Early Design Education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design
Early Design Education (EDE) at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD) is a set of five academic programs that introduce design and its potential to change the world to audiences of varied ages and familiarity with design.
These programs are crafted to engage participants with design thinking and methods across scales, under the assumption that the program is one of the earliest experiences of thinking through making. Each program makes use of the breadth and depth of design talent at Harvard’s GSD to a global public. We invite high school students through mid-career professionals to join us. Find more information about each program below.
Discovery design at Harvard!
Our Programs
Harvard GSD Design Discovery Virtual
A three-week virtual program for a global audience interested in a survey of design media and methods across Architecture, Landscape, and Urban Planning + Design. With an emphasis on digital media for design drawing and modeling, this program explores the potentials of design to address a series of contemporary topics.
Harvard GSD Design Discovery
A three-week program on-site at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design for individuals interested in gaining knowledge within a single design discipline – Architecture, Landscape, or Urban Planning and Design. Physical modelling and site-specific design methods are emphasized in this program.
Harvard GSD Design Discovery Youth
A free in-person summer program on-site at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design for Boston-area high school students interested in learning about design and the material, processes, and scales. This program teaches participants to translate their varied and valuable observations of the world into the visual and spatial language of design.
Equity in Design Mentorship
A free academic and professional mentorship program for diverse Boston-area high school students interested in design, ran in partnership with the Boston design firm Perkins&Will, This program links high school participants with current GSD students and a professional designer to support design education and to unfold potential design career paths.
Harvard Undergraduate Architecture Studies
An undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree program in Architectural Studies that teaches thinking through making within the liberal arts context of Harvard College. Run in partnership with the Harvard College History of Art & Architecture department, students of the program receive a Harvard A.B. degree in History of Art and Architecture, Design Studies. Because this program is part of a degree-earning concentration, admission questions and processes are managed by Harvard College.
Click on the diagrams above and visit our GSD EDE Program Comparison page for more information!
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