Program Overview

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Introduction to Harvard Graduate School of Design

The Harvard Graduate School of Design is a premier institution for design, research, and scholarship, aiming to create a resilient, just, and beautiful world.

Academics

The school offers a wide range of academic programs, including:

• Master of Architecture I
• Master of Architecture I AP
• Master of Architecture II
• Master in Landscape Architecture I
• Master in Landscape Architecture I AP
• Master in Landscape Architecture II
• Master of Architecture in Urban Design / Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design
• Master in Urban Planning
• Master in Real Estate
• Concurrent and Joint Degrees
• Master in Design Engineering
• Master in Design Studies
• Doctor of Design
• Doctor of Philosophy
• Early Design Education
• Executive Education

Application Deadlines

The application deadlines for the programs are:

• January 5, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET for MArch, MLA, MUP, MAUD, MLAUD, MRE, DDes
• January 8, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET for MDes, MDE

Financial Aid Deadlines

The financial aid deadlines are:

• October: FAFSA opens to applicants
• Mid-March: GSD financial aid application opens
• Mid-April: Financial aid application deadline
• Late May/Early June: Notification of financial aid awards

Research

The school has various research centers and initiatives, including:

• Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities
• Joint Center for Housing Studies
• Aga Khan Program
• Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative
• Laboratory for Design Technologies
• Critical Landscapes Design Lab
• Geometry Lab
• Grinham Research Group
• Healthy Places Lab
• Just City Lab
• Material Processes and Systems Group
• Office for Urbanization
• Responsive Environments & Artifacts Lab
• Laboratory for Values in the Built Environment

People

The school has a diverse community of faculty, students, staff, and alumni, with directories available for:

• Faculty Directory
• Student Directory
• Staff Directory
• Alumni Directory
• Affiliates Directory

Offices & Facilities

The school has various offices and facilities, including:

• Academic Affairs
• Academic Administration
• Academic Planning and Innovation
• Advanced Studies Programs
• Department of Architecture
• Department of Landscape Architecture
• Department of Urban Planning and Design
• Faculty Affairs
• Student Affairs
• Admissions
• Career Services
• Financial Aid
• Registrar
• Student Life
• Administrative Offices
• Communications
• Dean’s Office
• Development & Alumni Relations
• Community, Impact and Opportunity
• Facilities and Campus Operations
• Finance & Research Administration
• Human Resources
• Research and Production
• Frances Loeb Library
• Fabrication Lab
• Information Technologies

Public Discourse

The school engages in public discourse through various means, including:

• Harvard Design Magazine
• Publications
• Exhibitions
• Public Programs
• Podcasts

About

The school's mission is to educate leaders in design, research, and scholarship to make a resilient, just, and beautiful world. The school is committed to community values, rights, and responsibilities, academic integrity, respectful engagement, and equitable accountability.

Courses

The school offers various courses, including:

• Drawing for Designers 2: Human Presence and Appearance in Natural and Built Environment
• This course is a creative drawing laboratory for designers, focusing on depicting and expressing the presence and appearance of people in natural and built environments.

Course Details

• The course is intended as a creative drawing laboratory for designers, an expressive and playful supplement to computer-based labor.
• The aim of the class is to learn how to depict and express the presence and appearance of people in natural and built environments.
• This class objective will be achieved through three projects:
  • First: focusing on people’s active presence in the landscape.
  • Second: on people in a populated urban environment.
  • Third: on a person or two people acting or interacting in a specific spatial and social situation.
• Each of the assigned projects will be realized in a different, specifically selected technique:
  • The first project will use a technique called a subtractive tone.
  • The second one will use a technique of a multiple lines/marks.
  • The last one will use an images projection.
• The course will help to master techniques in hand drawing, refine sensitivity to all details of what one sees, and develop capacity to articulate them in a visually convincing and evocative form.
• The class projects will include work in outdoor and indoor situations and places, as well as drawings of life models.
• In the process of drawing, students will focus on the world of lines, textures, shapes, light, shade, and values.
• We will use various tools, materials and artistic techniques including pencils, vine charcoal, graphite, etc.
• In addition to the completion of three large drawing projects a special short assignment will be given at the beginning of each class session.
• Working on projects will be supplemented by the field trips, presentations, and discussions of relevant examples from art history and contemporary art.
• Guest artists will be invited as reviewers for the presentations and exhibition of the final project.
• No prerequisites are required.