Daimian Hines Serves as Guest Critic at Harvard GSD

Reconstructions / Unearthing Traces: On History, Memory, and Architecture for Life

Principal Daimian S. Hines was invited to serve as a guest critic for final studio reviews at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, participating in the landmark studio Reconstructions / Unearthing Traces, part of Harvard’s ongoing Legacy of Slavery initiative.

This advanced studio challenged students to reimagine how architecture can intervene in systems of historic injustice—asking how design might honor, commemorate, and spatialize the legacies of American slavery. Centered on the findings of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Report, the studio invited a radical rethinking of the role architects can play in both institutional accountability and cultural transformation.

Students proposed site-specific, justice-centered interventions that addressed the political, economic, and spatial impacts of slavery and its ongoing influence across the U.S. and the globe. Hines joined a select group of design leaders to respond to work that spanned memorials, counter-monuments, healing spaces, and future-focused cultural infrastructure.

“I applaud the GSD for undertaking a studio where the university confronts its own past and begins the work of design justice in the built environment,” Hines remarked.

This engagement reflects HINESAD’s ongoing commitment to design as a tool for truth-telling, cultural memory, and reparative justice.