http://www.sciarc.edu/rss.php?featured=2 SCI-Arc News en_US Sat May 25 8:39:00 EDT 2013 Sat May 25 8:39:00 EDT 2013 en_US http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2228 SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss will participate in the second installment of the AIA|LA Academia & Practice Symposia, taking place on Thursday, June 20th, 2013 from 6-7pm at the offices of Johnson Fain. The series consists of five video-taped discussions AIA is coordinating with each of the Deans/Directors of the five Los Angeles-area NAAB-accredited architecture degree programs. The AIA has organized these series with direction and input by Scott Johnson, FAIA, currently serving as the 2013 President of AIA Los Angeles. Moderated by Johnson, each of the sessions features one Dean/Director who will address the relationship between academia and practice, questioning the interplay between theory and the production of buildings, as well as the evolving terrains of research, design and construction. The series is open to the public based on a first-come-first-serve basis, and will be held at the offices of Johnson Fain located at 1201 North Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012. More at www.aialosangeles.org. 2013-05-23 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2228 2013-05-23 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2221 Faculty member Stephen Phillips, AIA, Ph.D. recently authored the “Architecture Industry: The L.A. Ten” article published in the exhibition catalog for the Getty's Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990, edited by Wim de Wit and Christopher Alexander (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, April 2013). In his review for The New York Review of Books, architecture critic Martin Filler writes "Of particular interest in Overdrive is Stephen Phillips's essay 'Architecture Industry,' which examines the so-called LA Ten, an informal group of young, experimentally-minded architects; Thom Mayne, who contributes a rueful foreword to Never Built Los Angeles, is today the best-known of them." Phillips' article formatively investigates the cultural, urban, economic, and psychoanalytic relationship between architecture and industry in Los Angeles from the 1970s to the 1990s. It poses the impact of post-Fordism on the formation of a new "Architecture Industry" here in Los Angeles surrounding a loosely affiliated cadre of architects, the L.A. Ten, who were catapulted to fame through international media in the 1970s and 1980s. The essay features the built work of Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, Michael Rotondi, Coy Howard, Studio Works (Craig Hodgetts and Robert Mangurian), Eric Owen Moss, Franklin Israel, Hodgetts + Fung (Craig Hodgetts and Ming Fung), Wes Jones and Neil Denari. Phillips teaches Modern and Contemporary Architecture History and Theory at SCI-Arc and is design principal in the California-based firm Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS). He is also coordinator of the Los Angeles Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design, and Associate Professor of Architecture at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He publishes and lectures on architecture, media, and technology internationally, and has received numerous honors, grants, and awards for his work including most recently residential fellowships from the Scholars Program at the Getty Research Institute and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a Graham Foundation Grant, a Canadian Center for Architecture Research Grant, an ACSA/AIAS New Faculty Teaching Award, and an AIACCC Design Merit Award. The Getty’s Overdrive catalog is available for purchase at the Getty Store and other major book sellers. 2013-05-06 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2221 2013-05-06 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2219 Now in its Third Year, DID Debuts June 24 on the Architecture School’s Campus in Downtown Los Angeles SCI-Arc has received a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support Design Immersion Days (DID), a summer program for high school students designed to educate the next generation of architects and designers, and to encourage students to pursue higher education. This year, SCI-Arc will add 3D printing to the DID curriculum, giving students access to one of the latest breakthroughs in technology. A rigorous, full-day, four week non-residential program for high school students, Design Immersion Days guides sophomores and juniors through a process of discovery, cultivating a lifelong appreciation for architecture and design. Students are exposed to design in all corners of their lives, while developing their skills in an immersive studio environment. Design Immersion Days’ third edition will run from June 24 to July 19, 2013. Led by SCI-Arc design faculty Darin Johnstone, it features an artistic and energizing mix of visual design coursework, hand drawing, computer design, college readiness workshops, guest speakers and field trips. The program culminates in a final review and exhibition for family, friends, teachers, and the community. Scholarship support is available for students whose family income qualifies them to receive financial aid. “One of the objectives of SCI-Arc’s DID summer program is to reach a constituency that would be otherwise unable to afford such an educational experience,” said SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss. “This NEA grant ensures that SCI-Arc can provide financial support to DID students from underserved communities.” SCI-Arc launched Design Immersion Days in 2011 with seed funding from The Ahmanson Foundation. In 2012, following two successful editions, the program was awarded a Citation of Merit by the American Architectural Foundation. This year, SCI-Arc is one of 122 organizations in California to receive an NEA Art Works grant. It is the sixth NEA grant for SCI-Arc. Most recently, in 2011 the school received a Design category grant to create the SCI-Arc Media Archive, a comprehensive digital platform featuring more than 1,000 hours of lecture videos and 3,000 architecture and design related topics. More information about Design Immersion Days is available on the DID page. Major support for Design Immersion Days is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by The Green Foundation, ACE Mentor Program Los Angeles, The Bowling Family Foundation, and David Hertz, FAIA (B.Arch ’83). 2013-04-25 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2219 2013-04-25 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2218 The SCI-Arc 40th Anniversary Benefit Dinner & After-Party hosted this Saturday on our campus in downtown Los Angeles raised $400,000 to support the school’s mission of educating the next generation of architects and designers. The event’s success strengthens SCI-Arc’s commitment to attract the best talent from around the world. More images available at Getty Images. The benefit dinner celebrated SCI-Arc’s forty years of innovation and architectural experimentation, and the school’s devotion to finding radically new responses to the real needs and aspirations of today’s world. SCI-Arc 40th Anniversary Film from SCI-Arc on Vimeo. “SCI-Arc is ageless,” said SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss, who served as the evening’s host along with emcees Tom Gilmore, a trustee of SCI-Arc, and Frances Anderton of KCRW’s DnA. The benefit dinner brought together hundreds of guests from the worlds of architecture, design, film, politics and education. In attendance were the 4 event chairs and SCI-Arc directors from the past four decades, Ray Kappe, Michael Rotondi (B.Arch ’73), Neil Denari, and Eric Owen Moss, trustees Rick Carter, Joe Day (M.Arch ’94), William Fain, Anthony Ferguson, Tom Gilmore, Scott Hughes (M.Arch ’97), Thom Mayne, Board Chairman Jerry Neuman, Merry Norris, Greg Otto, Kevin Ratner, Abigail Scheuer (M.Arch ’93), Nick Seierup (B.Arch ’79), Abby Sher, and Ted Tanner, honorary trustee Ian Robertson, former councilwoman Jan Perry, city planners Art Beccera, Tanner Blackman, Raymond