Archinect - Features

A Conversation with SCI-Arc's Undergraduate Chairs Kristy Balliet and Marcelyn Gow

2023-12-26T09:00:00-05:00

Archinect's Dean's List series allows us to connect with architecture's academic leaders (deans and chairs) to learn more about their pedagogical stances, academic perspectives, and what they envision for the school during their tenure.

SCI-Arc is an institution known for its historic and influential presence within Southern California's architecture and pedagogy. This legacy of progressive pedagogy continues with the appointment of Kristy Balliet and Marcelyn Gow as SCI-Arc's Undergraduate Chairs. During the Fall 2023 term, in an exclusive interview, I spoke Balliet and Gow, to discuss their new role and the observations they see for this incoming wave of undergraduate students.

SCI-Arc Student Investigates How Artificial Intelligence Can Assist in 3D Modeling

2023-01-31T14:43:00-05:00

Advances in 3D modeling software continue to develop year after year. An example of this is a new thought-provoking 3D modeling plug-in designed by SCI-Arc EDGE graduate Jimmy Wei-Chun Cheng. His work offers a new way to challenge design "from the perspective of toolmaking and AI technologies [...] The plug-in proposes an alternative model to existing applications of AI and procedural methods."

In our latest Thesis Review installment, the SCI-Arc Architectural Technologies EDGE graduate shares his thesis project, Artificial Imagination Owl. During our interview, Cheng discussed the motivations behind his project and how it can help reshape "real-time ideation feedback" for users. Cheng explained that his project is a "Human x AI cooperation 3D modeling plug-in" that was designed to "awaken our awareness of the cliché in architectural design but also to contemplate how designers can engage with AI Machine Vision/Machine learning differently in the recent AI Architecture proliferation...

Gehry Prize Winner Sophie Akoury Retells Histories of the LA River Through an Architectural and Archival Lens

2023-01-06T14:12:00-05:00

During SCI-Arc's 2022 M.Arch graduation, three students were awarded the Gehry Prize for the Best Graduate Thesis. In December, we highlighted prize winners Ian Wong and Sue Choi for their project, Earthly Passage. Continuing with our Thesis Review series, we connected with the third Gehry Prize winner, M.Arch graduate Sophie Akoury, to discuss her project, 51mi + 25km = 13ft.

Akoury shares her motivation behind exploring the city's infamous LA River and how its physical and historical existence parallels Lebanon's Beirut River. "Few places can be as contradicting as the Los Angeles River. Without it, LA would not exist (which sounds quite surprising since its existence is often neglected, and calling it a 'river' is sometimes questionable)," she explained. "When I moved to Downtown Los Angeles from Lebanon, I noticed the Los Angeles River's uncanny resemblance to the Beirut River. That intrigued me since the two cities are so different yet share almost the same urban entity as a pa...

Gehry Prize Winners Reimagine Funerary Architecture

2022-12-12T18:12:00-05:00

Thesis projects aim to push students outside of their comfort zones and foster new versions of architectural thinking. For our latest installment of Archinect's Thesis Review series, SCI-Arc M.Arch graduates Ian Wong and Sue Choi discuss the architectural tones and typologies of cemeteries and funerary customs in their project, Earthly Passage.

Winners of the 2022 Gehry Prize for best thesis project, Wong and Choi explained, "Earthly Passage is a new model of funerary architecture." While their topic may seem unconventional, the duo explains the importance of exploring and respecting these spaces for the deceased. Their project exhibits a place for "funerals to take place, as well as subsequent visits," highlighting improved experiences for mourners to pay their respects. They continue by adding, "culturally, our thesis highlights a program or function of space/architecture that is often uncomfortable, or taboo, to talk about."

During this interview, they discuss their motivation to...

Design, Incorporated; Unpacking the Myths of the SCI-Arc Panel

2022-04-20T10:58:00-04:00

At one point during the recent SCI-Arc panel discussion, “How to be in an office,” students were presented with a choice. They were presented, on one hand, Design Firms, and on the other hand, Corporate Firms. The ensuing discussion went on to describe the choice as inspiration and passion vs. a paycheck.

It’s not an either/or proposition. That’s a myth.

