LSA Founder Will Hunter to join Harvard Loeb Fellowship

Loeb Class Of 2022

The Harvard Graduate School of Design has selected LSA Founder Will Hunter to join the prestigious Loeb Fellowship

On 9 June 2021, Harvard GSD’s Loeb Fellowship announced the programme’s 51st class of Fellows, a cohort of ten innovators who “work across activism, urbanism, public art, film and media, technology, real estate development, and other fields that engage with the built environment and social outcomes.”

Each year, Harvard GSD’s Loeb Fellowship welcomes a cohort of exceptional mid-career practitioners through a highly competitive, global application process.

Selected from among 134 candidates, the ten 2022 Loeb Fellows join a powerful worldwide network of over 450 lifelong Loeb Fellows, alumni including Robin Chase, Alejandro Echeverri, Theaster Gates, Toni L. Griffin, Anna Heringer, Rick Lowe, Cathleen McGuigan, Damon Rich, Inga Saffron, and the late Phil Freelon.

Alongside Will Hunter, the incoming cohort of Loeb Fellows includes:

• Veyom Bahl, New York, NY; Managing Director, Robin Hood
• Karen Dawn Blondel, New York, NY; Founder, Public Housing Civic Association
• Andrea Bolnick, Cape Town, South Africa; Managing Director, Ikhayalami
• Stephanie Hankey, Berlin, Germany; Executive Director, Tactical Tech
• Mpho Matsipa, Johannesburg, South Africa; Curator, African Mobilities; Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Planning, and Research Fellow (WiSER) at the University of the Witwatersrand
• Monica Rhodes, Baltimore, MD; Director of Resource Management, United States National Park Foundation
• Moddie Turay, Detroit, MI; Founder and CEO, City Growth Partners
• Michael Uwemedimo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Co-founder and Director, Collaborative Media Advocacy Platform and Senior Visiting Research Fellow, King’s College London
• Jordan Weber, Des Moines, IA; regenerative land sculptor and environmental activist.

The Loeb Fellowship is led by Curator John Peterson, architect, activist, and founder of Public Architecture, a national nonprofit organisation. “The Class of 2022 exemplifies our commitment to some of the most urgent social issues of both the current moment and our collective history, among them racial justice, environmental and spatial equity, the societal impacts of technology, inclusive cultural preservation, and activism,” says Peterson.

LSA Founder Will Hunter says: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining this exceptional 51st cohort. We have already bonded so well on zoom, and I am greatly looking forward to overcoming the obstacles of the pandemic to finally convene in person at Harvard, where we anticipate a pivotal year of fellowship and friendship in these most extraordinary of times.”

Work by Justin Weber –@jordan_J_weber – who has been awarded the inaugural joint Loeb/ArtLab Fellowship, intended to enrich the fellowship experience with studio space in the ArtLab, research support and networking resources through the ArtLab community, and other engagement around proposed programs and projects over the course of the year.

The Loeb Fellowship

Loeb Fellows spend a year in residence in Cambridge engaging in research, collaboration, and dialogue at Harvard GSD, enhancing how their work advances positive social outcomes and equity. Among other activities during the course of their year-long residencies, Loeb Fellows immerse themselves in the academic environment, auditing courses across vast offerings at Harvard and MIT, challenging their ideas and processes, and expanding their professional networks.

Fellows also engage with Harvard GSD students and faculty, participate as speakers and panelists at public events, and convene workshops and other activities that encourage knowledge sharing and creation. Throughout, Loeb Fellows consider how they might broaden or refocus their careers and the impact of their work, and deepen their work’s social engagement.

The Loeb Fellowship traces its roots to the late 1960s, when John L. Loeb was directing a Harvard GSD campaign themed around “Crisis.” Loeb saw the American city in disarray and believed Harvard could help. He imagined bringing highly promising innovators of the built and natural environment to Harvard GSD for a year, challenging them to do more and do better, convinced they would return to their work with new ideas and energy.

John and his wife Frances endowed the Loeb Fellowship as part of their gift to the “Crisis” campaign. They worked closely with William A. Doebele, the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design (now Emeritus), the program’s founding curator, who guided the program from the Class of 1971 through its first 27 years and shaped an experience that has had a powerful impact on generations of urban, rural, and environmental practitioners.