Archinect - News

Brett Steele appointed as new USC School of Architecture dean

2023-12-04T20:35:00-05:00

The University of Southern California (USC) today announced the appointment of renowned architect and educator Brett Steele as its new dean for the School of Architecture.

Steele will be stepping in to replace interim dean Willow Bay, who was appointed back in July 2022, following the quiet departure of former architecture dean Milton Curry.

Steele is no stranger to leading prominent schools of architecture. Prior to his new future position at USC, he served as UCLA's School of the Arts and Architecture dean since 2017. Before his time working in Los Angeles, he held pivotal leadership positions at the Architectural Association (AA), serving as a chief executive and Director since 2005. Prior to that, he created and led the AA Design Research Lab, the school's first accredited Master of Architecture program, for eight years.

According to USC President Carol Folt, "Brett Steele’s collaborative leadership is a perfect fit for our School of Architecture. One of the things that impress...

Get Lectured: USC, Fall '23

2023-09-06T12:54:00-04:00

Class is back in session, and that means it’s time once again for our Get Lectured series. Today, we continue the semesterly rundown of the events happening at architecture schools across the country with a look at what’s in store at the University of Southern California in the Fall 2023 term.

Events begin on Friday, September 15, with a lecture from Imaginary Forces Co-founder & Creative Director Peter Frankfurt. University of Victoria researcher Eric Higgs follows on September 22, preceding a lecture from Columbia GSAPP Associate Professor David Benjamin on October 6.

RIOS founder and School of Architecture alum Mark Rios will come to campus on October 16 for a conversation about his career as part of the new Crossing Design Borders series. The month ends with Pecha Kucha-style presentations by new faculty on October 20, followed by an October 27 presentation from Obama Presidential Center designer Billie Tsien.

The Fall's programming concludes with a lecture from Maeda Studio f...

Milton S.F. Curry joins Cornell AAP as Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Engagement

2023-07-25T14:46:00-04:00

Former USC School of Architecture Dean (2017–22) Milton S.F. Curry will be joining Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) as its new Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Engagement and Professor of Architecture.

Curry's new position began on July 1, 2023, according to Cornell AAP, and will bring him into contact with the university community and broader public through a range of new initiatives that include the launch of the school’s social justice-focused Black Cities Americas Lab.

Previously on Archinect: Deans List: Milton Curry shares his vision for the future of the USC School of Architecture

During his five-year tenure as Dean at USC, Curry had a list of accomplishments that includes the school’s acquisition of the once-lost Paul Revere Williams archive and shifted educational emphasis towards including academic theories of architecture across the curriculum. He will come to the AAP will similar past experience as the University of M...

Get Lectured: USC, Spring '23

2023-01-30T12:29:00-05:00

The spring semester is unfolding, and we are continuing with Archinect's Get Lectured series, today highlighting the USC School of Architecture’s list of guest lecturers and presenters for their Spring 2023 public programs.

Events began on January 23 with a visit from AGENCY’s Ersela Kripa, and distinguished Washington University in St. Louis professor Ian Bogost will close the month today, January 30, with a lecture about his use of video game design to touch on various political topics, including airport security, consumer debt, the oil and gas industry, pandemic, and tort reform.

The next month will begin with a visit from the Weitzman School’s Paul Farber on February 6 to discuss his curatorial work and research into public monuments and civic memory. Generation NEXT’s Pecha Kucha will continue activities on February 13 with a look at the work of recent USC graduates in typically casual and fast-paced formatting. The month closes on February 27 with a lecture from Madame Archi...

Get Lectured: USC, Fall '22

2022-08-19T13:17:00-04:00

The Fall term is here, and architecture schools are getting ready to welcome guest lecturers and presenters for their upcoming event programming. Kicking off the Fall 2022 group of Archinect's Get Lectured series is USC School of Architecture's public lecture programming.

Starting on August 29, the school welcomes Amrita Mhindroo, co-founder of London-based practice Da Costa Mahindroo Architects - DROO. On September 12, renowned Japanese architect Toshiko Mori, principal of New York-based Toshiko Mori Architect, will speak. Multi-media artist and educator Ada Pinkston will give a talk on September 19, followed by a lecture from designer, writer, and educator Galo Canizares on September 26.

On October 17, the school welcomes landscape design and planning expert Jessica Henson, a partner at OLIN Studio. Architect, educator, and cultural activist Sean Canty of Studio Sean Canty will give a lecture on November 7, followed by a lecture from esteemed Ghanaian-British architect David Adja...

