Womxn In Design - Harvard Graduate School of Design
Women in Design (WiD) is a student group working to increase the visibility of practicing women designers and to further incorporate their experiences and knowledge into our education at the Graduate School of Design. It offers a supportive network and a critical forum in which students discuss topics ranging from studying at the GSD to operating in the professional environment. Events and meeting
03/24/2026
Happy International Women’s Month from Womxn in Design at Harvard GSD!
We are excited to launch our publication SIREN! Please join us this evening in the trays for our collective folding session, and find it on display this Friday at the GSD Open House x Womxn in Design Beer n Dogs!
If you are interested in joining Womxn in Design at GSD, please join our whatsapp group in our bio, and keep an eye out for new opportunities to get involved!
03/22/2026
Happy International Women’s Month from Womxn in Design at Harvard GSD!
Before we launch our programming for this academic year, we’d like to reflect on some of the events we hosted last year, thank to all our collaborators, guest speakers and community members that made it all happen!
If you are interested in joining Womxn in Design at GSD, please join our whatsapp group in our bio, and keep an eye out for new opportunities to get involved!
03/22/2025
Submit your work to our 2025 publication! [link in bio]
SIREN—a theme that explores the multiplicity and complexity of womxn. Contributions may draw from SIREN’s diverse manifestations across mythology, society, and culture - imagine...
🚨🚑🔊🚒‼️
*THE AUDITORY SIREN: sharp screeching blares of mundane security systems.
[imagine: the color red, evacuation plans, signals, the bustling urban, smoke, urgency, disruptors, traffic, fires, alarms, exits, sound waves, warnings, ambulances, night life, emergencies, etc.]
🧜🏼♀️🦪🌊⚓️🐚
*THE AQUATIC SIREN: ancient oceanic myths and tantalizing haunting tales.
[imagine: mermaids, naval architecture, fairy tales, rising sea levels, seashells, swimming pools, symphonies, cities on the water, sand, shipwrecks, oceanic ecologies, silver coins, flooding, performing, submarines, fish, rocks, pearls, tidal waves, lighthouses, compasses, etc.]
🖥️👠⌨️💋💼
*THE AUTHORITATIVE SIREN: professional sophistication with a calculated hint of allure.
[imagine: office siren, keyboards, trailblazers, actual blazers, corporate dynamics, fashion trends, womxn in the workforce, three-piece-suits, pay gap, femme fatale, desks, dress codes, negotiation, stilettos, briefcases, beauty standards, work/life balance, etc.]
.. but we are not bound by these SIRENs - this is just to spark your imagination…
Whether you explore its mythical allure, its presence in modern symbolism, its metaphorical connection to voices that challenge, disrupt, and captivate, or any other unexpected tangents you wish to entertain, we encourage you to engage with the theme in your own unique way. We envision it to be, magazine~like, and welcome submissions from everyone [GSD & beyond] in any form—essays, poetry, photography, loose thoughts, interviews, even recipes.
SIREN is what it means to you,
Womxn in Design
03/10/2025
Join us today at 6:30 as we dive into the Harvard GSD Frances Loeb Library archives, surfacing artifacts afloat that delve deep into SIRENS—in their auditory, authoritative, and aquatic realms. [registration link in our story!]
We draw attention to the mythic lure of sirens, their presence in modern symbolism, and their metaphorical connection to voices that challenge, disrupt, and captivate—with plenty of unexpected tangents yet to be uncovered...
From Hosken’s 1942 ‘invasion of women’ flooding the GSD in their first year of admission—a tide that reshaped the profession’s shores—to the currents of trailblazing women in design today, we chart their impact across time. Like the mythic sirens who commanded the seas, these women have captivated, disrupted, and redefined their fields, sending shockwaves through architecture and design.
We dive into the archives and into the workforce with office materials from leading women in the field—Denise Scott Brown’s manifesto-like CV, Zaha Hadid’s defiant portfolio, and Louisa Vaughan Conrad’s business ledgers revealing the support of I. M. Pei, Gropius, and Eleanor Raymond for women in design.
Drifting further, we follow the currents of tidal wave maps and nautical memories, with Louisa Vaughan Conrad again, steering us along in her sailboat to Doris Cole’s Candid Reflections. We wade deeper into reflecting ponds and architectural blueprints of swimming pools, along with section drawings of aquariums.
