NEWS
The recently published Architecture & Design issue from Installation Magazine, a weekly publication for the iPad and iPhone, includes an exceptional profile on SCI-Arc and several of the school's alumni from the past four decades who have significantly contributed to the advancement of the profession.
In one of its most ambitious weekly issues to date, Installation celebrates the school's tradition of architectural experimentation with an interactive “Discover SCI-Arc@40” anniversary timeline of notable alumni, including images of some of their most radical projects providing new responses to the real needs and aspirations of today's world. The issue offers readers an opportunity to look back at the accomplishments of the school and to look ahead to the creative minds that inspire and shape the future, in Los Angeles and around the world.
Among alumni featured are Rania Alomar (M.Arch ’97), Jeffrey Allsbrook (M.Arch ’95), Matthew Au (M.Arch ’11), Annie Chu (B.Arch ’82) and Rick Gooding (B.Arch ’84), Samson Chua (M.Arch ’02), Tiffany Shaw-Collinge (M.Arch ’12), Benjamin Ball (B.Arch ’03) and Gaston Nogues (B.Arch ’93), Barbara Bestor (M.Arch ’92), Eric Cheong (M.Arch ’05), Joe Day (M.Arch ’94), Michael Folonis (B.Arch ’79), Adam Goldstein (M.Arch ’01), David Hertz (B.Arch ’83), Hyon Cara Lee (M.Arch ’96) and Stephan Mundwilder (M.Arch ’95), Christopher Mercier (M.Arch ’91), Dean Nota (B.Arch '76), Matthew Rosenberg (M.Arch ’09), F.Myles Sciotto (M.Arch ’09), Nick Seierup (B.Arch ’79), Liz von Hasseln (M.Arch ’12) and Kyle von Hasseln (M.Arch ’12), and Kevin Wronske (B.Arch ’02).
A weekly curated arts and lifestyle publication, Installation is available for the iPad and iPhone, and can be downloaded at the Apple Store. Its Architecture + Design issue can be downloaded at www.installationmag.com.
Alumna-led firm RA-DA has won the 2013 National AIA Institute Honors Award for Interior Architecture. Principal Rania Alomar (MArch ’97), together with fellow alumni Sofia Ames (M.Arch ’97) and Jesse Madrid (B.Arch ’08) were awarded an AIA honor for their design of Doc Magic–the offices of a Torrance, Calif. based technology company.
Doc Magic, Torrance, Calif │ RA-DA │ Photo by Ralf Strathmann
The project features strategic use of light in the interior corridors of the building to epitomize the blur between the physical and virtual world.
"We approach each of our projects with a goal of exploring and implementing something new. It often takes us a while to reach the solution that we settle upon," says Alomar. "For Doc Magic, we wanted to convey the company's virtual presence in a physical reality—we envisioned it as a "fuzzy space."
For more information on Doc Magic and RA-DA, see the full article on the AIA website or visit www.ra-da.com.
A slideshow with project images is available at www.architectmagazine.com.
On April 11th, one winning entry in the 40/40 installation design competition launched earlier this week by the SCI-Arc Alumni Council Media & Exhibits Committee will occupy the lobby space of the Farmers and Merchants Bank in downtown Los Angeles and serve as a canvas to depict SCI-Arc alumni work during April’s Downtown LA Art Walk.
Dubbed 40/40, the installation will celebrate SCI-Arc’s original 40 founding students and the school’s 40 years of operation, while at the same time honoring the work of over 4,000 alumni that have since passed through the school.
The competition for the design, management and construction of this installation is open to SCI-Arc alumni only. Submission deadline is March 8, 2013.
Click HERE to visit the competition page.
The exhibition will also be reinstalled at SCI-Arc as the centerpiece of the Alumni Lounge during the school’s 40th anniversary celebration weekend held April 19th-20th. More about the 40th anniversary is available at 40.sciarc.edu.