SCI-Arc Graduate Responds to Pandemic by Exploring the Idea of ‘Openness in a Contemporary Urban Setting’ Using Downtown LA

2021-11-23T13:32:00-05:00

The pandemic has influenced students in more ways than one, further questioning their views on the state of architecture today. For this iteration of Archinect's Thesis Review series, SCI-Arc graduate Abdullah Tahseen (M.Arch) explores the opportunities of "openness in a contemporary urban setting."

In his thesis project, An Act of Opening, Tahseen uses Downtown Los Angeles as a backdrop to explore the question: "How can architecture establish openness by encouraging environments that cultivate creativity, human engagement, and collaboration through the design of captivating and inventive spaces?" During this interview, Tahseen explains how his thesis was inspired by the transformation of workspaces during the pandemic. He also shares his thoughts on the topic of "thesis" itself and how he feels about the industry today.

Unpacking Politics and the 'Apparatus of Power' Through Architecture and Film with SCI-Arc Graduate Julia McConnell

2021-11-02T08:37:00-04:00

Architectural representation in film and television often provides highly impressionable results. Beyond a story's narrative, architecture can be used as a secondary 'character' to help create a sense of place, tone, and facilitate visual association for the viewer and the story's setting. Julia McConnell, a recent M.Arch graduate from SCI-Arc, used her interests in film to further explore questions relating to representation, ethics, and aesthetics.

In her thesis project, "Pledge of Allegiance," McConnell explained that her thesis research requires "architects flatten the ontological plane and view individual instances of a particular type for their particularity. Thus, establishing that we may be able to differently value what architecture inherently contains: a myriad of views, positions, and possibilities."

Architecture thesis acts as a catalyst that allows young designers to explore their interests while expanding their perspectives and architectural thinking. Continuing with ...

SCI-Arc Graduate and 2021 Gehry Prize Winner Proposes New Perspectives Between City Structures and Augmented Reality Holograms

2021-10-13T09:00:00-04:00

Continuing with Archinect's commitment to highlighting students and their academic work, we connected with SCI-Arc M.Arch II graduate Burak Celik. As the 2021 Gehry Prize Winner for best thesis, Celik talks to us about his project "Super•positioning." He uses Los Angeles as a backdrop for exploring architecture and its relationship between digital and analog, reality and speculation, and how the use of superpositioning allowed him to question other architectural perspectives. The word superposition is defined as "the placement of one thing above or on top of another" and "the combination of two distinct physical phenomena of the same type (such as spin or wavelength) so that they coexist as part of the same event." Celik uses this as the basis for thesis exploration.

"Today's digital culture would be embraced by architects not only as a means of software and tools but also as a complete architectural experience by the viewer," Celik explains and continues by sharing: "Through superp...

SCI-Arc's Design Immersion Days High School Summer Program Fosters Design Exploration Through Architectural Thinking and Scholarship

2021-06-16T09:00:00-04:00

Summer is here. As high school students search for programs that spark their interests, architecture institutions like SCI-Arc provide opportunities to bring the basics of architectural thinking to teens interested in architecture, technology, and design.

"DID's curriculum is built to articulate projects within three different formats and scales, from analog models to digital renderings, presenting scenarios in which students are challenged to think analytically, use different tools, and imagine nontraditional approaches to design," shares SCI-Arc. "Through projects emphasizing visual studies, design lab, and portfolio building, students are introduced to a range of skills essential to exploring, discovering, describing, and producing design work."

To learn more about SCI-Arc's popular Design Immersion Days (DID) summer high school program, Archinect spoke with its Program Coordinator, Mira Henry. Now in her fifth year as coordinator, Henry discusses what excites her about each inc...

SCI-Arc’s Undergraduate Thesis Students Elucidate Their Final Projects

2021-05-26T09:00:00-04:00

Each year, Undergraduate Thesis at SCI-Arc prepares students to articulate, propose, and defend their ideas and positions on architecture as well as engage with professionals as peers and colleagues. As acknowledged by Undergraduate Program Chair Tom Wiscombe, “While part of our role at SCI-Arc is to produce new conceptual frameworks for our time, I would argue that in 2021, ideas without strategies for implementation are no match for the unprecedented ideological frameworks being literally built up around us. It is for this reason that Undergraduate Thesis is positioned precisely between ideas and how they ‘land.'"