Now you can experience LA’s erstwhile Bunker Hill neighborhood thanks to a 3D reconstruction from USC

2022-07-15T14:26:00-04:00

Seven decades after it was razed to do away with what the federal government deemed “urban blight,” the University of Southern California’s Ahmanson Lab, working with the Bunker Hill Refrain Collaboratory, has created an interactive 3D reconstruction of Downtown Los Angeles’ Bunker Hill neighborhood. The initiative gives users a sense of what was lost when the area was turned over to developers and slowly remade into what is today an unrecognizable warren of commercial and luxury residential projects consistently fought over by some of the city’s most powerful names.

The 3D tour captures the area as it appeared between the late 1930s and the beginning of the government-led “slum clearance” initiatives that began in the last two years of the 1940s.

A typical Queen Anne style home in the neighborhood ca. 1940. Image courtesy USC.

Mayor Fletcher Bowron was the domineering political figure at that time, overseeing an unprecedented second wave of urban expansion in Los Angeles that inclu...

Winning projects of USC's 2022 architectural design charrette tackle healthcare pop-ups as community amenities

2022-03-09T19:32:00-05:00

The USC Architectural Guild has announced the winners of the 11th annual Design Charrette.

Past challenges have addressed pressing issues such as homelessness, climate change, and the need for the city to rapidly adapt ahead of its bid as host of the 2028 Summer Olympics, among other themes. Each entry in this year’s Charrette had the unique opportunity to create an important piece of infrastructure which could serve as a weapon in the fight against one of the greatest public health challenges in the past century.

Responding to the 2022 theme of Catalytic Community Space, entries from fourth-year, fifth-year, and graduate students answered a two-fold challenge to design a pop-up Covid-19 testing site that can later be repurposed into a community-oriented amenity.

Twenty teams of three each had five days to complete a concept and video presentation which demonstrated both an elevation of the overall experience of the facility and the ability to prioritize diversity and inclusion, s...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House has found a buyer in Los Angeles

2022-02-26T10:05:00-05:00

On Thursday, USC announced that it had finalized the sale of the home to Richard E. Weintraub, president and CEO of the Weintraub Real Estate Group, a Los Angeles developer who has worked with historic properties in the past. (He and fellow developer Tom Gilmore helped bring the old St. Vibiana Cathedral in downtown L.A. back to life as a restaurant and events center.)

The home hit the market in July and has undergone extensive restorations in order to repair structural damage caused by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The need for additional repairs was reportedly behind the agreement reached between the school and Weintraub, which negotiated a reduction of the originally listed price from $4.25 to $1.8 million on the condition that the developer will make the proper and necessary changes along strict conservation guidelines in addition to opening the home to public tours a minimum of time per year.

Previously on Archinect: USC puts Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House up for sale; Freeman House; Image © Liz Kuball

USC says it is in the process of “reaffirming its mission and priorities, which is academic teaching and research,” and that it lacks the funds necessary to make more than basic restorations.

“The textile-block houses, in particular, have very specific conservation needs,” the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Linda Dishman told the Times. ...

Buro Happold enlisted by USC to devise sustainable design guidelines

2022-01-19T18:52:00-05:00

Buro Happold has been enlisted by the University of Southern California to craft key standards for environmental design and construction performance. The firm was selected through a competitive process to develop new sustainable design guidelines for the university.

Buro Happold will lead the creation of the guidelines “ensuring that the built environment touches the earth lightly while also caring for its occupants,” as stated by Buro Happold architect and associate principal Heidi Creighton. The firm will be supported by consulting partners Perkins&Will, construction engineering company Psomas, along with AHBE | MIG and David Neuman of Neu Campus Planning.

Buro Happold’s work with USC comes at a time when sustainability guidelines and assessment tools have become an essential component of long-term campus planning and institutional strategy. Aside from USC, the firm has established campus-wide standards and overarching sustainability plans for other universities globally, for priv...

Influential modern icon Bernard Judge has passed away in Los Angeles aged 90

2021-11-24T13:08:00-05:00

Leading modernist Bernard Judge passed away in his Los Angeles home last week at the age of 90.

The LA Times’ Carolina Miranda has an excellent write-up on the man who once designed a home for Marlon Brando on an atoll in French Polynesia.

Judge was in many ways the living definition of a “champion of modernism,” pioneering the geodesic dome form exhibited in his Triponent House and working to restore Rudolph Schindler’s then-eponymous West Hollywood home after taking out a personal ad in the Times in the early 1970s.