SCI-Arc alumna Beth Holden (B.Arch ’98), principal of Los Angeles-based NEW THEME, kept busy in 2012 working on her widely-publicized, 6,200-sq.ft. Hollywood Hills residence redesign for renowned photographer Jill Greenberg. Featured in last fall's AIA│LA Home Tours, the Greenberg residence invited acclaim from several architectural publications and is currently featured in Angeleno Interiors—where it also graces the cover.
New Theme │ Greenberg Residence │ Hollywood Hills, 2012
In addition to her client-driven projects, Holden and her husband, Wolfgang Melian, acquired and remodeled their NEW THEME studio space, combining it with a storefront art gallery. The space showcases exhibitions from local artists and features their own custom-designed furniture built locally in their North Hollywood shop. The two are currently building a calendar of exhibitions for 2013—the first of which will feature personal works of architectural photographer Ethan Pines.
Despite Holden's involvement in a wide array of ongoing projects, she has still found time to "play," which in her case meant the design of a state-of-the-art playhouse affectionately named La Folie. The Hayvenhurst Folie was conceptualized after Holden completed a restoration of the main Hayvenhurst residence in 2010, and is currently featured in Standard Magazine.
For more information about Holden and NEW THEME, visit www.newtheme.net.
The recently announced 2012 AIA│LA Presidential, Design and NextLA Awards from the Los Angeles chapter of the nation’s leading professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals and allied partners, recognized several SCI-Arc faculty, alumni and leadership for their contribution to advancing the architecture profession and their support to architectural initiatives in Los Angeles.
Presidential award winners included SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss, who received the 25-Year Award for his design of the Petal House; faculty members Jenny Wu and Dwayne Oyler of Oyler Wu Collaborative, recipients of the Emerging Practice award; Graduate Programs Chair Hernan Diaz Alonso, recognized with the Educator Award; and visiting faculty member Julie Eizenberg and partner Hank Koning of Koning Eizenberg Architecture, awarded the 2012 AIA│LA Gold Medal.
The Presidential Awards recognize select individuals who take leadership roles in their profession. AIA|LA President Stuart Magruder (M.Arch ‘97) stated, "The difficulty in selecting one winner in each category is amazing; we truly have an embarrassment of architectural riches here in Los Angeles!"
Design Awards went to faculty members Michael Folonis (B.Arch ’78) of Michael W. Folonis Architects, Marcelo Spina of PATTERNS, and Peter Zellner of ZELLNERPLUS. The Cultural Affairs Commission Award was received by alumnus Nick Seierup (B.Arch ‘79), who serves on the SCI-Arc Board of Trustees.
NextLA Award winners included Angela Brooks (M.Arch ‘91) of Brooks+Scarpa; Griffin Enright Architects’ Margaret Griffin, SCI-Arc faculty, and John Enright, SCI-Arc Undergraduate Program Chair; alumni Scott Hughes (M.Arch ‘97) and John Umbanhowar (M.Arch ‘98) of Hughesumbanhowar Architects; SCI-Arc trustee Bill Fain of Johnson Fain; alumna Jennifer Marmon (M.Arch ’01) of Platform for Architecture + Research; and faculty member Marcelo Spina or PATTERNS.
Award winners were celebrated at the AIA│LA annual gala held October 22 at the Broad Stage at the Santa Monica Performing Arts Center, in a ceremony hosted by musician and architecture aficionado Moby.
Alumni Benjamin Ball (B.Arch ‘03) and Gaston Nogues (B.Arch ‘93) of Los Angeles-based Ball-Nogues Studio are among the 56 finalists selected in the “Spaces” category of the 2012 Innovation by Design Awards from FastCompany.
Yucca Crater│ Ball-Nogues Studio│ Photo by Scott Mayoral
Located in the barren desert near Joshua Tree National Park, 15 miles from the nearest human settlement, Yucca Crater is a synthetic earthwork that doubled as a recreational amenity during High Desert Test Sites on October 15-16, 2011. After the event, the artists recycled the wooden mold from the massive art installation into a 30-foot-tall temporary swimming pool in the California Desert, while the Yucca Crater was abandoned to the entropic forces of the landscape.
