The Graduate School of Design at Harvard has long been revered as one of the world's top institutions, but only recently has that pedigree been extended into an undergraduate architecture program. As recently as a few years ago, there were no architecture studio courses available to Harvard undergrads – those interested in architecture would concentrate in the department of History of Art and Architecture, a liberal arts program which isn't tailored towards the 5-year accredited BArch programs of similar undergraduate institutions. But for the first time in Fall of 2012, the GSD and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (where History of Art and Architecture is housed) opened a new, collaborative program for undergraduates. Students who enroll in this track of studies will take two studio courses in architecture, within the context of a wider-ranged liberal arts education – the foundational idea being that architectural design thinking is its own form of liberal-arts practice, and that the two fields will serve to complement and reinforce one another.

Plans for undergrads to take GSD-devised studio courses had been underway for years, but prior to this new track, students interested in undergraduate studio offerings had to take courses at MIT. Now that the track is in place, the cross-disciplinary approach can stay in-house. Currently, the two studio courses required in the program are entitled "Transformations" and "Connections", designed to teach students (respectively) a common design language, and introduce them to factors of scale and context in architecture. While these courses are built by the GSD, they amount to half the time commitment (six hours of studio a week per course), and are not comparable to NAAB undergraduate professional programs.

So far, student response to the program have been quite positive, in appreciation of the inter-disciplinary approach. According to "Transformations" studio instructor and GSD landscape lecturer Zaneta Hong, the intent of the program is to help establish a foundational interest in architectural practices and study – not rigorously prepare students for professional practice. It recognizes the value of architectural education outside of the profession, and conversely, the value of liberal-arts "outsiders" to the profession.