Chan, Alfred Fraijo, Robert Hertzberg, Director of City Planning Michael LoGrande, and William Roschen, graphic designers April Greiman and Lorraine Wild, CalArts President Steven D. Levine, media and entertainment executives David Agnew and Tim Disney, Linda Dishman of the LA Conservancy, Con Howe of the Urban Land Institute, international architects Stefano Casciani, Peter Cook and Wolf Prix, UCLA Architecture Chair Hitoshi Abe, Barbara Bestor (M.Arch ’92), SCI-Arc chair of graduate programs Hernan Diaz Alonso, SCI-Arc chair of undergraduate programs John Enright, Michael Folonis (B.Arch ’78), SCI-Arc director of academic affairs Hsinming Fung, Elizabeth Gibb (M.Arch ’89), Steve Glenn, Marcelyn Gow, Jackie Greenberg (M.Arch ’95), Margaret Griffin, Peter Grueneisen (M.Arch ’90), Craig Hodgetts, Beth Holden (B.Arch ’98), Darin Johnstone, Jeffrey Kipnis, Sylvia Lavin, Cara Lee (M.Arch ’96), Jeremy Levine (M.Arch ’93), Greg Lynn, Michael Maltzan, Elena Manferdini, Robert Mangurian, William McGregor, Dean Nota, Margi Nothard (M.Arch ’92), Nick Patsaouras, Monica Ponce de Leon, Elissa Scrafano (M.Arch ’90), Michael Speaks, Tim Sullivan, SCI-Arc director of advancement Sarah Sullivan, Aaron Sosnick, Marcelo Spina, Dan Swartz, Peter Testa, Russell Thomsen, Laurence Tighe (M.Arch ’91), Devyn Weiser, Tom Wiscombe, Andrew Zago, Stephanie Bowling-Zeigler (M.Arch ’95), and Peter Zellner. The program included filmed messages from the four SCI-Arc directors, a special 40th anniversary film screening, and speeches by board of trustees chairman Jerry Neuman, Eric Owen Moss, and undergraduate student Deborah Garcia (B.Arch ’17). The SCI-Arc building was transformed by an amazing showcase of some of the best student projects from undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate design studios and seminars. The dinner space designed by SCI-Arc faculty member Alexis Rochas featured an array of custom-designed polygonal tables and color-coded tabletops with hues arranged in a unique pattern of syncopated color values. A large-scale media installation showcased a SCI-Arc timeline streaming across the walls over the course of the evening, alternating images from the SCI-Arc archives, visuals of faculty, student, and alumni work, and snapshots of campus life. Hundreds of SCI-Arc alumni, faculty and students joined dinner guests for an after-party held outdoors in the SCI-Arc parking lot. The Storm Cloud pavilion designed by faculty members Jenny Wu and Dwayne Oyler of Oyler Wu Collaborative hovered over the after-party. The installation made use of the existing structure of graduation pavilions from 2011/2012, and played off of the contrast between the existing rectilinear structure and a new system of eccentrically curvilinear elements at the bottom of the columns. A new spandex fabric was stretched between the two contrasting frames, creating the dramatic illusion of a transformative and undulating canopy. Complementing Storm Cloud outdoors were The Paths by Alexis Rochas, a set of five self-supporting, semi-circular lightweight structures defined by bold color transitions that linked the dinner area with the after-party. The proceeds of the 40th anniversary celebration will benefit student scholarships at SCI-Arc. IMAGE CAPTIONS: (left) Interior shot of the 40th anniversary benefit dinner space at SCI-Arc, photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images; (right) Outdoor after-party space with Storm Cloud pavilion designed by Oyler Wu Collaborative and the boldly colored, lightweight structures The Paths by Alexis Rochas at SCI-Arc Campus, Los Angeles, Saturday, April 20th, 2013. 2013-04-23 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2218 2013-04-23 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2217 The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) elected Hsinming Fung, SCI-Arc's Director of Academic Affairs, as the organization's 2013 President-Elect. The appointment recognizes Fung's leadership and forward-thinking vision in today's rapidly changing political and economic context, which has brought about profound changes in architecture education. "It is time to re-tune the expectations of our programs," says Fung. "As the practice of architecture transforms, and it will, it is the schools and their programs which must look ahead to exploit the opportunities of new, practical and effective roles for the profession." Fung will serve on the ACSA Board for a three-year term, beginning on July 1, 2013, with the first year served as Vice President, the second as President, and the third as Past President. Committed to architectural education for nearly thirty years, Fung was appointed Director of Academic Affairs at SCI-Arc in 2010, after eight years of teaching and serving as the school's Director of Graduate Programs. Previously, she has taught at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, for 16 years, with stints at Yale University as the Eero Saarinen Professor in 1995 and 2000, and at Ohio State University as Herbert Baumber Professor in 1996. An AIA registered architect, Fung is principal and Director of Design for the internationally renowned Los Angeles-based architecture firm Hodgetts+Fung (H+F). Since founding H+F in 1984 with partner Craig Hodgetts, FAIA, she has overseen the design of distinguished projects such as the renovated Hollywood Bowl, the Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center, the Wild Beast Pavilion at California Institute of the Arts, and a host of other influential designs. Current projects include renovation of the historic Robert Frost Auditorium in Culver City, the Rosa Parks Metro station, a mixed-use development in West Hollywood, the Chapel of the North American Martyrs at Jesuit High School in Sacramento, and the Diamond Head Theatre in O’Ahu. Fung's studio has also earned a reputation for high-caliber exhibition design through such installations as the Library of Congress/Ira Gershwin Gallery at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the landmark exhibitions Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses, The Work of Charles & Ray Eames, and most recently at LACMA, California Design, 1930-1965: “Living in a Modern Way.” They have also received numerous prestigious awards, including the Fellowship Architecture Award, the Gold Medal from the AIA/LA, the AIACC Firm of the Year Award, the GSA Design Excellence Award, and most recently, the R+D Award for their innovative fiberglass roof design for LAUSD modular classrooms. 2013-04-08 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2217 2013-04-08 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2216 SCI-Arc’s Alumni Council has selected Fractal Projections, a proposal by alumni Evelina Sausina (B.Arch ‘11) and Eugene Kosgoron (M.DesR ‘12) as the winning design in the 40/40 competition to create an anniversary installation of alumni work. The exhibition will first be on view in the lobby of the Farmers and Merchants bank during the upcoming Downtown LA Art Walk scheduled Thursday, April 11. It will then be re-assembled at SCI-Arc for the school’s anniversary weekend on April 19-20th. Fractal Projections│Evelina Sausina & Eugene Kosgoron Fractal Projections is a play on the idea of the cube broken in space, which creates an interlocking grid system that follows a linear deformation, allowing the break from the norm grid behavior into a family of fractal surfaces. It pays homage to forty years of SCI-Arc, while at the same time honoring the work of more than 4,000 alumni that have passed through the school. The inspiration for this installation originated from traditional Eastern European craft. The cubes are fragmented in modular units than can be reconfigured in multiple ways with only two variations in tube structure length. The materials that form the surfaces are Tyvek and reflective film, which serve as a “canvas” to depict alumni work. The other faces are a matrix of surfaces that change in orientation and material behavior. The lightweight modules are made of two components that are suspended in space using fishing wires, engaging an active audience