Harvard Design Magazine No. 52 | The Design School at Arizona State University

The Design School at Arizona State University hosted a special evening of conversation with Dean Cheng and Harvard Design Magazine . This event dove into the latest issue of Harvard Design Magazine, no. 52, which focuses on the theme “Instruments of Service.” This issue explores a simple but essential question: What do architects produce today?

This expert panel engaged in thought-provoking conversations around the intersection of design practice, social responsibility, and innovation, and offered diverse perspectives on how design can respond to contemporary challenges. Attendees engaged with leading voices in the field and gained insight into the instruments of service driving meaningful change in architecture today.

Limited copies of Harvard Design Magazine, no. 52, were available for purchase at the event.

Moderator

Renée Cheng
Senior Vice Provost, Dean and Professor, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

Panelists

Elizabeth Christoforetti
Assistant Professor of Practice in Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design & Guest Editor of Harvard Design Magazine, no. 52

Jacob Reidel
Assistant Professor of Practice in Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design & Guest Editor of Harvard Design Magazine, no. 52

Phillip Bernstein
Deputy Dean and Professor, Adjunct at the Yale School of Architecture

Questions? Contact [email protected].

BeerxAlums: Celebrate Unsung Heroes

The GSD Alumni Council celebrated students who act in selfless ways to make the GSD a better place. GSD students, local alumni, and Alumni Council members gathered at the annual Unsung Heroes Book Prize Ceremony to honor this year’s recipients: Navya Raju (MDes ’25), Miriam Hernandez Medina (MLA ’26), and Allen Wang (MDes ’25).

Ceremony
6:30 PM–7:00 PM
Piper Steps, Gund Hall  

Reception
7:00 PM–8:30 PM
Piper Floor, Gund Hall 

Hosted by: GSD Alumni Council Development & Alumni Relations x Frances Loeb Library

Questions? Contact [email protected]. 

Real Estate Symposium at Harvard University | At a Crossroads: Adapting to a Shifting Landscape

The Real Estate Symposium at Harvard University is organized jointly by students across the Harvard Real Estate Community, including Harvard Law School (HLS), Harvard Business School (HBS), and Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). The Symposium brought together a diverse audience of alumni, students, industry professionals, and academics to explore the theme of “At a Crossroads: Adapting to a Shifting Landscape” and covered how the real estate industry is evolving around a range of topics, including:

• Capital Markets and Financing
• PropTech and Innovation
• Sustainability & Climate Resilience
• Global Lessons
• Future of Office and Downtowns
• And more!

Questions? Contact [email protected].

APA Denver: GSD Alumni Reception 2025

GSD alumni, faculty, and students gathered for an informal reception during the American Planning Association 2025 National Planning Conference (NPC25)  in Denver, Colorado.

Ann Forsyth, Ruth and Frank Stanton Professor of Urban Planning, Director of the Master in Urban Planning Program, and Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, offered brief remarks on the GSD, current students, and the Master of Urban Planning program. The reception was generously hosted by Mark W. Johnson (MLAUD ’82).

Questions? Contact [email protected].

 

GSD Alumni Deep Tunnel Tour | Chicago

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s Deep Tunnel is one of the nation’s largest pieces of critical infrastructure, playing a vital role in managing stormwater surges in our region. Facility Engineers provided an in-depth explanation of the operation, and we visited the deep tunnel operations pumping station. This tour gave architects, landscape architects, and urban planners a better understanding of the scale of this regional challenge and its impact on people, their homes, and their neighborhoods.

Attendees gained exclusive access to the facility and had the opportunity to network with other professionals. This educational tour provided valuable insights into stormwater management and its importance.

Organized by the GSD Alumni Council with special thanks to Juan M. Villafañe (MArch ’00) and Ethan Lassiter (MUP’15) for hosting.

GSD Alumni Reception | Toronto

The GSD Alumni Council invites you to a GSD Toronto Social on the rooftop of Brook McIlroy on Thursday, May 15, 2025.

Special thanks to Jennifer Esposito (MArch ’12) and Calvin Brook (MAUD ’85).

Questions? Contact [email protected].

GSD Virtual Town Hall: Design’s Role in a Changing World

Dean Sarah M. Whiting joined Harvard Design Magazine guest editors and GSD professors Elizabeth Christoforetti (MArch ’09) and Jacob Reidel, and GSD Lecturer and Faculty Building Committee Chair David Fixler in a discussion about designers’ evolving role and influence in modern society.

Harvard Design Magazine, no. 52, “Instruments of Service,” investigates the changing nature of design practice, examining how the things we make and how we make them are transforming to create positive change and meet the imperatives of our time, such as the global environmental crisis and the rise of artificial intelligence.

