The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) has issued a public statement highlighting the school's efforts to begin to address structural and racial inequalities within the field of architecture.
Highlighting the growing civil rights movement in support of Black lives and racial justice that has intensified this summer, SCI-Arc Director Hernan Diaz Alonso and SCI-Arc Board Chairman Kevin Ratner have issued a statement that promises to rework curriculum priorities at the school, offers new financial support for BIPOC students, and promises to better engage with local issues while instituting widespread institutional reform, among other topics.
"We have not, as an institution, done enough to understand or dismantle how these embedded structures contribute to disenfranchisement on the basis of race, gender identity, sexuality, and ability," the pair writes, adding, "As stewards of the built world, we have the power and the responsibility to affect positive change from within, which begins with transformative measures to confront a pervasive and persistent lack of access, inclusion, and equity. This change begins with us."
The statement offers "a five-year program partnership with SoCal NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects), as well to support a SCI-Arc NOMAS (NOMA Students) chapter to help improve the profession by promoting access, equity, and inclusion in architecture," as well as plans for new scholarships for students from diverse and underrepresented communities. It also seeks to push its curricular and pedagogical perspectives "away from the problematic ideal of the solo genius in architecture by elevating and amplifying to an equal degree the work of non-white, non-male, team-based, and non-western references," according to the statement.
Tapping into recent discussions surrounding the historical legacy of racism within the licensure process itself, the school aims to work to reform professional architecture training and certification. "The current process and system of architecture licensure presents real barriers to underrepresented communities entering the profession," Diaz Alonso and Ratner write, "We publicly call for extensive architecture licensure reform and support working with NAAB to reduce the requirements for becoming licensed as an architect in the US, such as eliminating the need for practical training."
Additionally, the statement calls for "an end to unpaid internships," adding, "We publicly call for the extensive reform of unpaid and pay-to-enter architecture competitions.
The school's full statement can be found here.
16 Comments
Eliminate 'the need for practical training'???
Yeah, you know... we need more Maya, Zbrush, and VR monkeys, but according to Jeff Kipnis if you *really* want to learn how to build a building you can just go to Home Depot and buy one of those books that tells you how to build a house and you're good.
so.... on one hand sci-arc will promise more diversity and inclusion but will ultimately fail to address the affordability of housing in Los Angeles, the fact that your professors don't even pay minimum wage for internships, and keep jacking up tuition prices, and continue to keep pumping out ill-prepared ideologues and "designers" and not enough students that want to actually become architects like some of us
Hey, if the teachers can't build - then it'd be negligent for them to be teaching how to build.
Yes - Hernan feigning concern w/r/t un(der)paid internships....pot, meet kettle!
someone never paid his interns?
papd—you must be joking.
I won't name names, but yes, this is still standard practice of some sci-arc professors. there was an infamous instance of this involving a professor using interns on a project in china that was cancelled which ultimately caused the dissolution and reformation of their firm under another name. unfortunately some students willingly work for free in exchange for school credit (illegal as far as I'm aware), or instead a small stipend of $2000 if you're lucky, but instead it is assumed that if you work for free you will be more likely to receive scholarships or aid which is an absolute kick in the gut and the worst kind of pay-your-dues toxic BS that I actually laughed out loud when I saw their diversity and inclusion bulletin.
sci-arc always crushes the marketing game though lol
news flash, it's typically the affluent kids that don't need to work for a living that work for free and end up with the scholarship money. I worked for a professor off and on for about 2 years and actually got paid—probably only because there was actual grant money behind our research—but I'm in the minority of my peers in that respect.
I doubt any of the practices run by faculty can survive if they had to pay market wages. If you run what is essentially a "studio" based on a hobby, you got to find fellow hobbyists.
Let me know when you idiots reduce the FEES you charge for essentially teaching 3d graphics, before talking about inclusivity.
https://www.sciarc.edu/news/2020/inclusion-and-equity-in-architecture
I guess there is no such thing as a "non-white or non-male" solo genius... tell that to Maya Lin, David Adjaye, Shigeru Ban, Miles Davis, Maya Angelou, GW Carver, Stevie Wonder, Kanye, Maki, Ando, Doshi, Zaha Hadid .... etc.
Now list the White Males you can state off the top of your head. I'll wait, it's gonna be a long list. Point being there's a huge gap between the lists, and you might ask why.
More zero-sum, racist thinking here. This is why Stalinism and Castroism doesn't work
Using two data points near the ends of a spectrum to start to get to somewhere in the middle isn't zero-sum. But you know that, which is why you brought two totally unrelated things into it to sound like you had a point.
SP, ever notice how these racists cucks, are well, soooo in need of safe spaces?
Reminds me of this:
Might they be watching because she's hot? Just asking.
yay! my whitey male privilegeness sin has been washed clean and resides in AOC(yeah, you know me!)'s purse!
thank GOD that's over! let's all moveON(.org)! mkkkay?
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