and providing clean surfaces for projective mapping. Following the one-day-only exhibition during April’s Downtown LA Art Walk, the installation will be re-assembled at SCI-Arc to serve as the centerpiece of the Alumni Lounge during the school’s 40th anniversary weekend. More about the celebration at 40.sciarc.edu. 2013-04-02 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2216 2013-04-02 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2209 Los Angeles Biodiversity, collage by im studio mi/la, Alice Guarisco (www.imstudio.us) The complex interplay between the natural and artificial landscape of Los Angeles provides a platform to explore the lessons offered by the natural world. Enter biomimicry—the idea of emulating strategies nature has already perfected. The application of bio-inspired design, animal skins and building envelopes, is central to one of the discussions hosted Saturday, March 16, 5-7:30 pm by AIA Los Angeles as part of its COTE panel series. Moderated by Sam Lubell, West Coast editor of the Architect’s Newspaper, the conversation features SCI-Arc faculty members Russell Fortmeyer, sustainability consultant with the LA office of global engineering firm Arup, and Tom Wiscombe, principal of Los Angeles based Tom Wiscombe Design. Co-chaired by Ilaria Mazzoleni, who also teaches at SCI-Arc, and Deborah Richmond, the AIA│LA COTE seeks to explore, discuss, compile and broadcast information about the impacts, both positive and negative, of the city’s urban geography. Mazzoleni, who has been teaching and working with the concept of biomimicry in architecture for nearly 10 years, said in a recent interview with Nate Berg for Ensia.com: “You don't design a set of roads in isolation but in relation to buildings, to the sewer system below or to the cabling. There are a lot of invisible elements that go into it. And nature is really a master example of making different things work one to the other and eliminating things that don't fit in the picture.” The AIA│LA COTE event is open to the public and will be held at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, located at 900 Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007. (museum parking is $10) For more information, click HERE. 2013-03-05 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2209 2013-03-05 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2206 SCI-Arc trustee Rick Carter won an Oscar on Sunday, February 24, for the production design on Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed film Lincoln. This marks the second academy award for Carter, who joined the SCI-Arc board in January 2012. Carter previously won an Oscar for his art direction on James Cameron’s Avatar. “It’s very much an instinctive process,” Carter recently told the New York Times. The article also noted that Carter was inspired by a trip to the White House in 2003, when he visited the Lincoln Bedroom—originally Lincoln’s office—and walked the hallways. “The space felt haunted,” said Carter, “not a dark or negative haunting, but the burden that was carried by Lincoln in his time." “From the very beginning we knew this would be a psychological space,” Carter added. Read the full story HERE. 2013-02-26 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2206 2013-02-26 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2205 This week’s 40th anniversary special edition of the Los Angeles Downtown News lists the SCI-Arc Campus among the buildings that have had a major impact on the Central City. “The 1906 structure became a hive for 500 students and the school’s faculty and administrative offices,” writes reporter Ryan Vaillancourt about the SCI-Arc building. “The activation of the 89,000-square-foot space was by far the most important project in the Arts District in decades,” adds Vaillancourt. Read the full article at “The Buildings That Shaped Downtown.” Earlier this month, the weekly publication also announced the $1 million endowment gift received by SCI-Arc from its trustee, Los Angeles developer Tom Gilmore. Read that story at “Tom Gilmore’s Million Dollar SCI-Arc Chair.” 2013-02-22 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2205 2013-02-22 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2203 Brian and Eva Sweeney (M.Arch ‘98) of Manhattan Beach are proud founders of the latest nonprofit art space to debut in the Los Angeles area, the El Segundo Museum of Art, which opened to the public in late January. Brian and Eva Sweeney at the El Segundo Museum of Art (Christina House /LA Times) The first exhibition on view in the 2,000-square-feet space consists primarily of work from the couple’s own private art collection, featuring 19th century artists like Corot and Gustave Courbet along with more recent work by Christo, Andreas Gursky and young German artists. This project draws on Eva’s professional strengths. Before marrying Brian Sweeney, she was co-founder of the Los Angeles architecture Bau10, having left her native Germany to pursue a graduate degree at SCI-Arc. Eva designed the museum space with an emphasis on both sustainability and beauty. She also brought on board fellow SCI-Arc alum John Milander, AIA (M.Arch '02), who served as the architect on the project. Los Angeles Times’ Jori Finkel writes: "The plan for the nonprofit space—the Sweeneys call it a 'laboratory'—is to invite local teachers to use the exhibitions as they see fit during the week, and to keep public hours Friday through Sunday." Read the full article here. EasyReader and Daily Breeze also covered the story . 2013-02-11 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2203 2013-02-11 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2202 Gilmore’s Estate Will Support Faculty through Establishing SCI-Arc’s First Endowed Chair SCI-Arc today announced it has received a first-of-its-kind $1-million planned gift from visionary Los Angeles developer Tom Gilmore. This generous gift will support SCI-Arc’s design and architecture faculty through the creation of the school’s first named chair, the Gilmore City Chair. “This gift represents a major investment in SCI-Arc and will help us support the education of our outstanding student body and position the school for a stronger future,” said Board of Trustees Chairman Jerry Neuman. In responding to Gilmore’s generosity, Director Eric Owen Moss quoted Machiavelli, “I believe the greatest good to be done is that which one does to one’s own city.” Moss continued, “In Gilmore’s case, he has done the greatest good. Los Angeles is a better city because of his efforts, and now SCI-Arc is a stronger school because of his generosity. We look forward to the creation of the Gilmore City Chair and the permanent focus it will bring to the exploration of cities at SCI-Arc.” When Gilmore, a trustee since 2001, approached SCI-Arc about including the school in his estate plans, a dialogue about his interests ensued. “Design, architecture and cities have played a defining role in my life,” he said, “and these interests originally led me to SCI-Arc. As I began to consider my gift, I wanted to acknowledge these influences in a meaningful way. The idea of creating a named chair, the Gilmore City Chair, seemed like a natural fit.” SCI-Arc’s strategic positioning at the center of the changing urban landscape of Los Angeles provides unparalleled opportunities for its students and faculty to challenge the notions of the modern city. Dense city architecture involves an inherent interaction of economic, social, political, ecological and technological forces demanding multi-disciplinary review and collaboration. The Gilmore City Chair at SCI-Arc will be committed to the study of these issues, not only as they apply to the city of Los Angeles, but to cities around the world, which will be examined and reimagined through the creative lens of the SCI-Arc community. A native New Yorker and architect by training, Gilmore moved to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, a time when the historic core of downtown Los Angeles has been all but abandoned. Within a few years of arriving on the West Coast, Gilmore had begun acquiring and rehabilitating a number of historic buildings. In many people’s minds, Gilmore was the animating force behind adaptive reuse development in downtown Los Angeles—a risk-taker and committed urban guy whose efforts totally revitalized the Old Bank District and served as a model to other developers. Tom Gilmore is scheduled to deliver a public lecture at SCI-Arc on Wednesday, February 13, starting 7pm, to discuss his vision for the City Chair. Gilmore’s transformational gift tops a wave of significant support received by SCI-Arc from trustees, donors and friends in recent years. Their commitment to architecture education will be celebrated at the school’s 40th Anniversary Benefit Dinner scheduled to take place April 20, 2013 on the SCI-Arc campus. For more information, please visit http://40.sciarc.edu. The story was also covered by the Los Angeles Times. 