The Free School of Architecture (FSA) is honored to announce its inaugural Board of Advisors for 2017–2018.  

Drawn from the fields of education, community activism, journalism, publication, art and architecture, the FSA Board of Advisors will act as the school’s brain trust, offering expertise and advice on FSA's pedadgogical and disciplinary direction as well as the school's long range mission. Importantly, the FSA Board of Advisors will play a pivotal role in the formation of the school’s Executive Board, guiding the school to 501(c)(3) non-profit status in 2018.

The Free School of Architecture 16 member board is made up of (photograph: left to right, top to bottom): 

Edgar Arceneaux, Artist and Founder, Watts House Project; Los Angeles, California

Nicholas Boyarsky, PhD. Architect, Director, Boyarsky and Murphy Architects; Faculty, Oxford Brookes University; London, United Kingdom

Marie-Hélène Fabre, Architect, Studio manager, Didier Fiúza Faustino / Mésarchitecture; Paris, France

Eva Franch, Architect, Chief Curator and Executive Director, Storefront for Art and Architecture; New York, New York

Viviana Franco, Founder and Executive Director, From Lot to Spot; Los Angeles, California

Cesar Garcia, Founder and Director, the Mistake Room; Los Angeles, California

Jorge Gracia, Architect and Founder, Escuela Libre de Arquitectura; Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Harriet Harriss, Senior Tutor, Royal College of Art; London, United Kingdom

Alfonso Medina, Architect, T-38 Studio; New York, New York and Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

William Menking, Founder and Editor, The Architect’s Newspaper; New York, New York

Yunhee Min, Artist, Associate Professor, University of California, Riverside; Los Angeles, California

Paul Preissner, Architect, Paul Preissner Architects; Associate Professor, UIC; Chicago, Illinois

Mohamed Sharif, Architect, Sharif Lynch Architecture; Lecturer UCLA AUD; Los Angeles, California. 

Stephen Slaughter, Architect, Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati; Cincinnati, Ohio

Mabel O. Wilson, PhD. Associate Professor, Columbia University GSAAP; New York, New York

Mimi Zeiger, Critic and Curator; Los Angeles, California

About the Free School of Architecture

The Free School of Architecture (FSA) is a tuition free, not-for-profit organization. Founded by educator and designer Peter Zellner in 2016, the Free School of Architecture will explore the edges of architectural education—promoting free inquiry, free discourse and free debate.   FSA will launch June 1, 2017 with a class of 36 students and a faculty of 10 teachers—offering 12 courses over the span of 6 weeks. By 2019, FSA is hoping to accept up to 48 students and will cap out at 72 students by 2020. 

FSA’s classes will be organized into 5 topical course bundles or packets focused on:

• Architectural History and Theory
• Design and Aesthetic Theory
• Practical and Vocational Topics
• Philosophy 
• General Studies

FSA students will not be graded nor will they ever produce design or written “products.” FSA students will make public presentations or responses to their peers and teachers in the form of a defense of an idea or a practice statement related to their academic or professional ambitions. 

Through a series of public symposia, the Free School of Architecture will also explore new forms of education and pedagogy, disciplinary vs. vocational conversations, the socioeconomics of education: specifically diversity, social and community/political outreach and post-digital and/or post-studio education.

As FSA grows, a blog and a vlog will be established to track and document FSA's mission and activities via the Free Architecture Press (FAP). FAP will distribute course materials, lectures and students’ ideas or efforts online for free as well as in limited run print editions. FSAONE, the school's online and print journal, will be issued in the fall of 2017. It will be followed by FSATWO in the spring of 2018 and FSATHREE in the fall of 2018. 

For further press inquires, please contact: info [at] freeschoolofarchitecture.org