Archinect - News

Harvard GSD details its new visual identity

2023-08-25T13:01:00-04:00

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) this week announced a new visual identity created in order to help galvanize its institutional and pedagogical aims, claiming it needed an "updated language of forms to communicate the school’s mission and values."

The rebranding effort comes in response to Dean Sarah M. Whiting’s previous call for the GSD community to establish a dialogue with the general public in a way that can embody the "critical design thinking" at the core of its educational program.

The new logo offers a further demarcation from the standard university crest-based designs used by Harvard’s other schools and undergraduate residential houses, embracing the 'Flying H' design invented by alum Nigel Smith into the GSD's graphics system to mark the turn of the 21st century.

Image courtesy Harvard GSD

The expressionistic form of John Andrews’ distinct Gund Hall building is a further source of inspiration for the new GSD Gothic typeface, which was the brainchild of the sc...

Sarah Whiting, Dean at Harvard GSD, responds to call for removal of Philip Johnson's name

2020-12-07T14:24:00-05:00

Following a letter released November 27, 2020 by The ---- Johnson Study Group calling for all institutions to remove the name of Philip Johnson from "every leadership title, public space, and honorific of any form," Sarah Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture at the Harvard GSD responded on December 5, 2020.

Aerial photo of the unofficially-titled "Philip Johnson Thesis House," to be renamed "9 Ash Street." Photo by Iwan Baan (more photos here)

In the letter Whiting expresses support of The Johnson Group's request, and acknowledges that Johnson's Thesis house be called "9 Ash Street" going forward.

See the full transcription of the letter below:

December 5, 2020

Subject: Letter to MoMA and the GSD

Dear Mitch and the other members of the Johnson Study Group:

Thank you for this note, which I take very seriously–both as the dean of the GSD and as a designer. Philip Johnson’s global influence in architecture in the 20th century and his grip on the field even now, ...

Sarah Whiting outlines six point plan for addressing structural racism at Harvard GSD

2020-06-15T17:59:00-04:00

Following advocacy efforts from the African American Student Union (AASU) and AfricaGSD at Harvard University, Harvard GSD Dean Sarah Whiting has unveiled a list of steps the school will take as it works to address institutional failures on issues of anti-racism and racial equality.

In the aftermath of the nationwide protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that have prioritized a renewed focus on dismantling racist policies and practices across the country, student activists with AASU and AfricaGSD published a 13 point memo demanding that Harvard GSD "actively institutionalize anti-racism and acknowledge that pedagogy has a cultural obligation." The letter asks GSD to "restructure all courses at the GSD to include Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) voices," hire more Black faculty, staff, and administrators, reform how the school curates its guest critic panels and lecture series, and retrain its staff to understand racial dynamics in the United States, amo...

Architecture school leaders speak out in support of protests

2020-06-03T16:57:00-04:00

In the days since protests seeking justice for Black and African Americans who have died at the hands of police broke out around the country, a growing number of architecture schools have issued statements in support of this ascendant political and social movement.

These statements come as professional and cultural architecture and design organizations, including the American Institute of Architects, National Organization for Minority Architects, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, also announce their support for these protests.

Read Archinect's Statement on Racial Injustice. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Anthony Cride.

Archinect recently published a stand-alone letter from Milton S.F. Curry, Dean of the University of Southern California School of Architecture, as well.

Additionally, Archinect has issued its own statement in support of these protest movements.

Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation, and Planning (GSAPP)

GSAPP Dean Amale And...

GSD Dean Sarah Whiting to temporarily “step back” from duties for cancer treatment

2020-04-06T14:11:00-04:00

Sarah M. Whiting, the new dean at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, has announced that she will be stepping back from her administrative duties temporarily in order to undergo cancer treatment.

Previously on Archinect: “Deans List: Sarah Whiting on Taking The Helm of Harvard's Graduate School of Design.” Sarah M. Whiting. Image courtesy of Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer.

In a letter from Whiting published by Harvard Magazine, the dean writes that she was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and that she “will be taking a partial step back from my daily dean-related responsibilities so that I can begin treatment,” adding, “Fortunately, Harvard and the Boston area are home to some of the finest health care providers in the world, and so I am in good hands.”

While Whiting is undergoing treatment, GSD Professor of Urban Design and Planning Rahul Mehrotra will act as “Dean Designate” while Professor of Landscape Architecture and Technology Niall K...

Sarah Whiting announced as new Dean of Harvard Graduate School of Design

2019-04-17T15:13:00-04:00

Sarah Whiting, a leading scholar, educator, and architect widely respected for her commitment to integrating design theory and practice, has been named dean of the Graduate School of Design (GSD), Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow announced today.

After 11 years of service, Mohsen Mostafavi will be succeeded by Sarah Whiting, the current dean of Rice University in Houston, Texas, as the dean of Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Whiting has an illustrious past as a scholar and practitioner, with degrees from Yale, Princeton and a Ph.D. in architectural history, theory, and criticism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her architectural practice, WW Architecture, is influenced by her history of practicing architects including Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman and Michael Graves.

EL House, by WW Architecture

“The GSD has long been a center of gravity for my thinking and actions, and I’m thrilled to be returning,” Whiting said. “It is altogether tantalizing to look across the School’s three departments, with their individual and collective capacities to shape new horizons within Gund Hall. And it’s even more enticing to envision working with the GSD’s remarkable faculty, students, staff, and alumni to help imagine a...