Graduate School of Design

Direct involvement of the Graduate School of Design with China began in the early 1990s, largely through contact with the School of Architecture and Planning at Tsinghua University in Beijing. In 1993, a visiting scholar program was established, followed by scholarship and visiting scholar programs with Tsinghua University and other institutions with programs in design. Formal collaborative research has involved at least two multi-year projects. The first was a study of the Lower Changjiang Delta and urban formation, involving Professors Peter Rowe and Alex Krieger, as well as John Driscoll and Huang Lei. The second, dealing with housing, involved Professor Rowe and led to the publication of a jointly-edited book with Lü Jinhua and Zhang Jie titled Modern Urban Housing in China, 1840-2000 (Prestel, 2001). The first studio, involving GSD students traveling to China took place in 1997. Beginning in 2000 the GSD’s Office of Executive Education has offered annual workshops on urbanization for Chinese public officials and, lately, for real-estate developers.

ChinaGSD (top)
ChinaGSD seeks to act as a resource for those interested in topics on China, and to foster greater communication among Chinese designers worldwide. The group holds seminars, lectures, Chinese holiday celebrations and field trips throughout the academic year.

Department of Executive Education (top)
Facilitated by the Design School's Executive Education department, in cooperation with Tsinghua University, the International Real Estate Advanced Leadership Program is a six day program, held on Harvard University campus, that aims to improve the quality of decision-making among prominent members of China's construction, land and planning bureaus, as well as leaders in China's nascent real estate industry, with regard to the challenges facing the nation as it continues to rapidly urbanize.

Harvard Real Estate Academic Initiative (top)
The Real Estate Initiative provides a focus for education and research by bringing together faculty, students, and alumni throughout Harvard who work in fields relating to real estate and urban development. The center's research agenda emphasizes issues concerning the nexus between private development and public policy, public-private partnerships, revitalization of inner-ring suburbs, real estate firm management, international real estate, and digital real estate technology. Current projects focussing on China include: Non-Performing Loans: a comparative analysis of Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Germany, and China; Real Estate Development in China: Understanding Transportation/Land Use Implications in Chengdu; Analysis of Urban Spatial Structure in Beijing; and Shanghai Urban Modeling Research.

Studio Options in China (top)
Each semester the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) offers studio options in which students explore issues in architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning and design in countries around the world. Following is a sampling of studios that have been held in the past few years in conjunction with universities and other organizations in China.

Studio Option in Nanjing, Spring 2007, (Department of Architecture) led by Preston Scott Cohen, Gerald M. McCue Professor in Architecture, is being held in tandem with a studio conducted at Hong Kong University in cooperation with Atelier Zhanglei and Nanjing University. The GSD studio took a short trip to Hong Kong and Nanjing paid by sponsors. The Hong Kong studio will travel to Cambridge for a joint, two-day final review in May. The studio is investigating techniques through which architecture can alter or redirect the intended consequences of a master plan. In particular, it is exploring the ways that architecture is capable of rearticulating a campus such that it is programmatically understood to be an annex, a new town, or a campus within a new town. The investigation will be applied according to a hypothesis within the context of a campus for Nanjing University in Xianlin, a new university town outside of Nanjing that is being planned by Atelier Zhanglei, Architecture Design Institute.

Beijing: The University Campus as an Operative Device to Reshape the Metropolis, Spring 2006, (Department of Urban Planning and Design) led by Martin Bucksman Professor in Practice of Urban Planning and Design Joan Busquets, and Design Critic in Urban Planning and Design Felipe Correa.

A Cross Section through the City: Redevelopment of the Han Jiang Riverfront in Wuhan, China, Fall 2003, (Department of Urban Planning and Design) led by Peter Rowe, Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design.

New Central Library for Shantou University, Spring 2003, (Department of Architecture) led by Jacques Herzog, Arthur Rotch Design Critic in Architecture, and Pierre de Meuron, Arthur Rotch Design Critic in Architecture.

Beijing: Urbanism, Fall 2002, (Department of Architecture) led by Yung Ho Chang, Kenzo Tange Visiting Design Critic.

Backward and Forward in Time: The Xicheng District of Beijing, Fall 2002, (Department of Urban Planning and Design) led by Peter Rowe, Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design.

Alternative Futures for the West Lake, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, Fall 2001, (Department of Landscape Architecture) led by Richard Peiser, Michael D. Spear Professor of Real Estate Development; and Carl Steinitz, Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning.

Shan Shui City: Urban Development in Wenzhou, China, Fall 2000, (Department of Urban Planning and Design) led by Peter Rowe, Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design with Rosanna Vaccarino and Wu Yue.

Alternative Futures of West Lake, Hangzhou, China, Fall 2000, Department of Landscape Architecture, led by Michael D. Spear Professor of Real Estate Richard Peiser, and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning Carl Steinitz.

Yi-Ti-Liang-Yi Zhi Jian: Redevelopment in Suzhou, China, Spring 1997, (Department of Urban Planning and Design) led by Peter Rowe, Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design with Hashim Sarkis, Aga Khan Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism in Muslim Societies.