Elle Gerdeman

Design Critic in Architecture

Visiting Faculty

Contact

• [email protected]

Office Location

Gund 221c

Websiteco-g.co/

• Architecture

Elle Gerdeman, AIA, is a Design Critic in Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a licensed architect, and founding principal of CO–G. CO–G’s work spans cultural, public, and residential projects and has been recognized as Next Progressives by ARCHITECT and as a Rising Star by Dwell.

Gerdeman’s research investigates the material cultures of architectural production: the histories, conventions, and forms of knowledge embedded in how buildings are made. Construction is a cultural practice shaped by labor, industry, material behavior, and the tolerances through which different systems come together. Through writing, physical experimentation, and architectural design, she explores the expressive and spatial possibilities latent in these practices, while imagining new ways of making that might transform architecture itself.

Her essay Four and a Half, published in Log 66: Walls (2026), investigates the everyday materials and conventions of architectural construction, exploring the cultural histories and architectural possibilities of seemingly ordinary building components. The essay is currently being developed into a book-length project. Her research is further developed through the work of CO–G, where familiar construction techniques become opportunities for formal and material experimentation. The practice’s work has been featured in ARCHITECT, Dwell, Interior Design, The Architect’s Newspaper, and Harvard Design Magazine, among other publications.

At the GSD, Gerdeman has taught across the Architecture Core curriculum and curates the Core Colloquium. She also serves as the Architecture Academic Career Liaison with the GSD Office of Career Services and as the school’s NCARB Licensing Advisor, supporting professional development and connections between education and practice.

Prior to founding CO–G, Gerdeman practiced in the United States and Europe with OMA, Höweler + Yoon, and Behnisch Architekten. A recipient of the Rotch Travelling Scholarship, she has previously taught at MIT and regularly participates in lectures and design reviews across the United States.