Very Vary Veri

VERY VARY VERI is a student-edited journal based at the GSD that positions itself as an interdisciplinary platform. As the editors state: “Believing that insight into the nature of the contemporary built environment will come from critical inclusivity, VVV draws on the professional schools of Harvard University and its neighbors for diverse perspectives on design from law, finance, government, real estate, public health, education and beyond.” Each of the four issues published to date has been led by a different student editor. In the inaugural issue, Simon Battisti calls for a critical reassessment of moderation (the “fundamental”) and its potential impact on the form of the built environment, noting: “In a big world of extremes, the moderate can be radical.” This issue addresses topics such as praxis in Rio de Janeiro, formal excess and surface strategies, home economics, a bibliography on energy and environments, and other topics such as the efficiency of office buildings. With its carefully considered interplay of text, image, and typography, the journal is ambitious not only from an editorial point of view but also in terms of its design.

Etien Santiago’s editorial in the second issue excavates the origins of GSD student publications, accurately notes that “these parallel though non-official accounts of the larger conditions in which the canons of design disciplines were created remain vital today.” His appeal to history frames learning itself as an activity of reflection: rather than taking a topical approach, he seizes moments of thought, suspending them temporarily in our memory to create space for reassessment.The contributions in this issue expand on that approach. Writers imagine walking with and writing to Charles Eliot, examine the design of a park, present a student competition entry reimagining an urban site, and reproduce excerpts of earlier student publications. They also explore other spaces of learning: a sharp critique of an exhibition, an interview reflecting on curatorial practice, and an essay extending a dissertation on urban conflict.

The third issue, edited by Ali Karimi, foregrounds the theme of exile —a condition that defined much of the 20^th century and continues to resonate in Cambridge, where many, for varied reasons experience exile as a shared reality. Opening with the line “The history of the 20^th century is one of exile” the issue quickly pivots to the present and the contemporary underpinnings of displacement: “As we confront a 21^st century marked by refugee crises, changing national boundaries, and debates over immigration, it is time to reframe the discussion by approaching exile as the most important condition of the 20^th century and a major one for the century to come.” This timely framing anchors a series of articles that examine immigration and exile, and the ways “intellectual relocation” has impacted and shaped practices under conditions displacement. With this issue, VVV advances to a deeper level of engagement with both global and local contemporary concerns. The fourth issue addresses the plurality of “crowds” understanding them both as gatherings of anonymous individuals and as politicized collective bodies —”accidental entities” as much as intentional formations.