Competition judges included MoMA curator Paola Antonelli and Nicholas Felton of Facebook, and winners will be unveiled on October 16 in New York.
The Santa Monica office of alumnus and faculty member Michael Folonis (B.Arch ‘78) has recently been honored by the Westside Urban Forum with two Honor Design Awards. The UCLA Outpatient Surgery and Oncology Center (UCLA OSOC) in Santa Monica was awarded in the Public/Institutional category, and a 200-unit, mixed-use residential project on the Westside was awarded in the Mixed-Use category (unbuilt).
Folonis designed the UCLA OSOC 50,000-square-foot hybrid medical facility to house community outpatient surgery and oncology treatment, as well as academic and medical office facilities for UCLA medical students and faculty. The building, developed by Randall Miller, PE, of Nautilus Group, features a cutting-edge, fully automated parking system that reduces the garage footprint by 50 percent and increases energy efficiency to help meet LEED Gold certification requirements.
For the new mixed-use residential project (shown here), Folonis faced many site-oriented challenges. The architect’s goals were to provide a more pedestrian-friendly urban experience, connecting apartment dwellers visually as well as physically to the street. The office designed a fully-customized building skin that allows each resident to control individual light, privacy, and sun screening functions, while still maintaining the city’s planning and zoning codes for a stepped back building façade. The project, which is slated for LEED Platinum certification, includes a sun-shading system for energy efficiency and a roof with photovoltaic cells that will provide all necessary energy for public spaces as well as for the majority of electrical power for the apartments.
The Westside Urban Forum Design Awards recognize Los Angeles-based projects, programs, policies, and academic studies that demonstrate excellence in city making and community building, as well as work that addresses the issues of planning for and building a livable future. Winning projects are chosen by a jury of leading architects, engineers and industry experts.
SCI-Arc alumna Karen M'Closkey (B.Arch ‘84), Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design, has won the Garden Club of America Rome Prize. She has proposed A Field Guide to Rome: Baedeker and Beyond as her topic.
The American Academy in Rome’s annual Rome Prize Competition each year recognizes 30 individuals who represent the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities. The prestigious fellowship offers an opportunity for prize winners to pursue their work in an atmosphere conductive to intellectual and artistic freedom, interdisciplinary exchange and innovation. The prize includes a stipend, a work studio, and room and board for a period of six months to two years in Rome, Italy.
M’Closkey will begin her fellowship at the American Academy in Rome this fall. Winners were formally recognized at the Janet & Arthur Ross Rome Prize Ceremony held in New York City in April.
For more information about the American Academy in Rome and Rome Prize, visit www.aarome.org.
Alumni Barbara Bestor (M.Arch ‘92), Tima A. Bell (M.Arch ‘00) and Gulla Jonsdottir (B.Arch ‘94), and SCI-Arc trustee Thom Mayne are nominated for the 8th annual restaurant design awards from AIA Los Angeles.
The Lounge/Nightclub category features the Los Angeles-based Hyde Lounge by G+ Design and the Salvage Bar & Lounge (shown here) by Straight Designs & Tima Winter Inc.
The Beachwood Café in Los Angeles, designed by Bestor Architecture, and the Clyde Frazier’s Wine and Dine restaurant in New York City by Morphosis are included in the Restaurant category.
Voting is now open online, and available through Monday, June 18.
Click HERE to cast your vote.
SCI-Arc alumnus Orhan Ayyuce (B.Arch ‘81) is featured by KCET's Jeremy Rosenberg in his weekly “Arrival Story” column.
Ayyuce, who was born in Turkey, talks about how important SCI-Arc was to his life, to becoming an architect and to staying in Los Angeles.
"I enrolled at SCI-Arc. Being an architecture student is a great way to see a city. Two years after I'd arrived in the United States, I finally felt at home. I remember walking along Wilshire corridor and seeing building-dense areas, which I like. And the weather was the same as where I came from. The plants, flowers, fauna, the coast—everything was familiar. Los Angeles was love at first sight."
