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SCI-Arc graduate students will showcase work that goes beyond traditional architectural representations at the 2023 Graduate Thesis Weekend

2023-08-16T12:15:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect School Partner

SCI-Arc is proud to present its annual Graduate Thesis Weekend, taking place September 8-10 at the school’s LA Arts District campus. In recognition of the exceptional talents that form the Graduate Thesis class of 2023, this year’s graduating M.Arch 1 and M.Arch 2 students will share their thesis projects with their community, colleagues, and public, capping a year of extensive research and experimentation. The Graduate Thesis Exhibition will be open to the public during Grad Thesis Weekend and will remain on view in the SCI-Arc halls until September 13.

House Moving Hassle - Thesis project by Jia Mendoza. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc.

Aligned with the first week of the fall term, the Graduate Thesis Weekend at SCI-Arc fosters a connection between outgoing graduates and incoming students by filling the school with multimedia projects. In characteristic SCI-Arc fashion, this year’s graduating class has delved into the po...

SCI-Arc's upcoming 'Select Graduate Thesis' exhibition showcase projects representing ideas emerging in architecture today

2022-09-21T12:40:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School

Select Graduate Thesis ‘22 showcases imaginative responses to provocations transforming the discipline of architecture today. This year’s exhibit includes Graduate Thesis award recipients of the Gehry Prize, Peer Recognition Award, and Merit Thesis Awards.

Crossing over with the first week of the fall term, Graduate Thesis at SCI-Arc is the nexus of school events, cultivating an inevitable link between outgoing thesis ideas with incoming students’ curiosities.

The weekend of reviews gives thesis students an invaluable platform to articulate, propose, and defend their work to the SCI-Arc community and beyond. 62 students and 17 faculty advisors will converge with an array of invited guest critics from within and outside the discipline of architecture to review, debate, and contemplate the provocations of this year's thesis projects.

Reflections of Utopia - work by M.Arch II student Jordan Micham. Faculty advisor: Wi...

Archinect's tips for students preparing for thesis reviews and studio critiques

2022-04-22T17:59:00-04:00

What comes to mind when thinking about studio crits, guest juries, thesis reviews, and final presentations? For some, it's a blend of adrenaline, panic, fatigue, and perhaps a hint of excitement. Of course, everyone prepares differently and has their own "method to their madness," but it's important to realize that crafting a strong presentation is a mental and physical balancing act.

Academic coverage is an essential aspect of Archinect's editorial lineup. Beyond our exclusive interviews with education leaders and showcases of student work, our special Archinect Tips section consists of an array of handy guides that can help you feel prepared for your presentation.

Previously featured on Archinect: Archinect's Guide to Presentations

So, students, whether this is your first presentation as an undergrad or a seasoned fifth-year moving on autopilot, it's easy to forget a few things. Below, we have gathered a list of tips and references to get you through the next few weeks.

Before we ...

SCI-Arc's 2021 Undergraduate Thesis Weekend Renews Discourse Through Imagination and Community

2021-04-22T17:20:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect School Partner

In acknowledgment of the extraordinary work done by the 2021 Undergraduate Thesis class during this unprecedented year, SCI-Arc is proud to announce its 2021 UG Thesis Weekend on April 23–24, 2021 as this year’s graduating thesis students, along with Undergraduate Thesis Coordinator Jenny Wu, present and share their accomplishments with the world.

Student work by Jessie Pan, Di Wan + Rongyi Tan, Advisor: Marcelo Spina. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc

“Since our move to remote teaching a year ago,” shares Wu, “our students have used this opportunity to be inventive about how they work on their thesis, by transforming their digital work into compelling narratives and turning their own living spaces into creative laboratories for unconventional model building.”

This April 23–24, SCI-Arc’s fifth-year B.Arch students will present their thesis projects during an immersive, virtual Undergraduate Thesis Weekend, an online public p...