Judge was born in New York City to an artist mother and architecture professor father. He went on to study at USC at a time when the school was dominated by prominent residential designers like Gregory Ain and Conrad Bluff III.

Section drawing of Judge's Triponent House project. Source: Southern California Architectural History.

Judge designed a number of resorts and inexpensive and easy-to-construct homes through his firm Environmental Services Group. He was a lectur...

USC puts Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House up for sale

2021-07-23T15:29:00-04:00

The University of Southern California (USC) School of Architecture is putting the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House up for sale. Built in 1924 and named after the clients Samuel and Harriet Freeman, the Freeman House is one of four Wright homes in Los Angeles to include distinct concrete textile blocks along a Mayan Revival theme, the others being the Ennis House, Storer House, and Millard House. Both the Ennis House and Millard House have also been sold in recent years.

The Freeman House in 2008. Image: Wikimedia Commons user Los Angeles.

Set in the Hollywood Hills, the Freeman House measures almost 2,900 square feet, spanning two floors across a sloping site. Wright designed the house using an experimental system of over 12,000 concrete textile blocks inspired by Mayan temples, reinforced with steel to improve resiliency. Intersecting with the house’s strong horizontal emphasis is a series of double-height corner glazed windows overlooking an external patio, combining with ...

Get Lectured: USC, Spring '21

2021-01-21T15:14:00-05:00

The University of Southern California (USC) showcases its Spring 2021 lecture series with a highly sought after list of speakers and presenters.

Archinect's ongoing Get Lectured series features each school's lectured series and their graphic design prowess with eye-catching lecture posters.

With many schools holding virtual events, distance is no longer an issue when it comes to hearing from design professionals and academics within the industry. Check back regularly to keep track of upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Beginning on January 27th Melvin Mitchell of Bryant Mitchell Architects will speak during the MLK Annual Lecture. February welcomes lectures from Fernando Luiz Lara on February 3rd and Thomas Auer on February 17th. February 10th welcomes a panel discussion with Tania Ragasol, Frida Escobedo, Jose Castillo, Arturo Ortiz Struck & Pedro Rey...

Get Lectured: USC, Fall '20

2020-10-05T14:38:00-04:00

As schools welcome the Fall term, their virtual lecture series provides a way for institutions and guest speakers to connect with students and the public across the globe.

Archinect's ongoing Get Lectured series features each school's lecture series and their graphic design prowess with eye-catching lecture posters.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

The University of Southern California has released its lecture series line-up for the Fall. Leading into the month of November, USC Architecture will welcome Jun Sato from the University of Tokyo and Jun Sato Structural Engineers, Hossein Rezai-Jorabi of WEB STRUCTURES, and Gabriela Etchegaray of AMBROSI | ETCHEGARAY.

Dean of USC School of Architecture Milton S.F. Curry shared in a statement, "Many of this Fall's lecturers have multidisciplinary backgrounds and work towards solving today's pressing challenges, offering our students and greater community ...

USC Viterbi School of Engineering launches Advanced Design and Construction Technology masters program

2020-08-12T14:39:00-04:00

The Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California has launched a new master’s program in Advanced Design and Construction Technology (ADCT).

The program, according to a school website, will explore an "integrative approach to design, engineering and construction technology, and in developing expertise in core topics including sustainability, data analysis and visualization, computing, modeling, simulation, process engineering and manufacturing, leadership, design and innovation" in order to "next generation of innovators to not only harness the power of technological innovation, but to bridge the industry’s fragmentation in order to foster collaboration, catalyze change, and offer advanced and sustainable solutions to global problems."

Tuition for the 28-unit, four semester master’s program is set at roughly $60,000 plus housing and fees.

A press release announcing the program explains that students will have access to "experts in computer science, construc...

2020 USC Architectural Guild Charrette first place winners design a movable building surrounded by landscape that fights wildfires

2020-07-21T14:33:00-04:00

The USC Architectural Guild Charrette is an annual design competition held by the school that invites fourth-year, fifth-year, and graduate students to compete in a one-day charrette geared around a specific design prompt. This year, the prompt challenged students to design a fire-resilient visitor center in the Angeles National Forest. Landscaping was an important part of this project as they were judged based on how well they embraced fire resilient principles.

The first place entry came from students Andrew Blumm, Alison Iwashita, and William Makoto Izu, who worked together to create a contemporary iteration of the traditional fire lookout tower. Working on a hillside site, their building sits on a rail system that allows it to retract into the hillside and remain protected in the event of a forest fire.

