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Moshen Mostafavi resigns as Dean of Harvard Graduate School of Design

2018-10-24T14:16:00-04:00

As of today, Moshen Mostafavi announces his decision to step down as Dean of Harvard Graduate School of Design. Having served as dean since 2008, Mostafavi shares that he will conclude his position at the end of the 2018-2019 academic year.

I am proud of what we have accomplished together over the past 11 years, and I look forward to witnessing the School continue its collaborative ethos and engagement with Harvard and the world in the years to come" - Moshen Mostafavi

Mostafavi has made various contributions to Harvard's GSD program in addition to areas relating to the future of cities and urban development. Several of his published works like Ecological Urbanisim and On Weathering focus on the process and methods of urbanization and the relationship between technology and aesthetics.

With an intention to return to academia, Mostafavi plans to go on sabbatical. Regarded by colleagues as a notable influence in architectural education his work has made an impact in academia. Infor...

Mohsen Mostafavi on John Portman

2018-03-05T14:41:00-05:00

He was very focused on the consequences of ideas. In his own work he was trying to create a sense of totality. He’s doing the hotel, the sculpture, and the furniture. He’s choreographing—it’s like a stage set and he’s staging the whole experience.

CityLab chats with GSD Dean Mohsen Mostafavi about John Portman's relationship with the school, the professorship he created at Harvard, and their book collaboration, Portman’s America & Other Speculations.

Grounded Visionaries takes off with $15 million gift from Ronald M. Druker

2017-12-04T14:22:00-05:00

As a part of the Harvard Graduate School of Design's, Grounded Visionaries campaign, it has been announced that the school has received a $15 million gift from Ronald M. Druker (Loeb Fellow ’76) and the Bertram A. and Ronald M. Druker Charitable Foundation — the largest single gift in the school’s history.

Druker’s long-standing involvement in the development of the school goes back to him being one of the early inductees into the school’s prestigious Loeb Fellowship program, a time during which he first articulated many of the principles that define not only his projects but also his perspective on urban planning and design across the region.

Continuing from 1975 to 1983, Druker taught as a member of the school’s faculty in urban design. Cherishing his growing connection to the GSD, Druker established an endowment creating the Druker Traveling Fellowship in 1986. More recently, Druker has served on the school’s Visiting Committee, on the Dean’s Advisory Council, and as Chair of ...

Harvard GSD launches new fellowship in partnership with Perkins+Will to support students of color

2016-11-04T15:32:00-04:00

Architecture is often criticized for its lack of diversity, and many feel that education is a key way to address the issue for the future. In that vein, Harvard's GSD announced yesterday the establishment of the Philip Freelon Fellowship Fund, designed to "provide expanded academic opportunities to African American and other under-represented architecture and design students at the GSD."

At the announcement, Philip Freelon of Perkins+Will noted the significance of such fellowships in encouraging (and attracting) diversity at the GSD: “As the design profession continues to attract a more diverse talent base, this gift will provide students of color with financial assistance that could make pursuing an advanced degree at the GSD possible. It’s an important step in broadening the GSD’s reach.”

GSD Dean Mohsen Mostafavi thanked Perkins+Will and Phil Freelon, referring to how “the creativity, dynamism, and success of our GSD community are enriched by and even contingent on an increasingly ...

Turn the lights off on the way out: Iñaki Ábalos's keynote at Day 2 of the GSD's Heliomorphism conference

2016-09-19T19:31:00-04:00

Day one of Heliomorphism, the inaugural conference convened by the new research arm of the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Office for Urbanization, ended with Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects finally breaking through the jargon and superficiality of the topic at hand. The theme of the environment, solar performance along with sustainability were all absorbed and raised to the echelon of where they should exist; as already built in qualities of any project, not a topic or excuse for architectural exuberance. Thom Mayne’s ability to recognize and exploit this only provided further proof of the scale, method, and nature of his work as worthy of his recognition and role as a leader in the discipline.

Sadly, during the second and final day of the conference we found ourselves again forcibly located at the epicenter of Ivy League semantic blurring and Copernican alignments. Day one seemed to have fallen into the shadows of the tone and wording at hand. The day was kicked off with a s...

Thom Mayne and Jeanne Gang play it safe with Heliomorphism keynotes at the GSD

2016-09-16T18:23:00-04:00

We once knew the world was flat.

We once knew earth was the center of the universe.

We once knew the sun was the center of the universe.

We once knew the Milky Way was the center of the universe.

Maybe the 3rd is not so far off in the end.

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) officially launched its new research focused arm, Office for Urbanization, with a conference titled 'Heliomorphism'. Research has a long and varied history at the GSD and of course at Harvard in general. Exploiting and creating these opportunities for collaboration and exploration of disciplinary topics are at the highest aspirations for the Office.

Its goal is thus to become a transdisciplinary initiative designed to focus the intellectual and practical capabilities of the School on a range of applied design research projects, attendant to the contemporary city. While the school itself already contains a plethora of Design Labs, Groups, Lectures and conferences, the Office of Urbanization hopes to distinguish...

Finalists and Jury of Global Holcim Awards 2015 entering the homestretch

2014-12-03T14:03:00-05:00

The results of the five regional contests are in for the International Holcim Awards competition, and now all eyes are on the upcoming selection of the three final Global Awards winners. [...] The jury tasked to judge the 15 finalists from the regional contests will be headed by Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean of Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.

These five Regional Gold Award winners automatically qualified for the Global Award competition round:

Holcim Awards Gold - Europe: Anthropic Park: Freshwater ecological reserve and remediation, Saline Joniche, Italy
Main authors: Francisco Leiva, Grupo aranea, Alicante,Spain; Marco Scarpinato, AutonomeForme, Palermo, Italy.
Further authors: Marta García Chico, Grupo aranea; Lucia Pierro, AutonomeForme

Holcim Awards Gold 2014 - North America: Poreform: Water absorptive surface and subterranean basin, Las Vegas, NV, USA
Main authors: Amy Mielke, Water Pore Partnership, New York, NY, USA; Caitlin Gucker-Kanter Taylor, Water Pore Partnership, Woodbridge, CT, USA
Further author: Keller Easterling, Yale School of Architecture, New Haven, CT, USA

Holcim Awards Gold 2014 - Asia Pacific: Protective Wing: Bird sanctuary, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Main authors: Jariyawadee Lekawatana, Architectkidd, Bangkok, Thailand; Singh Intrachooto, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand; Chak Cherdsatirkul, Kaomai L...

Harvard University GSD announces the $100k annual Wheelwright Prize

2012-12-22T17:33:00-05:00

Harvard GSD Introduces the Wheelwright Prize $100,000 Annual Award Open to Architects Worldwide

Harvard Graduate School of Design announces the launch of the Wheelwright Prize, a $100,000 traveling fellowship awarded annually to talented early-career architects worldwide proposing exceptional itineraries for research and discovery. With an open application process (deadline February 28, 2013), the Wheelwright Prize recognizes the importance of field research to professional development, and reinforces Harvard GSD’s dedication to fostering investigative approaches to contemporary design.

Since 1935, Harvard GSD has awarded the annual Arthur W. Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship, established in memory of Wheelwright, Class of 1887. Intended to encourage the study of architecture outside the United States, the prize was formerly available only to GSD alumni; past fellows include Paul Rudolph, Eliot Noyes, William Wurster, Christopher Tunnard, I. M. Pei, John Haro, Klaus Herdeg, Farès el-Dahdah, Adele Santos, and Linda Pollak.

Under the leadership of Dean Mohsen Mostafavi, Harvard GSD...