How Greenland's "Magic Mud" Could Shape the Future
Harvard Graduate School of Design researchers are studying Greenland’s glacial flour—a fine mineral powder produced when the ice sheet grinds bedrock and is carried to the coast by meltwater. The team notes that the sediment can serve as a natural fertilizer, a low‑carbon building material, and a medium for restoring marine ecosystems. Current collection relies on small machines that wash, dry, and package the powder, but the process remains expensive and difficult to scale. During a field trip to Nuuk, designers sold sample glacial flour and met with local officials, emphasizing community dialogue. One participant described the material as “a new resource for Greenland and its people,” highlighting its potential economic impact. If infrastructure upgrades enable mass harvesting, the glacial‑flour industry could generate jobs, diversify Nuuk’s economy, and contribute to global climate mitigation by sequestering carbon and improving soil health.
Open House Lecture: Bill McKibben, “A Fresh Start for Our Cities”
Bill McKibben returned to Harvard’s Graduate School of Design for an open‑house lecture titled “A Fresh Start for Our Cities,” a flagship event co‑sponsored by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. The talk set the tone for a series...
How Harvard Landscape Architects Work with Nature’s Furriest Engineers
Landscape architects at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design are pioneering a new paradigm that enlists beavers—nature’s engineers—to shape resilient wetlands. By studying beaver dam‑building and canal‑cutting, the team is developing design tools that work with, rather than against, natural processes. The...
Wheelwright Prize Winner Marina Otero Verzier on Data Centers and AI
Data centers are the invisible backbone of the cloud, but their thermal management systems consume vast amounts of electricity and expel heat into an already warming atmosphere. Marina Otero Verzier argues that this thermopolitical infrastructure reshapes climate dynamics and creates...
Harvard Design Engineering Alumni Ask: How Will AI Change Fashion?
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Yichien and Wembo Zang unveiled Upstyle, an AI‑driven mobile platform that transforms a user’s existing closet into a source of new outfits, aiming to curb the fashion industry’s staggering waste. The app leverages image‑recognition to...
John T. Dunlop Lecture: Kenzie Bok, “The Past, Present, and Future of Public Housing”
The 25th John T. Dunlop Lecture featured Boston Housing Authority CEO Kenzie Bok, who traced the evolution of public housing and warned that the nation’s deepening affordability crisis makes a re‑imagined public‑housing sector essential. Bok framed housing as a public...
Virtual Town Hall: Technology, Design, and Pedagogy
Harvard’s Graduate School of Design held its sixth virtual town hall, bringing together alumni, faculty, and students to discuss how technology, design, and pedagogy intersect in the school’s evolving curriculum. Dean Sarah Whiting highlighted recent initiatives, from AI‑driven archival digitization and...
