Contact Us

Harvard GSD Early Design Education Program Comparison

This quick visual comparison across the five Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) Early Design Education (EDE) programs was developed to help distinguish one from another. Please read below for details about how these visual diagrams work and what information you will find. We invite you to direct any questions you may have to [email protected].

Compared to similar summer design programs, Harvard GSD Design Discovery programs…

. . . offer the most open and portable design certificate in the field, valuable before, during, and beyond your school years.
. . offer a deeper study and wider breadth of multiple design disciplines–Architecture, Landscape, and Urban Planning–at a more accessible price and timeline.
. . . don’t require you to have any prior experience in design. We aim to make design more open and clear to participants from all fields and backgrounds.
. . . are available as two distinct formats–in-person and online–designed as separate, distinct, and complementary programs, which can be taken together as a longer-form design introduction across medias and methods with no redundancy.
Grid-based diagram explaining the quadrant structure of EDE pedagogical structure and format diagrams. Quadrant 1. Design Methods, Quadrant 2. Participants, Quadrant 3: Disciplines, Quadrant 4: Schedule.

Each diagram has four quadrants that map key information about each design program: clockwise from upper left, you’ll find information on Design Methods (media and design steps), Participants (info on typical participants and what format participation takes), Schedule (when the program is offered during the year and how long it lasts), and Disciplines taught in the program (Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning and Design, or all together).

Each quadrant fills in program traits along two diagonal poles. Design Methods poles include whether instruction focuses more on imaging/drawing or modeling/fabrication techniques and whether analog or digital design means are emphasized. Participants poles include the geography enrollees tend to join from and how community is formed – via virtual or in-person formats. Schedule records the time (or times) of the year when the program is offered to the public. And Disciplines captures whether you have to specify a discipline to study in the program or if learning is cross-disciplinary.

Grid-based diagram explaining the quadrant structure of EDE pedagogical structure and format diagrams. Quadrant 2. Participants: Virtual, In-person; International, Domestic
Grid-based diagram explaining the quadrant structure of EDE pedagogical structure and format diagrams showing all quadrants and sub-quadrants.

Put together, this visual framework produces a signature “footprint” for each GSD Early Design Education program and what participants can expect to gain from enrollment. Follow the fill to track program focus.

Please scroll down to compare the footprints for each of our programs. Links to each program page for more information are also included below.

Harvard GSD EDE Program Comparison

Harvard GSD Design Discovery Virtual

  • Three weeks, live, from anywhere in the world. No visas or relocation.
  • Audience ages 18 and up. No design experience required.
  • Cross-discipline approach–Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning + Design–one week each.
  • A physical design kit mailed to you, wherever you are. Adobe Creative Cloud and Rhino 3D modeling software included.
  • Taught by Harvard GSD faculty and advanced students. Maximum 10:1 participant to instructor ratio.

Harvard GSD Design Discovery

  • Three weeks in person at Gund Hall in Cambridge, MA. 
  • Audience ages 18 and up. No design experience required.
  • One discipline, in depth: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, or Urban Planning + Design.
  • Hands-on physical modeling and fabrication.
  • Access to the GSD Fabrication Lab and Francis Loeb library.
  • Taught by Harvard GSD faculty and advanced students. Maximum 10:1 participant to instructor ratio.

Harvard GSD Design Discovery Youth

  • 3 weeks, in person format in Cambridge, MA 
  • High School audience, ages rising sophomores to seniors from Boston area
  • Introduction to design and its potentials to impact the world
  • Instruction by Harvard GSD faculty and advanced GSD masters students

Equity in Design Mentorship

  • Free design program alternating between virtual learning sessions and in person events in Boston area
  • Diverse Boston high school students
  • Instruction and mentorship by Harvard GSD students and Perkins&Will design professionals

Harvard Undergraduate Architecture Studies

  • 4 year non-professional track of study within the A.B. degree of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard College
  • International audience of diverse Harvard College students, ages 18-22
  • Instruction in thinking through making by Harvard GSD faculty and advanced masters and doctoral GSD students in relation to liberal arts context of Harvard College