The Gund Hall façade renewal project exemplifies the crucial role designers play in achieving impactful outcomes. This ambitious project, driven by focused, collaborative, and interdisciplinary efforts, successfully met exacting performance and aesthetic goals while honoring the original architectural vision. The process, which featured deep collaboration between the design and construction teams to produce a project that exceeded initial expectations for aesthetics and performance, yielded valuable insights that will inform future initiatives at the school, offering significant pedagogical and practical implications.

The annual GSD Virtual Town Hall presents an opportunity for the GSD community to hear from Dean Whiting and design thought leaders in discussions about critical issues affecting our built and natural environments. Each year, the theme changes and may lean toward a specific discipline but still strives to foster a broader dialogue and offer valuable insights relevant to a wide range of interests within our community.

Order your copy of Harvard Design Magazine, no. 52, “Instruments of Service,” today and enjoy a 30% discount with promo code gsd-alum-52.

Gain valuable insights into the Gund Hall façade renewal project from the following articles:

• A. Krista Sykes, “The Renovated Gund Hall: A Paradigm for the Revitalization of Mid-Twentieth-Century Architecture,” Harvard Graduate School of Design, November 20, 2024. Read more.
• Joann Gonchar, “Bruner/Cott Architects Gives Harvard’s Gund Hall a High-Tech Facelift,” Architectural Record, November 1, 2024. Read more.
• Nina Pasquini, “Renovating Gund,” Harvard Magazine, May-June 2024. Read more .

This event offered the following approved continuing education credits:

• 1.5 AIA LU|HSW
• 1.5 LA CES HSW
• 1.5 AICP CM

Questions? Please contact [email protected].

2025 GSD J-Term Regional Gatherings

Visit the website for more information on 2025 J-Term Regional Gatherings!

2024 Druker Traveling Fellowship Presentation

The 2024 Druker Traveling Fellowship Presentation featured the 2020-2021 Druker Fellow, Sam Naylor (MAUD ’21), who presented his research, “Living Without Land: A Field Report on Cooperative Housing.”

The presentation was followed by a Q&A with Joan Busquets, Martin Bucksbaum Professor in Practice of Urban Planning and Design, and a reception in the Druker Design Gallery.

Housing tenure and architecture are limited by our status quo, whereby design and development are driven by speculation and limit resident security by pitting affordability against ownership. In contrast, cooperative housing schemes, both in formation (co-housing, centraal wonen, Baugruppen), and in land ownership (cooperatives, community land trusts) offer alternative approaches in development, funding, materiality, unit arrangement, circulation, and common space. Perhaps more importantly, these models reframe housing as not only a product or shell, but rather as a neighborhood and home to live in forever.

In this lecture, Sam Naylor (MAUD ’21) discussed the impact for housing design based on the analysis of over 100 cooperative projects in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland, the United States, and Uruguay. The result of three years of travel, dozens of interviews, and a few shared meals, the field report shared lessons learned from residents, developers, and designers of formative projects constructed between the 1970s and the present day. Insights centered around space, function, and form as defined over time and by consensus; they are often left open ended. This favoring of provisional architecture is enhanced by designs that incentivize spontaneity, sharing, and negotiated modifications. Furthermore, longevity in tenure is secured through resident customizations and resident movement—flexibilities that are only possible in co-managed developments, designs, and maintenance regimes.

Sam Naylor, AIA, is an architect, educator, and researcher of multifamily housing in the US. Currently, he is an associate at Utile; the lead designer for Equitable by Design, a zoning research project at Northeastern University; and a Harvard Druker Fellow investigating cooperative housing around the world. He is putting theory into practice by decarbonizing and renovating a cooperatively owned triple-decker with friends in Jamaica Plain. He is an author of the recently released report: Legalizing Mid-Rise Single-Stair Housing in Massachusetts, as well as a co-editor of The State of Housing Design 2023, a book about national design trends, both of which are published by The Harvard Joint Center for Housing. He believes everyone has a right to a dignified, affordable, and delightful dwelling, and is in pursuit of more expansive and imaginative designs for housing—from the block to the bedroom.

Established in 1986 by Ronald M. Druker (LF ’76) and by the Trustees of the Bertram A. Druker Charitable Foundation, the Druker Traveling Fellowship is open to all GSD master’s degree candidates who demonstrate excellence in the design of urban environments. The fellowship offers students the opportunity to travel domestically or abroad to pursue study that advances their understanding of urban design.

This event was organized by the Development and Alumni Relations Department and the Department of Urban Planning and Design.

Questions? Contact [email protected].

ULI Las Vegas: GSD Alumni Reception 2024

GSD alumni and current students gathered for a reception at the ULI Fall Meeting in Las Vegas where they reconnected and enjoyed complimentary snacks and drinks.

Organized by the GSD Alumni Council with special thanks to Riki Nishimura MAUD ’03, Principal at Populous, for hosting.

Questions? Contact [email protected].