Harvard GSD Design Discovery 2026

Harvard GSD Design Discovery 2026

Design Discovery (DD) is a three-week academic program that takes place in person, on-site at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) in Cambridge, MA, and engages an audience interested in gaining knowledge within a single, selected design discipline.  Participants must be at least 18 years old with a high school diploma or equivalent, and can choose to enroll in either Architecture, Landscape, or Urban Planning + Design.  The program explores the potentials of design to impact the built environment, and the materials and scale specific to a particular design discipline. 

In complement to the Design Discovery Virtual program’s digital media emphasis, Design Discovery Program participants design for contemporary issues with an emphasis on hands-on physical modeling, material capacities, fabrication, and assembly.  While previous completion of Design Discovery Virtual is not a requirement for enrollment in Design Discovery, participants who are unsure about which design discipline to pursue may benefit from Design Discovery Virtual’s survey approach, before selecting a single discipline to pursue more deeply through Design Discovery. The two programs are designed with separate, complementary goals and are not copies of one another.

This program is taught by a diverse group of Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) faculty, masters, and doctoral degree program graduates, and includes interaction with a broad network of design talent invited as guest lecturers and critics for the program. Successful participants receive a program certificate, student evaluation, and produce a draft portfolio of design work that can be shared with design program admission committees, potential design employers, collaborators, clients, or school programs for course credit consideration.