2013-02-04 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2202 2013-02-04 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2198 SCI-Arc design faculty Tom Wiscombe and Peter Testa are amongst several acclaimed critics invited to jury in the DRL Phase II Final Reviews hosted January 17-18 by the Architecture Association in London. Wiscombe is scheduled to deliver the event’s keynote lecture. Architectural Association, London │ DRL Phase II Final Reviews Wiscombe is principal of Los Angeles-based Tom Wiscombe Design, an internationally recognized contemporary architecture office. His work stands out in terms of its synthesis of form, pattern, color, and technology into singular, irreducible constructions. Testa is principal in charge at TESTA/WEISER and founding director of the MIT Emergent Design Group (EDG). At TESTA/WEISER he leads a wide range of projects including the Carbon Tower, recognized as one of the most significant applications of advanced materials and robotics in architecture. More about the AA DRL Reviews >> 2013-01-16 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2198 2013-01-16 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2197 Eye Candy, a site-specific installation designed by faculty member Elena Manferdini will be on view starting January 17 in a special exhibition at the Pacific Design Center (gallery space B231). eye candy from Elena Manferdini on Vimeo. Commissioned by INDUSTRY Los Angeles, Manferdini’s work is a deliberate flirtation with the contemporary attraction to the glossy, the playful, the fictional and the pop. The installation’s unique iconography puts forth a clear statement that architectural material finishes have the communicative potential to enter into the imaginary realm of our “eye-candy” culture, exploiting our most superficial of obsessions including desire, age, gender, media, consumption and delight. Manferdini is principal of Atelier Manferdini, a Los Angeles based design office which she founded in 2004. Her practice is based on a multi-scale work methodology and embraces the philosophy that design can participate in a wide range of multidisciplinary developments that define our culture. More about "Eye Candy" >> More about Elena Manferdini >> 2013-01-15 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2197 2013-01-15 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2192 SCI-Arc Outdoor Pavilion 2013 │ Marcelo Spina & Georgina Huljich │Patterns A recent article published December 26, 2012 in the Los Angele Times talks about the Patterns-designed outdoor graduation pavilion to be built on the SCI-Arc campus this spring, with generous funding from Artplace. “SCI-Arc has a most unusual college campus, a quarter-mile-long former railroad freight depot near the Los Angeles River in downtown,” writes Larry Gordon of the Times. Students skateboard inside the skinny structure, from end to end, passing exhibition halls, a robotics lab and studios packed with wooden models and computers..." Read the full feature: L.A. Architecture School is Poised to Spread Its Wings 2013-01-08 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2192 2013-01-08 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2191 Marcelyn Gow & Ulrika Karlsson, Servo Los Angeles/Stockholm, Aqueotrope SCI-Arc is pleased to present Aqueotrope, a SCI-Arc Gallery site specific installation designed by Marcelyn Gow and Ulrika Karlsson of servo Los Angeles/Stockholm. Aqueotrope opens Friday, January 18, followed by a discussion with Marcelyn Gow and SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss on Friday, February 1, 7pm. Using conventional ceramic roof tiles in an unconventional way, Aqueotrope explores the roofscape as a site for the development of synthetic architectural systems that are informed by and integrate systems of organic matter. The installation features an archipelago of gray ceramic tiles situated on the gallery floor, illuminated by a series of orbicular glass light fixtures. A cable sargassum confounds the simple diagram of a closed electrical circuit with the entropic tendencies of accumulation, excess and disorder, and in doing so, creates a third spatial layer—a drawing manifested in space, a canopy which is suspended above an unnatural gray ceramic landscape. servo’s project proposes an architecture that has the capacity to embrace entropic tendencies and exploit the latent potential of energetic exchanges—in this case the transfer of moisture through an architectural medium and its effects on more extensive ecologies. Aqueotrope reconsiders the extensive green-roof typology as an immersive roofscape and focuses on amplifying its hydrodynamic potential. The emergence of cusp and contour in the roof tile is activated for its role as a water shedding or channeling device. The material properties of ceramics with varying degrees of porosity and surface articulation are coupled with a morphology of protuberant forms in order to perform as hydrophilic and hydrophobic constituents of a roofscape designed to subtly tamper with atmospheric effects in its specific environment and conjure the potentials of an architecture that embraces the fluxion of matter. Visit the Aqueotrope exhibition page >> 2013-01-07 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2191 2013-01-07 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2189 SCI-Arc design faculty Elena Manferdini has been awarded one of the prestigious 2012 ARC grants from the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI). The grant will enhance Manferdini’s research and design of a full scale pavilion to be built inside the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA). The pavilion will be exhibited in MOCA’s upcoming exhibition A New Sculpturalism: Contemporary Architecture from Southern California funded by The Getty Foundation as part of the Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. initiative. Tempera Pavilion, MOCA, Spring 2013 │ Atelier Manferdini Exploring novel painterly techniques applied to the field of architecture, the Tempera pavilion by Atelier Manferdini creates an immersive, fantastic garden for MOCA, where visitors can see their own images reflected into a three-dimensional immersive painted canvas. The pavilion’s outside surface is covered by 150 floral panels, made of powder-coated, folded aluminum. This flower configuration relentlessly arranged in repeated panels strives for an abstraction and flatness that diverges from any attempts at realism. The finished surface is a deliberate appeal to the viewer’s attraction to the playful, fictional and pop aesthetic, representing a clear statement that architecture enters into the imaginary realm of our "eye-candy" culture. Recognizing artists' accomplishments and the impact of their work in the Los Angeles community, the ARC grants program was established by the Durfee Foundation in 2000 in an effort to provide a dedicated resource for individual artists living in Los Angeles County. In 2011, the Durfee Foundation partnered with CCI in helping advance the careers of more than 500 individual artists working in all disciplines. Click here for more about the ARC 2012 grantees. Click here for more about Atelier Manferdini. 