July 2020 saw leadership troubles at the AA, exposed corruption with PPP stimulus monies, highlighted struggles for new architecture graduates and Revit blowback

2020-12-24T13:15:00-05:00

By the start of July most of the world was more than three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, far surpassing the original hopes that we would have had it contained enough to return back to schools and workplaces. New architecture graduates were a couple of months into a job search at a time when most firms couldn't even think of hiring new staff. Summer travels plans were abandoned or drastically altered in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, while many were throwing caution to the wind to regain their freedom. Little did we all know, we were still in the infancy of the pandemic. In the world of architecture, these were the stories that dominated the month of July...

Wa-Di Housing, a tribal transit-oriented development. Looking north towards Colorado Peak (left) and Tetilla Peak (right). Photo Credit: AOS Architects

This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land—COVID-19’s Impact on Indian Country

For July 4th this year we opted to publish an op-ed by Joseph Kunkel, a citizen o...

Tulane School of Architecture presents 2020 Thesis Show & Virtual Exhibition

2020-05-22T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by the Tulane University School of Architecture

The Tulane School of Architecture in New Orleans has recently produced two unique ways to view and interact with thesis work by graduate and undergraduate students: The 2020 Thesis Show and Thesis Virtual Exhibition.

Image courtesy of Tulane University School of Architecture

Thesis Show:

This virtual event features select work from undergraduate and graduate thesis students at Tulane School of Architecture. The projects cover a wide breadth of representation techniques and research topics – design solutions to address climate change, education, urban crises and social emergencies.

Graduate Thesis Show: Tuesday, May 26, 5pm-6pm CT
The 2020 graduate theses explore the rebuilding of New Orleans as a water city, new pedagogies in design-build, radical solutions to the extreme housing crisis in Hong Kong, the construction of design narratives, and a new typology for overdose prevention sites.

Featuring: Henry Brer...

In school, sometimes more research is just more procrastination

2020-01-08T17:59:00-05:00

More research isn't always better

Occasionally, we have tendency to look for more information even when it does not cause us to take action. Here's an example: let's say your thesis explores the intersections of music and architecture. You start by scanning the literature on these two disciplines. Naturally, you have access to a lot of architectural works, and through investigation, you discover some works on music.

After some study, you decide that your project will focus on the rhythmic aspects of music and how that can also be interpreted in spatial rhythms through architecture. This becomes the focus. As your presentation approaches, you determine that in order to have a "strong idea" that you need to learn more about how musical instruments are made and how their structural qualities are similar to that of buildings. This will deepen your understanding of the dichotomy you're exploring, you think.

Going further down this rabbit hole, you begin to also examine the physics behin...

Korean Diaspora by Carlos Zarco Sanz - 3rd-prize entry from Re-thinking The Future Thesis Award 2013

2013-12-06T19:05:00-05:00

Carlos Zarco Sanz from the University of Madrid recently sent us his proposal, "Korean Diaspora" from Re-thinking the Future's International Architectural Thesis Award we previously featured. His design won 3rd place in the Public/Institutional category. Sanz's "Korean Diaspora" reimagines Manhattan's Koreatown as a shifting social and commercial space built for the neighborhood's present and future.

For full details, head over to Bustler.

Images courtesy of Carlos Zarco Sanz.

Winners of Re-Thinking the Future’s International Architectural Thesis Award 2013

2013-11-22T19:53:00-05:00

Re-Thinking the Future's International Architecture Thesis Award 2013 recently concluded with the announcement of this year's winners. The exclusive international design competition recognizes the best in student thesis projects. Starting with 525 registrations, 265 entries were shortlisted for the first round of screening. The competition pool was then narrowed down to 80 submissions that advanced to the next level of grading.

Public/Institutional, First place: Center for Musical Experimentation | Victor Diaz Ortega, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain

Residential/Housing, First place: (Re)Interpretations of Nature | Nathan Fisher, Lawrence Technological University, Canada

Sustainable Design, First place: Urban Renewal | Riccardo Torresi, University of Ferrara, Italy

Transport Terminal, First place: Nicosia International Airport | Charoula Lambrou, Newcastle University, United Kingdom

Images courtesy of IATA 2013.

Micro Housing by Donghyun Kim - second-prize entry for International Architectural Thesis Award 2013

2013-11-08T14:32:00-05:00

Donghyun Kim, an architectural designer who graduated from Cornell University, recently won second place in the Residential category for RE-THINKING THE FUTURE's International Architectural Thesis Award. [...] Kim's "Micro Housing" proposal is a response to New York City's changing demographics of shrinking housholds and also the lack of ground-level residential housing space.