SCI-Arc conducted an open discussion with its graduating undergraduate students to learn about their work and experiences during their final year. Together they reminisce and share how their time at the institution has provided them with an architectural outlook that has prepared them for what lies ahead.

A New Form of Architectural Education: A Conversation with SCI-Arc's Marrikka Trotter and Tom Wiscombe

2020-12-30T09:00:00-05:00

Finding the right college for any high school student, let alone a program to pursue, is not an easy task. While students may be enthusiastic about specific professions, different institutions approach these professions with radically distinct teaching methods and emphases.

Among the accredited programs in the Western USA, SCI-Arc stands out for the quality of student work and the cutting-edge skills its graduates bring to the workplace. I wanted to investigate what makes this "school for architectural thinking" different. What would a student applying to SCI-Arc leave with? With such an active student body and faculty, what else does the school offer that we don't already know about? Archinect wanted to learn more about what makes this school's undergraduate program so successful and hopefully shed light and add some clarity to what makes this highly sought after.

SCI-Arc B.Arch Graduates Hongjian Qin & Chi Fong Wong Explore Post-Human Infrastructural Architecture in Las Vegas

2020-08-21T12:38:00-04:00

Using Las Vegas as the backdrop of their thesis exploration, SCI-Arc B.Arch graduates Hongjian Qin & Chi Fong Wong design a data center whose structure can adapt to its surrounding desert environment. By creating a "sustainable breathing facade" the structure, in addition to its surrounding energy facilities, helps establish "a new, horizontal corridor that is perpendicular to the Las Vegas Strip." Their design exploration unpacks the purpose of architecture during a post-human time.

Archinect connected with the duo to learn about their project's progress and how they transitioned the entire project to a digital format. The team also shares their thoughts on how the pandemic has affected the industry and architecture's resiliency as it responds to the turbulent events of 2020.

Archinect's Spotlight on 2020 Thesis Projects: 2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year for architecture graduates. Students were displaced as schools shut down, academic communities had to adapt to a...

SCI-Arc's Chu Wen Ong Creates a Line-Based "Evolutionary Library" in Warsaw

2020-07-06T12:42:00-04:00

Chu Wen Ong is a recent graduate from Southern California Institute of Architecture's (SCI-Arc) B.arch program. Archinect connected with Ong to unpack her final project - END LINES. Advised by studio instructor Kristy Balliet, Ong questions the concept of paper and graphic constraints as a means to design inhabitable spaces. Ong explains "the fundamental property of a graphic line is defined by the two ends that determine where it starts and stops. By focusing on the set of ends, the collection of volumized lines starts to transform into a building where the ends are appropriated in ways that can adapt and react to different architectural roles."

Archinect's Spotlight on 2020 Thesis Projects: 2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year for architecture graduates. Students were displaced as schools shut down, academic communities had to adapt to a new virtual format, end-of-year celebrations were canceled or changed dramatically, and now these students are graduating into an ex...

SCI-Arc's 2020 Digital Spring Show: The Future of Showcasing Student Work Online?

2020-06-04T13:48:00-04:00

With COVID-19 challenging the nature of in-person events, architecture groups and schools have been forced to think outside the box with how they conduct these gatherings by pivoting to virtual events for online audiences.

Specifically within the academic context, online video platforms and community streaming services have aided in adjusting to this new focus on virtual interactions and gatherings. However, when it comes to highly anticipated school events like thesis exhibitions, spring shows, and graduation, is it possible to replicate the excitement of the IRL experience?

Demystifying SCI-Arc's M.Arch I Program With Rebecca Fitzgerald

2020-01-16T14:00:00-05:00

Pursuing a graduate degree in architecture can be a daunting task for any prospective student. Earning an M.Arch I degree requires that individuals undergo a "crash course" in architecture, for one. But before that can happen, they must also find the right institution, typically one that not only provides them with the support, tools, and resources they need to foster their sense of architectural exploration but that also helps nurture a critical disciplinary perspective.

To learn more about the journey of an M.Arch I student, Archinect spoke with recent Southern California Institute of Architecture's (SCI-Arc) graduate Rebecca Fitzgerald. Part reflection, part interview, we unpack the journey of an individual whose robust liberal arts background and passion for architecture's multifarious nature activated a desire to chart out her own architectural trajectory. Together, Rebecca and I discuss her academic journey, how research furthered her architectural thinking, and her interests ...

