In Fall 2016, Harvard GSD issued a call for applications for the program’s first year of three-month residencies.
The inaugural class of fellows—who hail from Austria, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States—were selected from more than 200 applicants from around the world. Public programming at the House will begin this fall with a conversation themed around the topic of food and the city.
Projects that the six inaugural fellows will bring to the house this year include examinations of public and affordable housing; how food and cooking transform cities; and citizen-driven urban regeneration initiatives.
Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, Founding Director of Todd Longstaffe-Gowan Landscape Design, notes, “Parkside is a total work of art, where the house, gardens, and interiors were conceived in concert to form a unified whole. The alternating rhythm of pavilions and garden courts contribute considerably to the striking theatricality and luminosity of the ensemble; the outdoor rooms are at once boundless and enveloping. Our aim has been to restore the original balance of the 1960s composition to better reflect the architect’s original intentions, and to recover the richness, rhythm, and textures of the landscape that give Parkside its particular charm.”
“Located near some of the world’s finest resources for research in urbanism, the Richard Rogers Fellowship program represents both an international extension of the GSD’s physical footprint and the School’s commitment to engaging issues faced by cities globally,” says Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. “We are thrilled with the gift of the Wimbledon House and know that it will serve as the foundation for meaningful progress in addressing international urban issues.”
The Richard Rogers Fellowship, launched in October 2016, is inspired by Lord Rogers’s commitment to cross-disciplinary investigation and social engagement, evident across his prolific output as an architect, urbanist, author, and activist. Each year, six fellows will be awarded a three-month residency, travel expenses to London, and a 10,000 USD cash prize, affording them access to London’s extraordinary institutions, libraries, practices, professionals, and other resources. The goal of the residency program is to support research that addresses alternative and sustainable urban futures.
