Frederic Schwartz is an activist and a humanist whose career has been dedicated to some of America 's most visible public projects. He is a Master of Architecture, 1978, Harvard Graduate School of Design and A. B. Architecture, 1973, University of California at Berkeley .

As a downtown Manhattan resident after witnessing the tragedies of September 11th firsthand, Schwartz began 'drawing and drawing again in a healing process, re-envisioning the city to help mend its wounds.' He founded the THINK team, a finalist for re-planning the World Trade Center ." (First Lady Laura Bush at the White House for the National Design Awards)

Frederic Schwartz's independent design and planning for Lower Manhattan "opened the door" reducing development pressure on the World Trade Center facilitating an open site for the 9/11 memorial and a way to repair the city's skyline. The New York Times repeatedly published his ideas and in September 2002 ran a profile: "The Man Who Dared the City to THINK Again." Schwartz's ideas provided the framework for the New York Times Magazine "Think Big" Planning Study and led to his founding of the THINK team -- an international group of architects selected as the "runner-up" to "re-imagine Ground Zero" by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) who designed the internationally popular World Cultural Center.

Frederic Schwartz has won a number of national and international design competitions including most recently the Shanghai Fortune World Tower (2005), the New Jersey State (2004) and Westchester County 9/11 Memorials (2004), the new $200 million, 250,000 sf, Staten Island Ferry Terminal at the tip of Manhattan serving 65,000 commuters and tourists daily, the $100 million, the 850,000 sf, Southwest Regional Capitol of France in Toulouse, the 13-acre Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza (2004), and the New York City Housing and Development (2003) competition for 500,000 sf of affordable and market rate housing in Harlem (under construction).

Schwartz Architects has been a finalist in a number of major competitions including: Canadian International Human Rights Museum (2004), currently the Shanghai World Expo 2010 in China and the Singapore Downtown Harbor Master Plan (2005); Hoboken 9/11 Memorial (2004); San Diego Downtown Waterfront Master Plan (2004), San Diego Ballpark Master Plan, Canadian International Human Rights Museum (2004), Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Competition in Washington, DC (2000) and the Inter-Modal High Speed Station International Competition in Florence, Italy (2002).

Schwartz received a New York AIA Project Award (2004) for the THINK team's World Cultural Center at Ground Zero, a New York AIA Award (2002) and a National AIA Award (2003) for his participation in planning studies for Lower Manhattan; both a Chicago AIA Award (2003) and a San Diego AIA Award (2001) for the San Diego Zoo Store; a Chicago AIA Award (1999) for the Shedd Aquarium; and New York AIA Awards for Deutsch Inc. LA (2003), Prototypical New York Newsstand (1994) and the Lake Sebago House, Maine (1995). Schwartz was the Director of the New York office of Venturi Scott Brown Associates (1980-1985), leading the design team for the nation's largest urban design project at the time: the $2.6-billion, four mile underground highway, 40 new city blocks and 100-acre Westway State Park and Highway Project.

Frederic Schwartz was a recipient of the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture (1985), a National Endowment for the Arts Design Fellowship (1982) and selected by the Architecture League of New York for both the Young Architect's Award (1984) and as an Emerging Voice in Architecture (1988). Schwartz graduated from the University of California at Berkeley (1973) and received a Master of Architecture from Harvard University (1978). Schwartz's work has been shown in many international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2002 and 1986). He has taught architectural design at Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Yale and Penn and is the author of three books: Mother's House, published by Rizzoli (English, Japanese, German); Alan Buchsbaum: the Mechanics of Taste, published by Monacelli Press; and Venturi, Scott Brown e Associati, published by Zanichelli (Italian, English, Spanish, German).

Graduate School Of Design , Harvard University  

The Harvard Graduate School of Design is committed to providing its faculty, staff and students with outstanding resources that enable them to succeed with their educational and career goals as a design Expert in various facets. As part of the great Harvard University , it one of the great schools apart from the Schools of Business, Law, Continuing Education, Dental, Medical, and Public Health. The Graduate School of Design (GSD) offers education programs to support life-long learning, from the summer Career Discovery program to the masters and doctoral degree programs, to professional development courses for design practitioners and executive education programs for business and government leaders. Career Services provides a valuable link between classroom learning and the world of design practice at GSD. The range of masters degree programs in the departments of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning and design enable students to focus their studies in one discipline while gaining a broader perspective from related fields. The School also provides opportunities for advanced study and research in these fields and in such areas as real estate, digital media, and housing. Through close interaction with faculty in small studios and classes, students gain experience in contemporary design issues and an in-depth understanding of theory and history, technology and professional practice. The Graduate School of Design is first and foremost about people. The extraordinary faculty offers an unparalleled range of design philosophies and visions; and students represent a range of experience, with backgrounds from political science and art history to computer sciences and planning, and, of course, design. The School's perspective is global, as reflected in the international make-up and diversity of the entire community. Through the School's research programs, faculty and students investigate a broad range of social, political, technical and aesthetic interests and issues related to design. An extensive publications program, including Harvard Design Magazine, Studio Works, conference proceedings and books on history, theory and the city, extends reach to an international audience at GSD.

Talk - - "Rebuilding Cities after Natural or Man Made Disasters" by Frederic Schwartz.
Date - 29 th March 2006
Venue: India Habitat Center , Lodhi Road , New Delhi

"The solution to New Delhi 's infrastructure and traffic problems lies in growing vertically instead of spreading out." Professor Frederic Schwartz, a leading design critic and a Professor of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard University , said this while addressing a seminar on " Rebuilding Cities after Natural or Man-Made Disasters ". Several architects, designers, engineers and students attended the seminar.

During his address Prof. Schwartz spoke about the 9/11 tragedy and how New York was slowly preparing to rebuild on ground zero. He said, that for a fast growing city like New Delhi , planning and development is key and the investment on infrastructure has to be done. Prof. Schwartz who led the team of architects who designed mega projects like the Westway State Park and Highway and the one of its kind Staten Island Ferry Terminal in New York, feels that, "The more you spread out, the more you have to worry about transporting and moving people."

He further pointed out that "imagine how efficient the city would be if people don't spend this much time traveling. City planners should work towards providing a public transport system that takes vehicles off the road. Every major city in the world has grown with its transportation."

Prof. Schwartz insisted that, "any growing city needs planning and the planning initiative should be such that while building, it continues to preserve green spaces, historically important spaces, etc. City planners should think into the future when planning the infrastructure for the city, it should, not only meet the needs of today but also the growth possibilities of tomorrow." The Professor visited metros like Delhi , Mumbai, and Bangalore to have an insight of the architecture in the cities.