and Intimacy in Berlin’s Civic Realm, connecting pedagogy with real-world scenarios. Discover how design interventions that highlight everyday bodily needs (toilets, showers, hygiene) connect to large-scale water systems and landscapes, using public spaces as places of intimacy and awareness.  
Featured speakers include:  
Chris Reed (AB ’91), Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Co-Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program, Harvard GSD; Founding Director, STOSS Landscape Urbanism

AI and Design: Design and Design Practice Revisited
Panel, Stubbins
Inspired by AI and Design: Design and Design Practice this past March, this panel will feature short presentations and a thoughtful, engaging conversation on the GSD’s ongoing efforts to navigate a rapidly evolving technological environment, followed by an audience Q&A. Discover how the GSD is harnessing AI and witness an exciting exchange of ideas and views.
Featured speakers include:
Charles Waldheim, Director of the Office for Urbanization, Landscape Architecture Thesis Director, Co-Director of the Master in Design Studies Program, John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard GSD (Moderator)
John May (MArch ’02), Associate Professor of Architecture, Architecture Thesis Co-Director, Harvard GSD; Founding Partner, MILLIØNS
Belinda Tato, Co-Director of the Master in Design Engineering Program, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Harvard GSD
Allen Sayegh (MDes ’96), Design Critic and Senior Interaction Technologies Fellow, MDes Domain Head: Mediums
Min Yeo (MLA ’18, DDes ’24), Design Critic in Landscape Architecture, Harvard GSD

Find classmates and friends and share your morning experiences over lunch.

Ralph Johnson (MArch ’73) in Conversation with Maurice Cox (LF ’05)
Piper Auditorium
Join Ralph Johnson (MArch ’73), Principal and Design Director of Perkins+Will Chicago, for a discussion on his latest book, Architecture in a Rapidly Changing World.
Moderated by Maurice Cox (LF ’05), Emma Bloomberg Professor in Residence of Urban Planning and Design, Co-Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program, Co-Director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design Program, Harvard GSD

Catch your breath and catch up with friends during this afternoon break.

This session offers alumni and friends a chance to connect and converse with fellow GSD graduates and current students. Attend a tour, explore Harvard Square, or use this time for class reunions.

Ad hoc Reunion Space
Room 318, 5th Floor Rooms
Enjoy snacks, water, and access to monitor/screen. To reserve ad hoc reunion space and learn more about organizing a reunion gathering during the GSD Comeback, please contact Lindsey LaGrasse, Director of Student-Alumni Engagement.

Alumni & Student Mixer
Backyard Tent, Porticos 121–123
Connect with alumni and current students over frozen treats at designated conversation tables, with themes such as climate change, academia, non-traditional pathways, and housing.

Walking Tour with Garnette Cadogan
Meet on Library First Floor
Inspired by Garnette Cadogan’s GSD public program lecture, “The Ground is All Memoranda’: Walking as Register, Responsibility, and Reenchantment,” and tour for the Walking Festival of Sound, this tour will take guests on a 1-hour and 30-minute walking tour near the GSD. Details to follow. Spots limited.

Student-led Gund Hall Tours
Meet in Piper Auditorium
Experience Gund Hall through the eyes of current students. Details to follow. Spots limited.

Take a short pause to recharge before the evening’s celebrations begin.

Join us in honoring the 2025 and 2026 GSD Alumni Award winners. Dean Whiting will serve as our venerable host and moderate a discussion uplifting the work and leadership of our distinguished winners. Learn more about the annual Alumni Award.

Then, continue the celebration into the night! Reflect on the evening’s awards, delve deeper into the topics explored during the day, and share your own stories. Enjoy a casual but generous food spread and a hosted soft bar with signature drinks.

Formal GSD Comeback programming concludes.