About Design Impact
Design Impact is a global design leadership speaker series sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Design Alumni Council. These virtual events bring together outstanding rosters of global leaders to share their work and vision, challenging us as a global community to use design as a tool for actionable, transformative change, and healing. This ongoing series is free and open to all.
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Design Impact Organizing Committee
ADITI AGARWAL
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An architect and building scientist, Aditi is a computational designer at a tech startup focused on building performance. Her research interests include energy efficiency and thermal comfort in the built environment, particularly in building design optimization and heat vulnerability. Through her work as a practicing architect, freelance designer, and educator she has participated in projects of varying scales.
MDES ’20, COMPUTATIONAL DESIGNER,
BASED IN ATLANTA, GA
MLAUD '11, GSD ALUMNI COUNCIL MEMBER
ALPA NAWRE
Alpa Nawre is Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at University of Florida, and Executive Director of Critical Places. Alpa serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architectural Education, and is a recipient of the Dumbarton Oaks Mellon Fellowship in Urban Landscape Studies, Landscape Architecture Foundation Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership, and Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Award for Excellence in Design Studio Teaching.
AMBIKA MALHOTRA
URBAN DESIGNER, ARCHITECT & CONSULTANT, DELHI, INDIA
An urban designer and architect, Ambika is an independent consultant working with government and nonprofit organizations on issues of migration, transportation, and infrastructure. She navigates within the realm of design, research, and policy with a focus on strategy and implementation. As a program fellow at the Harvard Innovation Lab, she is currently developing a social impact venture - Sahayak.
Volume 5 Event Organizer on 09.23.21
AN HOANG
MARCH '22 WID LEADERSHIP
An Hoang is an architectural designer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is involved with GSD Womxn in Design as the Career Development team lead.
ANA PINTO DA SILVA
MDES '05, DESIGNER LEADER, TECHNOLOGIST AND COMMUNITY SERVANT
Ana Pinto da Silva is a designer leader, technologist and community servant dedicated to creating products that define new landscapes of opportunity for people world-wide. As co-founder & CEO of Minka, she creates homes and communities that provide a radical alternative to traditional senior housing, building intergenerational communities that seek to strengthen connections, improve health and increase wellbeing.
CADENCE BAYLEY
MAUD '21, ARCHITECT AND URBAN DESIGNER,
BASED IN SOMERVILLE, MA
Cadence’s interests lie at the intersection of design, planning, and policy, with a specific focus on housing. She is passionate about good design, long term affordability, and civic engagement. Prior to graduate school, Cadence worked as a project designer at architecture offices in New York, London, and San Francisco, primarily on large commercial projects in urban centers. Cadence graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, with a Bachelor of Architecture degree.
DAVID RUBIN
MLA '90
David A. Rubin, FASLA, FAAR is the founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, a landscape architecture, urban design, and planning studio committed to practicing with an emphasis on socially-purposeful design strategies. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. David founded Land Collective to devote himself to crafting landscapes that affect positive social change through empathy-driven design.
ELSA MENDOZA ANDRES
MDES ADPD ‘22
Elsa is an architect with a degree from Mexico’s university, Tecnologico de Monterrey, with 10 years of international professional experience in the Americas, Asia and Europe. She has a diverse working experience in architectural studios in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Tokyo and Santiago de Chile. Recently she has specialized in wood construction from Aalto University, Finland.
FRANCISCO BROWN
MDES '20
Francisco Brown is an architectural designer, a creative consultant, and a Research Associate at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. A non-traditional design leader with thirteen years of professional experience in commercial and humanitarian design. He previously worked in New York as a senior architectural designer and as a correspondent for Arquine Magazine. Prior, he was an International Architect for the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is a 2020 Fellow for Ideas City Festival organized by the New Museum in New York; and for the Latin X Leadership Initiative by the Harvard Kennedy School.
HUNTER TURA
MARCH '00
Hunter Tura is the Founder and CEO of Syndicate x Design, a global strategic brand consultancy with offices in New York, Madrid and Liverpool. He is a Trustee of the Van Alen Institute and a member of the Design Council at IE School of Architecture and Design.
JAYA KADER
GSD MARCH '88, ARCHITECT, SUSTAINABLE DESIGN,
BASED IN MIAMI AND COSTA RICA
Jaya Kader, GSD March ‘88 is a mother, architect, and yoga enthusiast. An avid supporter of sustainable and regenerative design, Jaya integrates holistic approaches into her architectural practice, KZ architecture, which she founded in 2003. Recent projects focus on design for healing through implementing sustainable practices that address environmental, economic and social concerns. One of her current initiatives, www.regen-designlab.com in her native Costa Rica, explores eco-design for regenerative communities.