2012-12-17 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2189 2012-12-17 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2171 Award-winning Architects, Designers, Artists Featured in Noteworthy Lectures and Exhibitions SCI-Arc is pleased to announce its spring 2013 schedule of public lectures, discussions and exhibitions, welcoming an international roster of award-winning architects, urban historians, critics, writers, designers and artists. Speakers include architects Pier Vittorio Aureli, Davin Ruy, Andrew Zago, Ben van Berkel and Eric Owen Moss, urban developer and SCI-Arc Trustees Tom Gilmore, and Pulizter-Prize finalist, musician Tod Machover. (L to R): Tod Machover/MIT Media Lab, Marcelyn Gow/servo Los Angeles, Tom Gilmore/Old Bank District, Los Angeles A highlight of the spring 2013 events roster, the SCI-Arc-hosted exhibition A Confederacy of Heretics: The Architecture Gallery, Venice, 1979 will examine the pivotal role played by the temporary gallery held in the home of architect Thom Mayne for several months in 1979. The first gallery in Los Angeles dedicated solely to architecture, each week Mayne’s Architecture Gallery showcased the work of an emerging architect or group, including Eugene Kupper, Roland Coate, Frederick Fisher, Frank Dimster, Frank Gehry, Peter de Bretteville, Morphosis (Thom Mayne and Michael Rotondi), Studio Works (Craig Hodgetts and Robert Mangurian), and Eric Owen Moss, thus becoming a crucible for contemporary architectural culture in L.A. On view in both the SCI-Arc Gallery and SCI-Arc Library, this exhibition is funded by the Getty Foundation as part of the Getty's Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. initiative. Other SCI-Arc programs featured in spring 2013 span from innovative theory to contemporary architecture, technical practice, music and media. Events and exhibitions at SCI-Arc are always free to the public. Read the full news release >> 2012-12-04 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2171 2012-12-04 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2167 Robot House faculty and researchers Brandon Kruysman (ESTm ‘11) and Jonathan Proto (ESTm ‘11) will represent SCI-Arc at this year’s Autodesk University 2012, scheduled November 27-29 in Las Vegas, Nev. The duo will discuss their current research into collaborative robotics during the Design Computation Symposium hosted Wednesday, November 28. Their presentation will address design speculation and new methods of fabrication through the custom-built motion control and communications software plug-in for Autodesk Maya, which they developed in the SCI-Arc Robot House. SCI-Arc Spring 2012 - RoCoCo - Team C Rainbows from SCI-Arc on Vimeo. Aside from SCI-Arc, this year’s Autodesk symposium on design computation will feature a number of presentations from accomplished researchers and practitioners from companies including Buro Happold, Bemo Systems, Kreysler & Associates, and Foster+Partners. Discussions will focus on the fascinating relationship between mathematical, geometrical, and architectural form. More about the SCI-Arc Robot House >> More about Autodesk University 2012 >> 2012-11-13 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2167 2012-11-13 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2165 The recently published 2013 Best Architecture & Design Schools rankings from Design Intelligence conducted by the Greenway Group and Design Intelligence, rank SCI-Arc #1 graduate and undergraduate program in Western U.S. The school is also listed first in undergraduate and graduate programs as ranked by firms. General rankings place SCI-Arc at #2 in undergraduate and #6 in graduate programs overall. In the architecture skills assessment survey, SCI-Arc is ranked #1 in computer applications, construction methods & materials, and cross-disciplinary teamwork; #2 in design and communication; #3 in analysis and planning; #4 in research & theory, and sustainable design practices & principles. New this year, the rankings include a list of Design Intelligence’s 30 Most Admired Educators for 2013, featuring SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss, Wes Jones and Michael Rotondi (B.Arch ’74). Approximately 392 architecture firms, 351 schools and 2,840 architecture students participated in the survey. Visit www.di.net for a complete list of the rankings. 2012-11-01 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2165 2012-11-01 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2164 By Steven Holl "Architecture does not exist, what exists is the spirit of Architecture" - Louis Kahn While in Rhinebeck, evacuated from New York City due to Hurricane Sandy, I received a 5:45am phone call from Aleksandra Wagner that Lebbeus Woods just died. She had no electricity and was calling me from a policeman's phone. Lebbeus was very excited recently about the completion of the Light Pavilion in Chengdu, China. He and Christoph Kumpusch had a champagne toast on October 24th to celebrate this important moment—his first permanent construction. The freedom of spirit in Architecture that Lebbeus Woods embodied carried with it a rare idealism. Lebbeus had very passionate beliefs and a deep philosophical commitment to Architecture. He often spoke of the importance of ideas and an understanding of our world. His designs were politically charged fields of reality that he created. I met Lebbeus in February 1977. Introduced by Andrew MacNair, who was the Director of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies. I arrived at Leb's small loft near Franklin Street in TriBeCa to find Lebbeus standing bent over an enormous black and white drawing of a Piranese-like urban vision. His cigarette had a long gray ash that was about to drop as he greeted me briefly and turned to show me the amazing drawing. As we began discussing the current state of Architecture, I told him I really appreciated his deeply critical remarks on the postmodernism of Charles Moore, Robert Stern, and others that I read while I was in San Francisco. Lebbeus and I began to meet every couple of weeks at the "Square Diner" as they served "all-you-caneat-for-a-dollar" bean soup. Our ongoing philosophical discussions lead to our sharing reviews in the design studios we were teaching. In late 1977, I began work on a project titled "Bronx Gymnasium-Bridge" that would become the first issue of Pamphlet Architecture. Lebbeus made the third issue with the project "Einstein's Tomb." It was an amazing vision for a tomb about Albert Einstein—a strange architecture, which would travel on a beam of light around the Earth. Today I imagine that tomb is occupied by the spirit of Lebbeus. Leb was a brilliant and charismatic teacher whose classes at Cooper Union were very inspirational. I was always amazed at the original work his students produced. Leb was still passionate about teaching this year. Due to his illness, he taught his class recently from a wheelchair. Recently, Christoph Kumpusch, the publisher Lars Muller, and I had meetings on a new book called "Urban Hopes" to be published next year. In this book will be a "book within a book"—or as Lars calls it a "separata"—which records the construction of Lebbeus' Light Pavilion. This publication will be ready for the major exhibition of Lebbeus Woods that will open at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art next February. In 2007 when I first received the commission to realize a 3 million square foot urban project in Chengdu, China, I began studies to shape a new public space with this huge project. The building fabric would not strive for iconic objects—rather a simple architecture sliced by sunlight shapes space. "Buildings within buildings" are cut into this fabric; sitting in gaps that are 8-10 stories in the air. I invited Leb to do one, Ai Weiwei to do another, and we did another. Lebbeus' Pavilion, constructed of huge beams of light, is a place one enters at several levels. Walking on sheets of glass suspended by steel rods, the view is multiplied and infinitely extended via polished stainless steel lining the four-story gap in the building it occupies. Unlike other visionary architects—who risk disappointing when they get a chance to build—Lebbeus' Pavilion is a brilliant and engaging Architecture. One's experience there, especially at night, seems to dissolve the view of the city beyond. Up is down in a feeling of suspension of gravity via light and reflection. This work merges Art and Architecture as they have merged in the past and are merging in the future. Next week, I will travel to Beijing, then to Chengdu, walk into the Light Pavilion, stand suspended on steel rods and imagine Lebbeus' tomb has been launched—on a beam of light. Steven Holl Rhinebeck, NY 10-30-12 Image credits: Lebbeus Woods designed this tomb for Albert Einstein in 1979. It rides on a beam of light that circles the Earth. Of course, Einstein is buried somewhere else – so now this is the Tomb of Lebbeus Woods. A 1000 - mile long storm blew him into orbit from his New York City world! 