The landscaping ethos of the entry builds on the practice of administering burns to small shrubs and plants before a wildfire hits to clear the forest floor and rejuvenate the s...

USC Architecture launches program to find built solutions for future pandemics

2020-06-15T18:56:00-04:00

The University of Southern California School of Architecture has announced the launch of the HLW Project Héroe Research Initiative, an "interdisciplinary task force comprised of architects, consultants, medical experts, contractors, and USC Architecture students and recent graduates that aims to find a built solution to prevent future COVID-19-like outbreaks."

The effort is led by USC Architecture alumnus David Swartz and is being developed in collaboration with architects HLW and the USC Keck School of Medicine. According to a press release published by the school, Project Héroe will study how "COVID-19 can help identify infrastructures that will thwart future pandemics and allow people to interact unhindered by social distancing."

Previously on Archinect: "#OperationPPE puts architects to work 3d-printing protective equipment for frontline medical workers." Photo courtesy of USC Architecture Operation PPE.

Describing the project, Swartz writes, “My goal with this project is the h...

USC Dean Milton S.F. Curry: "Collectively, we too are the guardians of the democratic space and civic imaginations"

2020-06-03T12:40:00-04:00

University of Southern California School of Architecture Dean Milton S.F. Curry issued a statement today commenting on the ongoing racial justice-focused protests taking place nationwide.

Curry's message comes as various architecture organizations and firms, including the American Institute of Architects and the National Organization of Minority Architects, issue statements in support of the protests.

Dean Curry's letter is published in full here:

We at the USC School of Architecture mourn the tragic, unnecessary, and avoidable loss of another life, that of George Floyd, in the hands of law enforcement in Minneapolis last week. We also affirm the power and meaning of thoughtful protest and civil disobedience in service of structural change for the betterment of all of our fellow Americans. We also reflect on the many lives of Black Americans that have been taken by the ravages of slavery and colonialism, abject violence in the form of beatings and lynchings, racial capitalism and ...

As architecture events are canceled or postponed worldwide, USC shifts to virtual with surprising demand

2020-03-24T11:49:00-04:00

As we mentioned in our profile on Alvin Huang's recent transition to working and teaching from his home, two of the events that he had been planning at the USC School of Architecture have managed to stay on schedule, by moving from physical events, to Zoom-based virtual events.

Alvin tell us that within 24 hours of announcing the events transition to online over 200 participants had registered for the events. Clearly, the architecture and design community is craving a connection and opportunity to learn during this time of self-isolation.

We feel that it is important to continue to carry on despite the troubling times we are living in, as it is important that we continue to define the culture of our community at a time when we need social interaction and intellectual stimulation more than ever" - Alvin Huang

Interested in joining in?

USC Architecture Generation Next 2020
6pm, Wednesday March 25, 2020
http://bit.ly/USCGenNext2020

Technology is the answer...but what was the question?...

USC eliminates undergraduate tuition for families making less than $80,000 per year

2020-02-20T14:02:00-05:00

University of Southern California (USC) President Carol Folt has announced that the institution will eliminate tuition costs for students whose families make less than $80,000. In addition, the private university will no longer consider home equity when making financial aid calculations for students.

The changes, according to The Los Angeles Times, come as part of an effort to make the USC's tuition competitive with those offered by public universities, like the University of California system. In-state tuition for local rival University of California, Los Angeles runs at about $12,570 per year. The change applies only to undergraduate students and to those matriculating into the university directly from high school. According to reports, the university will continue to offer its existing financial aid packages for transfer and graduate students.

The change in policy mirrors recent efforts undertaken at other elite higher education institutions like Harvard University and Stanford...

Get Lectured: USC, Spring '20

2020-01-16T14:18:00-05:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2020

It's a new year and a new school term, so that means it's time for Archinect's latest edition of Get Lectured, an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back regularly to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

The USC School of Architecture's Spring 2020 lecture event series starts off with a lecture by Keller Easterling on January 24. Upcoming speakers also include Liat Margolis, Michael Murphy, Jun Sato, and Paola Antonelli.

Conversations this semester include “Designing Down the Barrier”, "The Education of a Technologist", “Technology is the answer...but what was the question?”, and “Reconstructions”. USC Architecture will also present its fourth annual Generation NEXT lecture and exhibition, an e...