KAITLIN TSE
BA IN ART HISTORY & ARCHITECTURE '19
Kaitlin is a Harvard College graduate with a degree in History of Art and Architecture, Design Studies, interested in epistemology and equity - as they relate to the built environment.
Her academic work explores how design restores standards of justice and citizenship. By sophomore year, Kaitlin's work was exhibited in the Vision & Justice Project curated by Sarah E. Lewis, nominated for publication in Platform and Aperture Magazine.
LINDSEY GRANT LAGRASSE
Lindsey Grant LaGrasse is the Assistant Director of Events and Special Projects and works in the Development and Alumni Relations office at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF EVENTS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS, GSD
MOULSHREE MITTAL
MDES EE '21, ARCHITECT AND BUILDING PERFORMANCE SPECIALIST
Moulshree Mittal is an architect by profession. Currently specializing in Energy and Environmental Design Studies, Moulshree’s research aims at optimizing Building Performance tackling challenges posed by Climate Change and now, the new normal. She is driven to create positive impacts on people, the planet, and profit.
NAKSHA SATISH
GSD MAUD '22
Naksha Satish is an architect and an urban practitioner, currently pursuing a Master of Architecture in Urban Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. After her undergrad at the School of Architecture, CEPT University, she pursued an urban fellowship program at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore. Her interests and work lie at the intersection of technology, housing, and the design of cities. She engages with the urban through an interdisciplinary lens that shapes processes and methods rather than just built form. She loves to sketch (charcoal on brown paper) and that is the tool she uses to capture and perceive the world around her.
NUPUR GURJAR
MASTER IN DESIGN ENGINEERING, MDE'21, HARVARD GSD/SEAS
Nupur sees design as a multi-dimensional entity. She worked on multiple projects as an architect and forayed into design research and ethnography at Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre, CEPT University, India on vernacular furniture of North-West India. Currently a candidate for the Master in Design Engineering at Harvard, she is keen to enhance her abilities as a creative thinker, problem-solver, explorer, and imaginative dreamer. She is interested in issues such as Climigration, and designing for Humanitarian responses. Being a trained classical dancer and a vocalist has helped her maintain a creative balance.
PETER COOMBE
MARCH '88, GSD ALUMNI COUNCIL MEMBER
Peter Coombe AIA LEED AP is a founding partner of Sage and Coombe Architects and the chair of the GSD Alumni Council.
RIKI NISHIMURA
MAUD '03, GSD ALUMNI COUNCIL MEMBER
Riki is a Principal at Populous, a global architectural design firm specializing in creating environments and venues that draw communities and people together. He is an architect and urban designer/strategist specializing in the future of cities with a focus on the psychology of spaces, repairing cities, future-proofing, and solving complex intertwined design issues through urban strategies.
ROHIT MANUDHANE
MDES '10, ARCHITECT AND LIGHTING EXPERT
BASED IN MUMBAI, INDIA
An architect and a lighting expert, Rohit is the technology team lead at Arup’s Mumbai office bringing with him his experience in conceptual design thinking and cutting edge project delivery from USA, UK, and India. Paired with his background in diverse geographies and sectors, he is also working towards bringing an evidence based approach to design through real-life research endeavours.
Volume 3 Event Organizer on 02.25.21
SAMEH WAHBA
MUP'97, PHD'02, KSGEE'13, GSD ALUMNI COUNCIL MEMBER
Sameh Wahba is the Global Director for the World Bank’s Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice, based in Washington, D.C. The Global Practice, which also covers territorial development, geospatial and results-based financing, has a $30 billion portfolio of lending commitments and over 400 staff. Prior to joining the World Bank in 2004, he worked for the Rotterdam-based Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies and the Harvard Center for Urban Development Studies.
VIVIANA URRA
MDES '22, ARCHITECT, BASED IN SANTIAGO, CHILE
Currently specializing in Energy and Environment. During her undergraduate and guided by her curiosity, she had academic experience in Japan. She is involved with GSD Womxn in Design and Mujer Arquitecta in Chile. She is passionate about sustainable design, research, and interdisciplinarity. Also, she is working as Teaching Assistant at Universidad de Chile and Universidad Mayor.