Making+Meaning 2025: Bet on Yourself

At SCI-Arc, Making+Meaning is more than just a summer program. It is a four-week experiment where creativity takes precedence over caution. Open to anyone curious enough to challenge themselves, M+M redefines how participants approach design, risk, and thinking itself. No experience is required, just the willingness to dive in.

One participant shared, "I came into an environment I wasn’t confident in and left feeling comfortable pushing my limits." Another noted, "It made me realize you don’t have to know the software, you figure it out as you go." Here, risk, not safety, is the real skill taught.

Over four weeks, students immerse themselves in new tools, from AI imaging to 3D modeling to fabrication, creating work that feels urgent, personal, and unpredictable. Guided by SCI-Arc’s practicing architects and designers, participants build new skills, discover unexpected ways of making, and most importantly, start trusting their creative instincts.

“The goal isn’t just to learn software or techniques. It’s to start seeing design differently, to build your own language,” says William Virgil, M+M Coordinator.

Projects move quickly. Assignments shift between digital modeling, fabrication, installation, and unexpected experiments. Each task challenges students to get uncomfortable, rethink their first instincts, and build something unexpected. Every project is a step into the unknown, culminating in a raw, energetic exhibition that captures the spirit of the program.

Located in downtown Los Angeles, SCI-Arc offers full access to fabrication labs, robots, laser cutters, and a community of architects pushing the limits of the field. But the real resources are the risks you take, the people you meet, and the work you didn’t know you were capable of.

Making+Meaning isn’t about playing it safe. It’s about making work that matters and betting on yourself.