2012-10-31 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2164 2012-10-31 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2162 With less than two weeks left before the Design Awards Gala on October 22, the AIA│LA is sharing audio postcards featuring its award honorees. SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss, awarded the AIA│LA 25-Year Award for his Petal House, talks about his philosophy and what led him to design the interesting structure in a recent interview. Comparing and contrasting Neutra and Kappe, and modernism versus post modernism, Moss gives all the details of the beginning of the Petal House. Click HERE to listen to the Moss audio postcard. Petal House│Eric Owen Moss Architects Eric Moss was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1965. Moss continued his education, earning his Masters of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, College of Environmental Design in 1968 and a second Masters of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1972. Moss has held teaching positions at major universities around the world including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and the Royal Academy in Copenhagen. Moss has also been a longtime professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), and has served as its director since 2003. He was honored as the 2006 AIA/LA Educator of the Year. Moss was honored with the Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999. He received the AIA/LA Gold Medal in 2001. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture and was a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award for the University of California, Berkeley in 2003. In 2007 he received the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, recognizing a distinguished history of architectural design, and in 2011 he was awarded the Jencks Award by RIBA. 2012-10-18 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2162 2012-10-18 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2160 Starting Friday, October 19, visitors of the SCI-Arc Library will have the opportunity to examine firsthand the design entries of the four faculty members participating in the Graduation Pavilion competition held during summer 2012 to select an innovative, technically implementable and visually remarkable design for a new outdoor pavilion on the school's campus. SCI-Arc Graduation Pavilion 2013│The League of Shadows│PATTERNS Funded by a generous grant from ArtPlace, the pavilion will be located in the SCI-Arc parking lot on the eastern edge of downtown Los Angeles, where it is scheduled to be completed during spring 2013. SCI-Arc invited faculty members Ramiro Diaz-Granados, Elena Manferdini, Marcelo Spina and Tom Wiscombe to submit design concepts for a 1,200-seat outdoor pavilion that would accommodate graduation ceremonies, lectures, symposia and outreach cultural events with the neighboring Arts District community. The winning entry, League of Shadows, designed by Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich of PATTERNS, fully exploits the fundamental aspect underlying the pavilion, its temporal use as an outdoor event space. Their proposal to design a vaulted pavilion allows the structure a double function: that of an outdoor public event space, and a more iconic one of a formal beacon reasserting SCI-Arc’s institutional presence in downtown. Due to its outdoor placement in SCI-Arc's parking lot, the pavilion will serve as a landmark, a natural marquee of the SCI-Arc campus and the Arts District, and it will become a suitable venue for SCI-Arc to engage outside audiences from the downtown community and the larger Los Angeles area. Visit the exhibition page >> 2012-10-12 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2160 2012-10-12 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2159 SCI-Arc Graduate Programs Chair Hernan Diaz Alonso will lecture in the 6th Urban Research and Knowledge Symposium—Rethinking Cities: Framing the Future held October 8-10 in Barcelona, Spain. Organized by The World Bank, the event seeks to contribute and inform policy choices that can help policymakers manage potential economic efficiency, environmental sustainability and social equity tradeoffs associated with urbanization. In parallel with the symposium, a collective exhibition dubbed My Very Own City will showcase work by SCI-Arc students alongside other projects and forward initiatives carried out by 23 universities worldwide, representing a wide range of perspectives into the concept of Rethinking Cities. From utopias to subtle interventions, these projects become a collective reflection on future and present cities. More about Rethinking Cities: Framing the Future >> 2012-10-08 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2159 2012-10-08 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2153 More Than 3,000 Topics Covered in 1,000-plus Hours of Recordings, From 1974 to Present SCI-Arc today announced the launch of its much-anticipated SCI-Arc Media Archive, an online showcase of public events held at the school from 1974 to the present. A public reception will be held at SCI-Arc on Friday, September 28, starting 7pm, to celebrate the archive launch. “At its aspirational best, speaking at SCI-Arc means speaking to an audience that expects the speaker to bend the discourse, to confront conventional allegiances, and to make a few enemies along the way,” said SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss. “Speakers at SCI-Arc anticipate that obligation.” Found at sma.sciarc.edu, the archive is home to more than 600 videos of public events, features 700-plus speakers, and forms a comprehensive digital media platform designed to be useful for students and scholars, but also for anybody with an interest in architecture, Los Angeles and experimental design. It provides access to never-before-seen footage of some of the most influential leaders in architecture and design, including Frank O. Gehry, Zaha Hadid, David Hockney, Rem Koolhaas, John Lautner, Thom Mayne, Eric Owen Moss, Kazuyo Sejima, and many more. Many of these architects and artists appear more than once, providing opportunities for analysis of their development over a long span of their careers. Major support for the SCI-Arc Media Archive was provided by The Getty Foundation as part of the Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture initiative. Additional support was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. These transformative grants were used by SCI-Arc to digitize, describe and organize one of the most complete architectural archival collections of its kind in the world. Documentation critical to understanding the architectural history and legacy of Southern California, and Los Angeles’ role as an incubator of innovation, is particularly strong in this collection. "This website is a wonderful resource and a great archive for anyone interested in modern architecture and its major players from the past four decades," comments Sarah Weber, Director of Education at the Los Angeles Conservancy. “Looking at some of the longer lectures, I found myself wishing I could hear shorter clips from them, only to discover that they were already there. As the content on this site continues to grow, I can