Thesis Review: Natou Fall Problematizes Superficiality in Architecture Through The Lens of Self-Expression and Self-Construction

2019-12-23T09:00:00-05:00

Thesis Review is a collection of conversations, statements, and inquiries into the current state of thesis in academia. Thesis projects provide a better understanding of the academic arena while painting a picture for the future of practice. Each feature will present a contemporary thesis project through the voice of those that constructed it.

This week, we chat with Natou Fall from Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and her thesis titled, "Shaping Face." Fall shares with us her path pursuing an architectural education. She gets candid with Archinect by explaining what it takes to push a project forward and shed light on how to rethink architecture's relationship to the cosmetics industry.

According to Fall she believes that in today’s society "cosmetics serve a purpose beyond spectacle and seduction. With the help of social media, Instagram in particular, we can see and understand that they are aligned with notions of individuality, self expression, and play ...

Postgraduate Students Present Final Projects at SCI-Arc’s EDGE Symposium

2019-10-04T06:00:00-04:00

For SCI-Arc’s 2019 academic year, each of the school’s four postgraduate programs engaged with a different design phenomenon or technological paradigm. The culmination of the year-long postgraduate degree cycle was marked by a celebration of student work, the EDGE Symposium. Now in its third installment, the symposium was orchestrated in collaboration with the A+D Museum and presented an exhibition of collected graduate work entitled Speculations at the Edge. The two-day symposium consisted of presentations, reviews, project screenings, and a closing celebration at the A+D Museum.

Archinect connected with a few students to learn more about their year-long program experience. Below are thesis projects and comments from Laure Michelon, Pedro Ferrazini, Potsung Huang, Marine Lemarié, Juan Rincon, and Jeremy Kamal.

A Conversation with Runze Zhang & Alessio Grancini on their Thesis Project "Games of Deletion"

2018-11-07T12:00:00-05:00

Thesis Review is a collection of conversations, statements and inquiries into the current state of thesis in academia. Thesis projects give a glimpse into the current state of the education arena while painting a picture for the future of practice.

Each feature will present a contemporary thesis project through the voice of those that constructed it. This week, we talk to Games of Deletion makers Runze Zhang & Alessio Grancini on their process, their project, their tangential thoughts and where they hope to see their thesis grow towards into the future.

RE: Educational Complacency & Serious Misunderstandings

2018-09-06T13:31:00-04:00

In last week’s article, “Has Educational Complacency Diminished Today's Discourse?,” an uncredited image of my thesis project was completely taken out of context and written about in a way that severely mischaracterizes the nature of my thesis.

Has Educational Complacency Diminished Today's Discourse?

2018-08-23T11:22:00-04:00

Complacency is the enemy of progress and Architecture, as a whole, is built on progress. The progress of thought, progress of conversations and progress of objection. Architecture is not a search for truth, but instead, as a discipline, it is a collection of studies, inquiries, and expertise into an expanding field of knowledge. The discipline of Architecture is one that grows, progresses, and builds upon itself just as its buildings build upon eras of decades past. And yet, the voices of yesterday have been anxiously overcompensating for their diminishing relevance, fading into mere echoes by fearfully retreating to the false comfort of a broken record discipline—one where progress is stifled and treated as insolent. The suppression of progress has not gone unnoticed and as the imposed stagnancy solidifies, conversations turn against those imposing it, demanding a return to the discipline of Architecture.

Space Saloon Takes Group of Students out to the High Desert for a Dynamic Twist on the Typical Design-Build Workshop

2018-08-09T13:39:00-04:00

Located near the more buzzing cities of Joshua Tree and Palm Springs, the Morongo Valley is not a place one typically associates with experimental architecture. But, for a week back in May, the High Desert was met by a group of students making the scenic trek inland to try their hands at designing and building exploratory units (while also getting a healthy dose of Vitamin D).

Fear & Wonder: Orienting Ourselves Through Fiction

2017-11-15T12:31:00-05:00

Fear & Wonder was a symposium surrounding the possibilities of world building and pondering of what would be possible and yet, nothing seemed impossible, nothing seemed out of our grasp and in fact, forced us to reckon with how much of our own world we are not aware of.

