The State of Housing Design 2023

Location: Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy St, Cambridge

What is the state of housing design in the US? In particular, how are architects of new single- and multi-family housing responding to issues such as the warming climate, the affordability crisis, increasing regulations and construction costs, and the demand for new unit types that better reflect today's demographic realities? These questions will be the focus of a half-day event marking the release of The State of Housing Design 2023, a new book that examines themes in housing design, explored through over 100 recent buildings in the US. 

Order The State of Housing Design 2023 from the Harvard University Press.

Watch the video of the release event.

 

AGENDA
 

2:00 pm Welcome & Book Introduction

  • Sarah Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture, Harvard GSD; Design Principal and Co-Founder, WW Architecture
  • Chris Herbert, Managing Director, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
  • Daniel D’Oca, Associate Professor in Practice of Urban Planning, GSD; Principal and Co-Founder, Interboro Partners
  • Sam Naylor, Project Architect, Utile; Druker Fellow, GSD

3:00 pm Panel 1: Outside
To what extent does zoning shape housing type and form? How does housing design confront or conform to market dynamics and real estate-driven typologies? Is the five-over-one urban housing type a positive mechanism for increased density? What is the best pathway toward increased density in the context of the community process? 

  • Elizabeth Christoforetti, Assistant Professor in Practice of Architecture, GSD; Founding Principal, Supernormal (Moderator)
  • Roy Decker, FAIA, Principal, Duvall Decker
  • Ken Johnson, Partner, Michael Hsu Office of Architecture
  • Marc Norman, Associate Dean, NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate
  • Timothy A. Schuler, Contributing Editor, Landscape Architecture Magazine
  • Mimi Zeiger, Critic and Editor, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Review

4:00 pm Panel 2: Inside
What pressures are on the design of unit interiors, hallways, courtyards, and collective spaces? How are designers shaping the interior life of new dwellings, and what does that tell us about housing today? How is community life being shaped by new amenities or social arrangements? How has housing design responded to working from home? How are new designs incorporating increased accessibility demands? How is the interior changing, why, and what are the implications?

  • Jenny French, Assistant Professor in Practice of Architecture, GSD; Co-Founder, French 2D (Moderator)
  • Nate Berg, Staff Writer, Fast Company
  • Alexandra Gauzza, AIA, LEED AP BD + C, Principal/Studio Director, ISA
  • Inga Saffron, Architecture Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer
  • Stephen Zacks, Journalist and Critic, Dwell, Architects’s Newspaper

5:00 pm Panel 3: Elsewhere
What’s next for residential architecture in the US? What lessons can we learn from abroad? 

  • Yun Fu, Design, Critic in Urban Planning and Design, GSD (Moderator)
  • Anna Kodé, Real Estate Reporter, The New York Times 
  • Tim Love, Lecturer in Real Estate, GSD; Founding Principal, Utile Architecture and Planning
  • Chandra Robinson, Principal, LEVER Architecture
  • Patrick Sisson, Journalist, Bloomberg CityLab, The New York Times

6:00 pm Reception in Druker Gallery

 

 

Cover of The State of Housing Design 2023.