only imagine that it will become one of the 'go-to' resources for primary media sources in modern architecture.” SCI-Arc’s lecture archive was started in 1974, when students began taping lectures by distinguished practitioners and scholars spanning the fields of architecture, urban design, city planning, and other arts-related environments. Now standard practice at educational and cultural institutions, videotaping lectures was uncommon in the mid-1970s. Lecturers responded to SCI-Arc’s culture of creative engagement, by speaking candidly about their work. 2012-09-26 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2153 2012-09-26 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2148 SCI-Arc is pleased to announce its participation in the Advances in Architectural Geometry (AAG) symposium hosted September 27-30 at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. The unprecedented event introduces theoretical works and practices linked to new geometrical development applicable to architecture. AAG has become a reference in the professional field and is supported by the direct participation of some of the most renowned architectural design and engineering offices, along with academic laboratories. SCI-Arc was invited, along with 14 other international schools of architecture to submit a video presentation dedicated to SCI-Arc’s most recent discourse on developments in architectural geometry and computation. This presentation will be shown at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and allow a large public to discover some of the most provocative and design challenging experiments currently being carried out at SCI-Arc. Production: Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) Film Director: Herwig Baumgartner Filming & Editing: Ryan Tyler Martinez Interviews: Marcelyn Gow Music: Jad Atoui; Moderat-Bpitch Control Featuring: Eric Owen Moss (Eric Owen Moss Architects, SCI-Arc Director) Hernan Diaz Alonso (Xefirotarch, SCI-Arc Graduate Programs Chair) Andrew Atwood (First Office, SCI-Arc faculty) Herwig Baumgartner (B+U Architects, SCI-Arc faculty) Marcelyn Gow (Servo Los Angeles, SCI-Arc faculty) Elena Manferdini (Atelier Manferdini, SCI-Arc faculty) Florencia Pita (Fpmod, SCI-Arc faculty) Marcelo Spina (Patterns, SCI-Arc faculty) Peter Testa (Testa/Weiser, SCI-Arc faculty) Devyn Weiser (Testa/Weiser, SCI-Arc faculty) Tom Wiscombe (Tom Wiscombe Design, SCI-Arc faculty) 2012-09-13 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2148 2012-09-13 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2147 More than 700 guests attended the commencement ceremony at SCI-Arc this past Sunday, September 9. Seated under a tradition of graduation pavilions designed by faculty members and built with the help of students, the event welcomed the graduating class, faculty, families and friends who came to celebrate the 137 graduates and undergraduates receiving their degrees. “There is a discussion about rebellion in architecture: rebellion, change, revolution, movement forward,” said SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss in his opening speech. “I think these are topics much discussed at SCI-Arc, and you can see that in the work that surrounds us in the building today.” Moss added, “One of the primary ingredients of someone who’s rebellious at heart is the capacity to consider the possibility that he’s entirely incorrect.” Architectural theorist Jeffrey Kipnis, professor of architectural design and theory at the Ohio State Knowlton School of Architecture and a Distinguished SCI-Arc Visiting Professor, delivered the Commencement Speech at the 2012 graduation ceremony. Architect Michael Rotondi (B.Arch ‘73), a SCI-Arc founding alumnus and current faculty member, offered the alumni address. Kipnis engaged both graduating students and parents in his speech. “There’s something about this place, and I can’t get it out of my blood,” said Kipnis. “I am here as SCI-Arc’s biggest fan.” The 2012 pavilion and stage were designed by Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu of Oyler Wu Collaborative. Watch the Netscape video >>. Following the commencement and alumni addresses, diplomas were awarded by Director Eric Owen Moss, Director of Academic Affairs Ming Fung, Graduate Programs Chair Hernan Diaz Alonso, and Undergraduate Program Chair John Enright. A highlight of the event was the announcement of the inaugural Gehry Prize recognizing outstanding graduate thesis work. The 2012 Gehry Prize was awarded to the husband and wife team Liz von Hasseln (M.Arch 1 ‘12) and Kyle von Hasseln (M.Arch ‘12) for their project, Phantom Geometry, developed in the SCI-Arc Robot House. Thesis advisers were faculty members Devyn Weiser and Peter Testa. Six graduate thesis projects and one undergraduate project were selected to receive 2012 best thesis awards. Graduate students honored were Maya Alam (M.Arch 1) for The Bastardized Gestalt, Daniel Nytoft Berlin (M.Arch 2) for Rendezvous—Subverting the latent relationship between a stack and a pile, Erin D. Bessler (M.Arch 1) for Low Fidelity, Fernando Herrera (M.Arch 2) for Unraveled, Dale Edward Strong (M.Arch 2) for Working Blue and Ben Warwas (M.Arch 1) for Field So Good. The undergraduate thesis award went to Paul Ferrier Cambon for his Window-as-Volume project presented at the Undergraduate Thesis & Spring Show in April. An exhibition of the selected graduate thesis projects will be on view in the SCI-Arc Gallery September 17-28. On Friday, September 21, the Gehry Prize winners and the 6 best thesis winners will join Director Eric Owen Moss in a discussion about the exhibition. More about the Selected Thesis Exhibition >> 2012-09-11 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2147 2012-09-11 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2144 Gift Will Endow an Annual Prize to Recognize Outstanding SCI-Arc Graduate Thesis Projects SCI-Arc today announced it has received a transformative $100,000 gift from world-renowned architect and SCI-Arc trustee Frank Gehry, and his wife, Berta. The noteworthy contribution will go toward the establishment of the Gehry Prize, to be awarded annually to the best thesis projects selected by critics and jurors in the Graduate Thesis Weekend hosted in September. SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss suggested a quote from Thucydides which conveys the spirit in which the prize is given: “They were born never to live in peace and quiet themselves and to prevent the rest of the world from doing so.” He also praised the donors, after whom the graduate thesis prize will be named, for the generosity of the donation and its prestigious nature. “The entire school community, including students, faculty, staff, administration and board, is extremely appreciative of this extraordinary gift to SCI-Arc,” said Moss. “Thanks to this contribution, we can warranty that SCI-Arc’s advocacy for architecture as a rousing, speculative adventure will endure.” The first Gehry Prize will be awarded at the 2012 graduation ceremony held September 9, 2012. A SCI-Arc trustee since 1990, Gehry has kept close ties with the school, attending lectures, reviews and special events, and having an active role in the evolution of the institute beginning with its 1972 founding. Gehry’s long-time commitment to SCI-Arc will also be celebrated at the school’s 40th anniversary reception forthcoming in April 2013. Frank Gehry has built an architectural career that has spanned four decades and produced public and private buildings in America, Europe and Asia. His work has earned him several of the most significant awards in the architectural field, including the Pritzker Prize, the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture, the Wolf Prize in Art (Architecture), the Praemium Imperiale Award, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Award, the National Medal of Arts, the Friedrich Kiesler Prize, the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal, and the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal. He is Design Partner in the firm he established in 1962, currently known as Gehry Partners. He is also co-founder and chairman of Gehry Technologies, a global leader in applying technology to building industry challenges. Recent and current projects include 8 Spruce Street, the Campus for New World Symphony, The Pershing Square Signature Center, The Luma Foundation/Parc Des Ateliers, Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building for UTS, The Panama Puente De Vida Museo, New West Campus for Facebook, Eisenhower Memorial, and the Foundation Louis Vuitton pour la Creation. 