"Not to be confused with GSD 08 Platform, which came out in 2008 and should have been Platform 1 since it started the school's ongoing Platform publications, the latest annual collection of design and research projects uses the encyclopedia as its format. The various classes, lectures, projects, publications, and other output are discovered in the A-to-Z (Academia-to-Zoo) listing of terms. A gimmick to be sure, but one that is surprisingly effective if a bit dry, with only a few splashes of color with photos of faculty, students and some student projects. What could have been an arbitrary and confusing way of structuring things is aided by cross-referencing and an index for those looking for particular students, faculty and guest lecturers. Not all terms are related to the GSD's output, so these would appear to indicate what are important (ha-ha and high-rise, apparently) to the students and professors at the school." —John Hill, A Daily Dose of Architecture
One of the 50 Best Books for 2016 — The American Institute of Graphic Designers
"Richly illustrated and structured as an encyclopedic survey in which entries
are presented alphabetically, from academia to zoo, this book exposes
a particular moment of design culture at the Harvard Graduate School and
documents both scholarly discourse and material production as concomitant
artifacts of contemporary practice, design, education, and academic research.
Each edition of Platform — the annual publication of the Harvard
University Graduate School of Design — aims to present the diversity of design
and research projects produced at the school. Collaborating in its production
are well-known architects, landscape architects, and designers, and theorists.
This volume uses the concept of the index as a means to navigate the multiple
layers of concepts incorporated within the work. Both text and image appear as
pictures of processes, pedagogies, and products of design." —Eithne O'Leyne, ProtoView