Lian live-blogs final reviews from Harvard GSD

2013-05-17T14:26:00-04:00

Lian, our resident GSD school blogger is currently live blogging reviews. So far she's covered:

And M.Arch.I thesis reviews...pictures

Possible Thesis Sites #1: Stalin's Atlantis

2012-11-14T14:29:00-05:00

In the 1950s, Soviet engineers built a massive city in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan. It was a network of oil platforms linked by hundreds of kilometers of roads and housing 5,000 workers, with a cinema, a park and apartment blocks. Gradually disintegrating but still closely guarded, this astonishing place inspired a fiery scene in a James Bond movie.

It might be few weeks late but I thought this would make a great site for those who are still struggling to come up with a spiffy idea for a thesis project in architecture schools. For those who wanna, tell them Orhan sent you.

Four Winners of 2012 RIBA President’s Awards for Research Announced

2012-10-30T18:01:00-04:00

The Royal Institute of British Architects today recognized four outstanding architectural research projects with the RIBA President's Awards for Research.

Phantom Geometry, Winner of the SCI-Arc Gehry Prize 2012

2012-10-23T17:09:00-04:00

Husband-and-wife team, and 2012 SCI-Arc graduates, Liz and Kyle von Hasseln are the recipients of the inaugural Gehry Prize. The couple was recently presented with the prize for their outstanding masters thesis Phantom Geometry, a unique 3D printing method developed in the SCI-Arc Robot House with advisers Devyn Weiser and Peter Testa. This summer, the school had received a $100,000 gift from architect and SCI-Arc trustee Frank Gehry for the establishment of the institute's annual Gehry Prize.

Previously in the Archinect News: Frank Gehry establishes annual "Gehry Prize" for SCI-Arc

Frank Gehry establishes annual "Gehry Prize" for SCI-Arc

2012-09-05T19:20:00-04:00

Gift Will Endow an Annual Prize to Recognize Outstanding SCI-Arc Graduate Thesis Projects

The Southern California Institute of Architecture (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 extremel...

Architectural Association’s Foster + Partners Prize 2012 Goes to Yi Yvonne Weng

2012-07-06T19:14:00-04:00

Earlier this week in London, the Architectural Association and Foster + Partners announced AA diploma student Yi Yvonne Weng as winner of the 2012 Foster + Partners Prize for her project ‘The 6th Layer – Explorative Canopy Trail’. The award is presented annually to the AA fifth year diploma student whose portfolio best addresses the themes of sustainability and infrastructure. The recipient is selected jointly by the AA and Foster + Partners at the end of each academic year.

An Architectural Time Machine

2012-06-01T19:12:00-04:00

An architectural Time Machine by architect Heechan Park explores how to create an architectural time-based event. As the machines blow vapour rings that double as ephemeral scent zones, the public not only experiences a visual performance of smoke vortices travelling through space, but they also perceive scents that are temporally spatialised and visualised.

(a) Ball by Donovan Ballantyne

2012-04-20T20:04:00-04:00

Los Angeles architect Donovan Ballantyne has shared with us his thesis project project (a) Ball, a rather unique take on the geodesic dome concept. Along with the SCI-Arc Selected Thesis Award, this project has been selected as an Exhibit Finalist to have a portion of it fabricated for suckerPUNCH's Land of Tomorrow exhibition, and it was also nominated as a Co-Finalist for HD Magazine's Annual Design Awards.

More Photos of Studio 400’s “White” Installation

2012-04-03T19:30:00-04:00

A few days ago, we posted a video of the gallery installation White, the thesis book show by the 20 fifth-year architecture students of Professor Karen Lange at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo College of Architecture and Environmental Design. Now we have also received plenty of exhibition photos from the students, as well as images of the construction process.

To see the video of the installation, click here.

White: Studio 400 Book Show Installation

2012-03-29T13:17:00-04:00

The students of Professor Karen Lange at California's Cal Poly San Luis Obispo College of Architecture and Environmental Design have shared with us a video of their recent thesis book show installaton, White.