I was there when Gil Cook was Dean and the school was torn in two basic directions, pragmatizim and striving to achieve progressive design education. Bringing someone in from SCIArc may boost the design aspect of things. I was pushing BIM in my last year there and have found that to be the power tool to conincide the two realms of design and constructability(you can reach - but not overreach- very important in this economy). I have also been able to find work in this area, having worked at 4 architecture firms in San Francisco. Is NewSchool offering classes in BIM/Revit? What do you think NSADs stance on BIM is now?

Very interested on who gets chosen, thank you for sharing!

Do you know the names of the other candidates not from NewSchool?

I heard from some students who were able to talk with Chris Genik and they were all impressed with him. In my opinion it would be a mistake to choose an internal candidate. I think NewSchool is at a crucial point in defining their identity since changing ownership and now choosing a new dean. I think we need some new blood to avoid complacency.

Rethinkit - yes NewSchool offers several sections of Revit classes and they are popular judging from how quickly they fill up. I think the construction documents class uses Revit too as well as CAD. A fair number of students use Revit as a design tool in studios but more so in the graduate thesis studio which involves a higher level of comprehensive detail.

How would any big name architect have the time to be dean of a school of Architecture?

I think that's a very fair question. I think the answer is that they are not all that involved in one of their jobs.

I don't think new blood in the form of a dean could possibly fix NSAD. I was there for only a short while and was shocked by the incompetence that I encountered on a regular basis. I was not impressed by the instructors or the student work, but they do seem to turn a pretty good profit. If this is the direction that architectural education is going, we have real reason to worry.

Oakley, srry to hear that maybe you were just in a bad year. usually there is years that where everyone clicks and student work is awesome because of that. and others years just don't care, i know that in the year that i am in, we have the best work from any year. from teachers' stand point.



but yeah, great news! CHRIS GENIK from Sci-Arc is going to be our new Dean!!!

he is realy awesome, I got to interview him.

very cool news...when does he start?

Who was the big name?

He starts Oct 4, when our school term begins... so exciting!!!

ummm... they honestly did not want to tell us who "big name" person was because they did not want us to get excited because he was not certain if he could become our dean or not.

but honestly, we are very happy with having Genik as our dean.

i get it, they honestly did not want to tell you guys... but did they?

Any news on the new Dean? I've heard some bad stuff...

I think it could somehow be like Tschumi and Columbia in the nineties and the paperless studio. Or it might not matter at all.

Whoever it is, I hope they have a very real proclivity to building and also to academia and how the two intertwine.

Genik, the new dean, has been super busy in the beginning, trying to prepare for our NAAB accreditation, so he hasn't been around much.

From my point of view, I love the guy. He knows his shit, but gets kind of confusing at least for me. He walks around studio and gives his advice, and he always give some of the best critiques, yea, they may seem very harsh at times, but he honestly does it to help. One dude began arguing with him, and he was like why are you yelling back, I am just trying to help you with your project. LOL

He does kind of come off arrogant, but he just knows his stuff. He is a leader and glad he is our dean.

Good to hear...he definitely knows architecture, though sometimes at the expense of knowing people. His arrogance is pretty legendary, but if you can get past that there's probably stuff to learn from the guy. He's definitely a better teacher than administrator, which will be NewSchool's biggest challenge with him - hope it stays positive for you.

haha.. yea all our teachers experienced his arrogant part already... during crits he interrupts the teachers and the jurors and throw in his two cents. They hate it, but he seems to be calming down with that now.

Belvera... are you from Sci-Arc?

Every NSAD class is told that their year's work is the most incredible they've seen yet. You must be rather slow to truly believe them. Yeah yeah ra ra - go your school - please do share these feelings in job interviews - it will leave more positions for trained architects

Having spent my time at NSAD - I can say with all confidence that it is the least organized, completely $ driven, populated with unqualified professors, useless classes and the students display an array of different skill levels yet are all supposedly the same year.

Let me point out the President was fired from his last University position after being caught with prostitutes, note he is still good enough for NSAD.

Genik's arrogance will be welcomed at NSAD as I found most Prof's to be of the same disposition. 1st year Master's Studio Head -Alan used to say ever architect thinks he is god. Alan sure thought he was despite not having any US architecture degree and working on one theoretically motivated waste protest student build in Mexico.

I'm glad Genik will stand up to his Prof's and give his opinion he is the most talented individual the school employs! The Dean of the Architecture Master's program Kurt Hunker was totally cowed by them. Even when the Prof's broke school policies he would protect them instead of admitting a student was wronged.

Since you seem to like NSAD and probably plan to stay through your degree since their credits aren't accepted anywhere else (I wonder why)... you should WORRY that NSAD is still having problems with NAAB accreditation board! That started two years ago - they had to overhaul all their curriculum, syllabi, have class sit-ins/reviews by the accreditation board and student catalog requirement and rule changes just to get an extension when I was there!!

WORRY that you still aren't even guaranteed an actually widely accepted degree despite $35K a year tuition! WORRY that they will fail and your money went down the drain. I think they play off the NewSchool in NYC's reputation to sucker people into thinking it is a good school.

weAREtheSTONES... sorry your class year sucked dude, and btw I did not just go off the teacher's opinions to determine if our classwork is so-called "incredible".
I have been at the school for a while and I have seen the grad work and undergrad work every quarter since I've been there. So I made my own assumptions, and I doubt i'm slow.

(and the school is finally getting WASC accredited, so we undergrads can go to a public university in California for master's)

and btw. the grad classes were water-downed, but knowing my school very much and actually being involved unlike you, I can say the school is improving.

"I can say with all confidence that it is the least organized, completely $ driven, populated with unqualified professors, useless classes and the students display an array of different skill levels yet are all supposedly the same year" --- I actually agree

but my year does not sit around and complain (which all the grads do), we are actually doing shit about it and the school is changing.

I would still have loved to go to another school, trust me, but I've seen the work at USC and Cal Poly, and they aren't that much better if anything.

tuition is only 22,000/yr.... and trust me i'm not worried, I don't expect to land a job from the school, I know I have to get out there and make connections and that's what I'm already doing.

so I'm not worried that my school is just ok. I've accepted that. And the degree doesn't matter, it's the person who holds it.

bravo zXy...and yes, I used to be associated with SCI-Arc and worked with Genik for a few years.

Belvera, you worked in his office? I have actually that his firm plans on opening a San Diego office when the economy turns around, which is not a bad idea, considered all the development that is going to happen in San Diego very soon like the waterfront project (which is super controversial), and San Diego's East Village project.

I heard through the grapevine the other day that Genik was "relieved" of his position at the Newschool. There's absolutely no info about this online, but any reference to him on the faculty has been removed from their website. Anybody here with some inside information that they can share?

I have heard a few things.  The simplest way to say it, is to call it a personality conflict.

Chris Genik was told to take a hike because of his arrogant bi polar character and trying to shape the school's direction away from what the more commercially and pragmatically minded owner wanted.  Genik thought the methods he learned from the dictator of SCI Arc were universal practice and started to think as a "mini me" of Eric Owen Moss. What a fucked up model to follow.

Look at his firing as a corporate restructuring among the corporate.  Big fucking deal. Another place another bitch story. I don't know why so many people are studying architecture when the economic indicators saying we are overstocked by buildings already and there won't be much demand for new architects in at least next 10 - 15 years. 

is what the more commercially and pragmatically minded owner wanted any better?