Archinect Sessions: Live Panel on The Current State of LA's Architecture Student Publications

2019-10-28T16:36:00-04:00

On this episode of Archinect Sessions we’re sharing the recording of a panel discussion I moderated last weekend at the A+D Museum, as part of the current exhibition The Los Angeles Schools. The panel brought together five students and three faculty members representing student-led publications from LA’s architecture programs. Rayne Laborde and Phoebe Webster represented UCLA's POOL; Marcelyn Gow represented SCI-Arc’s Offramp; Richard Mapes, Corie Yaguchi and Irvin Shaifa represented SCI-Arc's Underscore; Alvin Huang represented USC’s Supertall; and Stephen Phillips, Cal Poly LA Metro’s Director, represented their program’s hardcover publication LA Ten.

From L to R: Richard Mapes, Irvin Shaifa, Alvin Huang, Rayne Laborde, Phoebe Webster. Photo by Lena Pozdnyakova

Our talk covers a lot of ground, exposing the inner-workings of editing and producing publications in today’s unique and highly transformative media landscape. Our conversations cover issues of editorial decision-making, de...

A closer look at the state of LA's student-led architecture school publications

2019-10-09T12:33:00-04:00

Please join us for a panel discussion on the role of student publications in architecture school.

What is the role of student-led publications?

In an era when digital rules, what’s the value of continuing the tradition of print?

How do student-led publications function, from concept, to editorial-production, to distribution?

We hope to answer these questions, and more, with a panel of representatives from UCLA, SCI-Arc, USC, and Cal Poly Metro...

UCLA: Rayne Laborde & David Vasquez (POOL)

SCI-Arc: Marcelyn Gow (Offramp); Richard Mapes, Corie Yaguchi, Irvin Shaifa (Underscore)

USC: Alvin Huang (Supertall)

Cal Poly L.A. Metro Program: Stephen Phillips (L.A. [TEN])

The panel will be moderated by Archinect’s Paul Petrunia and will take place at the A+D Museum on Saturday, October 19th, at 5pm. The event is part of Archinect’s event programming during The Los Angeles Schools exhibition, running at the A+D until November 24th.

Meet Google's 2019 R+D for the Built Environment Fellows

2019-10-04T13:44:00-04:00

Google's Architect-In-Residence and Head of R+D for the Built Environment, Michelle Kaufmann, will help lead the first ever 2019 fellowship cohort. After releasing an open call for fellowship applications earlier this year, four fellows have been chosen to help spearhead Google's newest branch of research, design, and development.

During the fellowship, participants will focus on discovering new ways to accelerate design ideas for the built environment. The paid, six-month design fellowship will enable candidates to test ideas in areas like building material science, affordable housing, and AI/machine learning to name a few.

Each candidate was chosen for their expertise and diverse backgrounds. Read more about Google's pioneering fellows below. *Note: Descriptions are provided by Google R+D for the Built Environment

Marta Nowak - Founding Principle of AN.ONYMOUS
As a faculty member at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design Department she focuses on the relationship between human body an...

A deeper look at the institutions behind The Los Angeles Schools exhibition

2019-09-21T11:00:00-04:00

Los Angeles has long been a cradle for innovative architectural thinking. As a result, the Los Angeles area is not only filled with many architecturally significant sites, but is also home to some of the world's leading architectural institutions. This weekend, four of the region's schools of architecture will be participating in the Architecture and Design (A+D) museum's The Los Angeles Schools exhibition, a showcase of institutional pedagogies and the student work those ideas generate.

The exhibition aims to showcase Los Angeles's position as a pivotal node for architectural research, production, and exploration both in United States and internationally, as well.

Archinect has compiled statistics on the four participating schools and their respective academic programs to highlight the important role each plays in bolstering the region's reputation as a design-forward metropolis.

(Editors note: A range of regional schools of architecture were asked to participate in the exhibiti...

L.A.'s architecture schools are the focus in a forthcoming exhibition at A+D Museum

2019-09-11T09:00:00-04:00

The Architecture and Design (A+D) museum in Los Angeles has announced The Los Angeles Schools, a forthcoming exhibition that highlights the student work and pedagogical approaches of some of Los Angeles’s leading architecture programs.

The exhibition surveys some of the cutting-edge architectural thinking taking place at Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), University of Southern California, Cal Poly LA Metro, and UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, and seeks to position Los Angeles as “a center for architectural production, investigation, and research charged with producing tomorrow’s leaders in the world of architecture and design,” according to a press release.

SCI-Arc's Graduation Pavilion "League of Shadows" by P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S

In a press release announcing the exhibition, A+D Museum executive director and chief curator, Anthony Morey said, “Discovering, experimenting and facilitating the ability of the public to explore what makes Los Angeles a center for A...