2012-09-05 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2144 2012-09-05 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2143 An editor's letter from Wolf Prix, Design Principal and CEO of COOP Himmelb(l)au, who is discussing the recently completed 2012 Venice Biennale, has been published by ArchitectureNewsNow. The complete feature is reprinted below: THE BANAL Published by ArchNewsNow.com Prix takes issue with the state of the Venice Architecture Biennale, saying "architects are playing on a sinking gondola while, outside in the real world, our leaky trade is sinking into powerlessness and irrelevance." By Wolf D. Prix/COOP HIMMELB(L)AU August 30, 2012 Praise be to Nero’s Neptune. The Titanic sails at dawn. And everybody’s shouting “Which Side Are You On?” (Bob Dylan: “Desolation Row,” 1966) If one did not know that the media constantly exaggerates, one could almost conclude – as the Süddeutsche Zeitung has – that the Venice Biennale of Architecture really is the world’s most important architecture exhibition. However, I believe that the word “exhibition” is not intended to describe an exhibition in this case, but rather that the notion only designates the event per se. In other words, an industry meeting, like a product fair. Other critics fail to even question the purpose of the exhibition; instead they immediately conclude that the coming together, the meeting, the networking is the key aspect. That’s that! I would like to maintain at this juncture that the meaning of the Venice Biennale of Architecture, for theoretical arguments, has been increasingly losing significance since its beginnings with the “Strada Novissima” by Paolo Portoghesi in 1980. Even the personal significance for the participants is very low when compared to the Art Biennale. So let us not deny the truth. This event is an expensive danse macabre. In a city of plunder (an exhibition of plunder) hordes of tourists (architects) roll along broken infrastructure in order to satisfy their petit bourgeois desire for education (in the case of the architects: vanity, envy, schadenfreude, suspicions). Even the glamour that the visitors are supposed to feel is staid and faked by the media for whom a star architect is like a film star. In truth it is all hollow, arduous, exhausting, bleak, and boring. It is no longer about lively discussion and criticism of topics in contemporary architecture, but rather about empty, conservative, and perhaps populist shells that are charged with feigned meaning. What a great Architecture Biennale it would have been had they established forums and put out themes which would have provided a chance to look behind the scenes at the decision-making, instead of boring exhibitions. Take, for example, the dispute about the train station in Stuttgart. Or the reasons for the cost explosion for prominent buildings such as the Elbe Philharmonic Hall. Or the political arguments about mosques and minarets – in other words, the disputes about the localization of an idea. Why the market for single-family homes in the U.S. has collapsed and how power politics is conducted through settlement architecture. These topics would be worthy of discussion – not who is and who is not a star architect. However, instead of that we face: "People Meet in Architecture," and now "Common Ground." In other words: compromise. It cannot get any worse! This situation conjures an image of the Venetian carnival – one can imagine all the architects in Pierrot costumes surrounded by masked critics and dancing the Dance Banale. Or, even better, the architects are playing on a sinking gondola like the erstwhile orchestra on the Titanic playing their last song, while outside in the real world our leaky trade is sinking into powerlessness and irrelevance. This is because politicians and project managers, investors and bureaucrats have been deciding our built environment for a long time now. Not the architects. While in Russia artists are stubbornly resisting the authoritarian regime, the current director of the Architecture Biennale considers these characteristics to be obstacles for our profession, and he explains in an interview that space must be taken from the genius. One would have to show him Pussy Riots in order for him to finally understand our society. Furthermore, I consider that the Venice Biennale of Architecture needs to be reorganized. Wolf D. Prix/COOP HIMMELB(L)AU 24.08.2012 2012-09-04 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2143 2012-09-04 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2126 The 2012 AIA│LA Design Awards recently announced by the Los Angeles chapter of the nation’s leading professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals and allied partners, recognize several SCI-Arc faculty and leadership for their unyielding contribution to advancing the architecture profession and their support to architectural initiatives in Los Angeles. Award winners include SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss, 25-Year Award for his design of the Petal House; faculty members Jenny Wu and Dwayne Oyler of Oyler Wu Collaborative, Emerging Practice; Graduate Programs Chair Hernan Diaz Alonso, Educator Award; and visiting faculty member Julie Eizenberg and partner Hank Koning of Koning Eizenberg Architecture, who received the 2012 AIA│LA Gold Medal. The Presidential Awards recognize select individuals that 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!" The Presidential Honorees will be celebrated, along with Design Award and NextLA winners on October 22, 2012, as part of the AIA│LA Design Awards held at the Broad Stage in the Santa Monica Performing Arts Center. Read more >> 2012-08-03 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2126 2012-08-03 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2123 Mexico City took center stage at MXCDF.GEO, SCI-Arc’s first international workshop in the ABROAD series of itinerant educational initiatives to establish an active dialogue with talented and inquisitive students abroad. Under the coordination of design faculty Alexis Rochas, and taught by SCI-Arc faculty as well as architects who practice locally, the ABROAD workshops aim at propagating the school’s unique design culture across borders, and establish an open forum for the advancement of architectural education. The MXCDF.GEO workshop, presented by HP Designjet Solutions, surveyed the role of geo-sensorial instrumentation in the development of an architectural design process. Centered on Mexico City, the workshop looked at the way ubiquitous geo-tagging sensors affect our experience of geography, environment and infrastructure. Students from Mexico City, Chihuahua, Veracruz and other locations around Mexico, came together to form a collaborative design laboratory atmosphere as they delved into the architectural challenges proposed during the 1-week workshop hosted July 5-12 at the Museo Experimental El Eco. The event featured courses taught by several world-renowned architects based in Mexico City, including Michel Rojkind of Rojkind Arquitectos, Julio Amezcua and Francisco Pardo of At103, and Alejandro Hernandez Galvez. To celebrate the end of the week-long explorations, SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss and Graduate Programs Chair Hernan Diaz Alonso, hosted a special symposium and Q&A with participating students. For a collection of student work from the MXCDF.GEO workshop, visit the program blog at www.sciarcabroad.info. SCI-Arc ABROAD workshops in Colombia and Chile are forthcoming in fall 2012/spring 2013. 2012-07-25 http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2123 2012-07-25