SIREN explores and celebrates the multiplicity and complexity of women. Join us as we navigate the archives, steer the conversation, reclaim the call, and sound the sirens 🧜🏼♀️🚨🗃️
All students, faculty and staff are welcome. Registration is required, like in story!
03/08/2025
SAVE THE DATE: WEDNESDAY MARCH 12th
Women in Architecture II
Film-Screening + Panel Discussion
We’re thrilled to present a special screening of Women in Architecture II, the latest documentary by Boris Noir, featuring visionary architects Dorte Mandrup and Tosin Oshinowo, both currently engaged at Harvard GSD.
From the Equator to the Arctic Circle, the film—initiated by Sky-Frame—follows Dorte Mandrup and Tosin Oshinowo as they challenge conventions and reshape architecture’s impact on society. A rare glimpse into their creative process, struggles, and bold visions for a more inclusive future.
After the screening, Dorte Mandrup, Tosin Oshinowo, Andrea Zürcher (CMO Sky-Frame), Boris Noir (Director), and David Basulto (founder of ArchDaily) take the stage for a panel discussion, moderated by Toshiko Mori.
Join us for an inspiring evening celebrating architecture, diversity, and the power of storytelling.
🎬 Screening + Panel Discussion with Dorte Mandrup, Tosin Oshinowo, Boris Noir, David Basulto — moderated by Toshiko Mori. Followed by a reception.
📍 Harvard GSD, Piper Auditorium
📅 March 12, 2025
⏰ 7 PM
We look forward to seeing you there!
03/07/2025
It’s back!! *Womxn in Design* is back with a fire B&D in collaboration with Soundclub to bring you a banger all-women line-up, booze and our first official release of this year’s Merch! They’ll he gone fast so come get yours early.
Our theme for this year is *SIREN*—which we chose for its layered meanings as symbol of seduction, resistance, transmission and alert. To us it embodies the ways womxn’s voices disrupt, persist and subvert the status quo and continually push what’s possible.
COME DANCE WITH US TO CELEBRATE US (AND YOU AND YOU, OF COURSE)
🪩🧜🏽♀️🚨🌊🪩
03/05/2025
TOMORROW 6.30pm
What if the history of the internet we were told was different—not a story of lone male innovators and corporate monopolies, but one that acknowledged the feminist networks, early cyberfeminists, and activist communities who shaped its course? And more importantly, how might revisiting this history help us reimagine an alternative future for the platforms we engage with on a daily basis?
Womxn in Design is thrilled to host Mindy Seu for a conversation on cyberfeminism, the politics of internet history, and the urgent need to challenge and revise its dominant narratives. Mindy will be joined by her former advisor, Malkit Shoshan, who will serve as the event’s interlocutor, alongside Marina Otero Verzier, whose work examines how power is embedded in the internet’s infrastructures.
Image credits: Alexa Viscius
03/04/2025
We’re thrilled to officially kick off Womxn’s Week (more like a month at this point) with none other than Mindy Seu , who’s joining us via Zoom to talk cyberfeminism and alternative internet histories.
On Thursday, we’re co-hosting the International Womxn’s Day Keynote Address for African Landscape Architecture Conference featuring Princess Adedoyin Talabi Faniyi, and landscape architect Tarna Klitzner, founder of TKLA in Cape Town. The conversation will focus on their work in designing and conserving diverse spaces in contemporary Africa.
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And to end the week with a bang (or should we say bass?), we’ve teamed up with to celebrate womxn, good music, and—of course—men, over wine and dogs.
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We will also highlight many other worthwhile and pressing events for Womxn’s month in and around Harvard and the GSD, so stay tuned and watch our stories for more!
03/03/2025
A SIREN is an alert, and a lure. A warning, and a call—and as such, symbolically echoes how womxn’s voices have historically been simultaneously distorted and amplified.
This year, Womxn in Design reclaims the complex symbolism around SIRENs as a framework to interrogate power, amplify voices and ensure we are heard.
Throughout March, we’ll highlight the many ways womxn shape space, knowledge and forms of resistance.
🔊🧜🏼♀️🚨
03/03/2025
International Womxn’s Month is here,
and so is our theme for the year:
SIREN—a signal, a seduction, a call to be alert.
All month long, we’re bringing together trailblazing womxn across architecture, art, and academia who continue to challenge, disrupt, and reimagine what’s possible.
🔊🧜🏼♀️🚨
03/03/2025
SIRENs are sounding. Are you listening?
🔊🧜🏼♀️🚨