Get Lectured: USC, Fall '19

2019-08-22T13:04:00-04:00

With a new school year upon us yet again, it's time for Archinect's latest edition of Get Lectured, an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back regularly to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

For their Fall '19 lecture series, the USC School of Architecture will explore timely topics that include sustainability, race, and heritage preservation in design. The series kicks off with a conversation between USC Architecture Dean Milton S. F. Curry and LACMA Director Michael Govan on August 28. The lineup also features architect Kunlé Adeyemi, artist and filmmaker Doug Aitken, Jennifer Newsom of Dream the Combine, Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects, and more.

The Fall '19 lecture series marks the debut of “Conversations,” a series of intimate discussions between t...

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum gets an upgrade

2019-08-16T15:52:00-04:00

Giving the 96-year-old building a modern twist necessitated much more than a quick polish. The $315 million renovations required architects, building engineers, and sound engineers to revamp the modernity of the stadium while creating a brand-new, seven-story premium tower without losing a single piece of the venue’s historic stone façade.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a city gem. Standing next to the University of Southern California campus, the Coliseum is home to the USC football team as well as the temporary home to the Los Angeles Rams. Having hosted several historic and iconic sports events, including the 1932 and 1984 Olympic games, the venue was due for a much needed revamp.

In addition to these upgrades, the refurbishment includes the construction of a new "Scholarship Tower" that will house 3,000 students. Renovations on the stadium were recently completed, while work on the tower is well underway in order to accomplish the project's fall competition date. Popular Mechanics provides a detailed description of the Coliseum's construction process and delves into the construction of the new Scholarship Tower.

Remarking on the historic nature of the stadium to Popular Mechanics, Don Barnum, DLR Group principal and lead of the firm’s Sports Studio shares, "What makes it a National Historic Landmark is not...

AIA|LA recognizes the work of California's architecture students at the 2019 2x8:Exchange Competition

2019-05-15T15:04:00-04:00

This week the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles chapterfeatures work from architecture students in California. The 2x8: Exchange is a three-pronged program that provides students the opportunity to submit their work for the competition, be apart of the student exhibition, as well as provide scholarship opportunities. Now in its 13th iteration, the competition received participation from 16 schools throughout the state to participate in the annual show. In celebration of California's unrivaled diversity in academic pedagogy and programming, each school selects two students to represent the program's ethos and vision.

2x8:Exchange at Helms Design Center, 2019. Image courtesy of Katherine Guimapang

Open to the public, this year's student exhibition takes place in Culver City at the Helms Design Center. Focusing on a forward-thinking take of gallery presentation and setting the show features VR immersion stations, a zero-waste plan, and an ornate display of student work in th...

Alison Hirsch appointed as USC's director of Masters of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism program

2019-05-15T11:08:00-04:00

University of Southern California School of Architecture appointed associate professor Alison Hirsch as the new director of the Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism program, effective August 2019.

As a landscape theorist, designer, and historian, Hirsch’s work focuses on how the interpretation of sociocultural practices and marginalized histories and memories can contribute to the design of meaningful urban places. Her research areas include: cultural landscapes; spatial politics of landscape architecture; contested urban landscapes; activist design methods; practices of representation; and landscape's intersections with performance and choreography.

Last month, Hirsch won her second Graham Foundation grant for Landscape and “the Working Country”: Food Justice and Landscape Ethics in California’s Central Valley, focusing on the confluence of land, labor, transcultural settlement, mobility, and agriculture in the lower San Joaquin Valley. Her 2013 grant, resulted in City Cho...

Images of missing furniture from Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House have been revealed

2019-03-14T18:36:00-04:00

This week the Los Angeles Police Department released photos of the items that were stolen from the Freeman House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The famed textile block house made for Samuel Freeman was put under the care and maintenance of USC in 1986. Two floor lamps designed by Wright and a folding chair designed by Rudolph Schindler were the items reported stolen from the USC storage facility. Although the LAPD is continuing with the investigation, nothing significant has been revealed in relation to their disappearance.

View police report photos of the items missing below.

Frank Lloyd Wright Floor Lamp, 1924. Image courtesy of LAPD

Rudolph M. Schindler Folding Chair, 1930s. Image courtesy of LAPD

Rudolph M. Schindler Tea Cart, 1930s. Image courtesy of LAPD

An additional item was also announced missing upon the investigation, a tea cart designed by Schindler. According to Richard Wright, the president of the Chicago-based Wright auction house, "This piece really is a museum piece....