Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) has announced its Fall 2019 public program of lectures, conferences, and symposia, all free and open to the public.

On  September 3, the GSD’ s fall program opens with “Reflecting on Shinohara,” a conversation between Kazuyo Sejima and Seng Kuan that also introduces the exhibition Shinohara Kazuo: ModernNext (on view through October 11). 

Then, 2017 Wheelwright Prize winner and Chilean architect Samuel Bravo returns to the GSD on September 10, presenting his two years of global travel and research on informal settlements; and Dean Sarah Whiting engages in a fireside chat-style conversation with K. Michael Hays, Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory and Co-Director of the Master in Design Studies program, on September 17.

Throughout, the GSD’s fall program draws from an array of design voices and perspectives. Rounding out a series of programs planned in conjunction with the exhibition Shinohara Kazuo: ModernNext, Rem Koolhaas will participate in a public conversation on September 24 about the late architect’s nuanced perspective on urban design and the city. Frida Escobedo presents the annual Open House Lecture on October 31, while Michelle Delk offers the annual Daniel Urban Kiley Lecture on November 21. 

On October 22, the GSD welcomes curators Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen, and through its Rouse Visiting Artist Program, the School presents percussionist Susie Ibarra on November 19.

A series of conferences and symposia round out the fall program with provocations on cultural and political issues facing design and society. The GSD’s biennial Black in Design Conference returns this October 4 through 6, taking up the theme of "Black Futurism." Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies presents the colloquium "Aging in [a] Place: Planning, Design, and Spatial Justice in Aging Societies” on October 18. The GSD’s landscape architecture department is also hosting the conference "Sacred Groves and Secret Parks: Orisha Landscapes in Brazil and West Africa" on October 3 and 4.

The full public program appears below and can be viewed on the GSD’s event calendar. Past events can be viewed on the GSD's YouTube channel.

Harvard GSD Fall 2019 public program

Reflecting on Shinohara: Kazuyo Sejima and Seng Kuan in conversation
September 3
Sejima, architect and co-founder of SANAA, joins architectural historian Kuan for a conversation about Sejima’s early career and Shinohara’s impact on the Japanese architectural community.

Wheelwright Prize Lecture: Samuel Bravo, “Projectless: On the Emergence of a Dwell”
September 10
Bravo was the 2017 Wheelwright Prize recipient.

Rouse Visiting Artist Lecture: Dave Hickey
September 12
Hickey is an art critic and analyst of Western culture who offers entirely original perspectives on contemporary art.

Philip Ursprung, “Bauhaus Bashing: Looking Back and Looking Ahead”
September 13
Ursprung is Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at ETH Zürich, previously ETH Zürich’s Dean of the Department of Architecture.

Sarah Whiting and K. Michael Hays: A Conversation
September 17
Whiting was recently named Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture at the GSD. Hays is the GSD’s Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory.

Hicham Khalidi
September 19
Khalidi is the director of the Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht.

Reflecting on Shinohara: Rem Koolhaas and Sarah Whiting in conversation
September 24
Koolhaas, architect and co-founder of OMA, joins GSD Dean Sarah Whiting for a conversation about Shinohara and his impact on Koolhaas’ ideas and practice.

“Sacred Groves and Secret Parks: Orisha Landscapes in Brazil and West Africa”
October 3 & 4
This conference brings together insights on the materiality and spatiality of Afro-religious diasporic practices.

Black in Design 2019: “Black Futurism: Creating a More Equitable Future”
October 4, 5, & 6
The 2019 Black in Design conference explores pathways to liberation through a design lens.

“Aging in [a] Place: Planning, Design, and Spatial Justice in Aging Societies”
October 18
The Aging in [a] Place symposium will apply a spatial justice lens to the challenges—financial, practical, political, and otherwise—facing our aging global population.

Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen
October 22
Fischli and Olsen are directors of exhibitions at the Institute of the History and Theory of Architecture at ETH Zürich.

Susan Fainstein with Sai Balakrishnan and Cuz Potter, “The Challenge of Applying Theory to Planning Practice”
October 22
Fainstein is a Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at the GSD. Balakrishnan is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at the GSD. Potter is Associate Professor of International Development and Cooperation at Korea University's Division of International Studies.

Teresa Galí-Izard, “Productive Resurgences: The Garden of the XXI Century”
October 28
Galí-Izard is a landscape architect interested in translating the hidden potential of places and exploring new languages that integrate living systems into design.

Yael Bartana
October 30
Bartana is an artist whose films, installations, and photographs explore the imagery of identity and the politics of memory.

Open House Lecture: Frida Escobedo, “Split Subject”
October 31
Escobedo is principal and founder of her eponymous architecture and design studio based in Mexico City.

Mariabruna Fabrizi and Fosco Lucarelli (Microcities/Socks-studio), “Inner Space”
November 4
Fabrizi and Lucarelli are architects, educators, and curators, and are co-founders of the practice Microcities and the website Socks-studio.

Kiley Fellow Lecture: Paola Sturla
November 6
Sturla is a PhD candidate in urban planning, design, and policy at Politecnico di Milano, and the 2018-19 Daniel Urban Kiley teaching fellow at the GSD.

James Ackerman Memorial Lecture: Guido Beltramini
November 7
Beltramini is an Italian architectural historian, museum director, and curator.

Rouse Visiting Artist Lecture & Performance: Susie Ibarra, “Listening and Creating Spatially: How Do We Hear in Real Life?”
November 19
Ibarra is a Filipina-American composer, percussionist, and sound artist.

Daniel Urban Kiley Lecture: Michelle Delk
November 21
Delk is a Partner and Landscape Architect with Snøhetta.

Top image: Frida Escobedo, La Tallera in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Image © Rafael Gamo

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