Frank Gehry, Architectural Education, and the “Future of Prisons”

2017-04-12T11:20:00-04:00

Last week the Architect’s Newspaper reported that Frank Gehry, the 88-year old superstar of American architecture, is teaching a course at SCI-Arc this spring entitled “The Future of Prison.”

To denizens of architecture Twitter, which has specialized in outrage over the past several months, the news seemed like a bad April Fool’s joke. Even the course description had the tone-deaf optimism of a Silicon Valley pitch line, asking “emerging architects to break free of current conventions and re-imagine what we now refer to as ‘prison’ for a new era.”

SCI-Arc students step out of the studio to build an affordable, eco-friendly home with Habitat for Humanity

2016-07-25T09:56:00-04:00

It’s not that often that architecture students get to actually build a house while still in school. But a class of SCI-Arc students led by faculty member Darin Johnstone got to design and build a new home—and an affordable, eco-friendly one, at that.

Coy Howard, interviewed by SCI-Arc students: part 3 of 3

2016-03-23T12:00:00-04:00

Last fall, students in John Southern's “Architectural Media and Publishing” Cultural Studies seminar at SCI-Arc, democratically voted to interview Coy Howard, together, as part of the course. Their reasoning, according to Southern, is that while Howard has long been a fixture at SCI-Arc, he still runs a low-profile, foregoing final reviews in his studio and producing a fair amount of handmade work. The following is the third and final part of the transcribed interview, slightly edited for length and clarity.

Coy Howard, interviewed by SCI-Arc students: part 1 of 3

2016-03-14T08:31:00-04:00

Last fall, students in John Southern's “Architectural Media and Publishing” Cultural Studies seminar at SCI-Arc, democratically voted to interview Coy Howard, together, as part of the course. Their reasoning, according to Southern, is that while Howard has long been a fixture at SCI-Arc, he still runs a low-profile, foregoing final reviews in his studio and producing a fair amount of handmade work. The following is a transcript of that interview, slightly edited for length and clarity, presented in three parts.

Timothy Morton on haunted architecture, dark ecology, and other objects

2016-03-11T14:29:00-05:00

“How you design a building directly is ecological awareness,” states Timothy Morton, Professor and Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English at Rice University. “And your design is a game that will inculcate all kinds of ecological awareness. So realize that and act accordingly...”

Ray Kappe, founder of SCI-Arc, revisits the school's roots

2016-03-10T11:50:00-05:00

Distinguished by nearly forty-five years of SCI-Arc history between them, founding director Ray Kappe sat with current director Hernan Diaz Alonso last Wednesday evening for a reflective public conversation at the school. Part of SCI-Arc’s “Duel + Duet” speaker series, where a visiting figure is interviewed by a leader at the school, Alonso prompted Kappe to chart the school's historical narrative, touching on both the exciting possibilities and potentially debilitating difficulties inherent to running an independent educational institution – no less true today than they were in the 1970s.

Art + Architecture: Swipes and Changeups with Mike Nesbit

2015-11-25T14:12:00-05:00

"I'm always looking at things and taking them at face value," said Mike Nesbit, a Los Angeles-based architect and artist, as he leaned over the table and grabbed an empty glass to use as illustration. He turned the glass over in his hands several times causing the reflection of an overhead light to splinter and reform with each rotation. “Surveying a found object,” he continued, “and trying to eliminate the predetermined meaning that I have in my hand.”

Art + Architecture: Andreas Angelidakis between the monumental and the particular

2015-05-12T14:10:00-04:00

Buoyantly imaginative yet grounded by a commitment to sociopolitical realism, the work of the Greek-born architect Andreas Angelidakis defies categorization. In fact, while he was trained as an architect at SCI-Arc, Angelidakis' work is perhaps better known in contemporary art circles than among architects. After all, Angelidakis exhibits in museums (and online) more than he builds. Yet his work, which takes the form of renderings, videos, sculptures, dioramas and installations, is visibly marked by an architectural sensibility. With near-manic intensity, Angelidakis’ work operates fluidly on the uneven terrain of the contemporary moment, invoking ecological disaster, digital and post-digital networks, economic crises, celebrity culture – often all at once. At the same time, specters of history – both imagined and real – never escape his expansive purview.