Southern California Institute of Architecture

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Southern California Institute of Architecture
Pavillion.jpg
Southern California Institute of Architecture
TypePrivate
Established1972
Director
Students500
Location
Los Angeles
,
California
,
United States

34°02′46″N 118°14′00″W / 34.045984°N 118.233431°W / 34.045984; -118.233431Coordinates: 34°02′46″N 118°14′00″W / 34.045984°N 118.233431°W / 34.045984; -118.233431
CampusUrban
Websitewww.sciarc.edu
Sciarclogo.svg

Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private university focused on architecture and located in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1972, SCI-Arc was initially regarded as—both institutionally and artistically—more avant-garde than traditional architecture schools based in the United States.[1] It consists of approximately 500 students and 80 faculty members, some of whom are practicing architects. It is based in the quarter-mile long (0.40 km) former Santa Fe Freight Depot in the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles, and offers community events such as outreach programs, free exhibitions, and public lectures.

According to collegefactual SCI-Arc is ranked #260 among 1,715 architecture schools all over the USA and ranked at #27. Out of the 116 colleges in California.[2] Design Intelligence in 2019-2020 has ranked SCI-Arc's Undergraduate program as 10th in the USA (based on just Graduate Employability).[3] Also as niche evaluated the acceptance rate for this school is 100% which means you only need to meet some basic requirements in order to be admitted, and all the admissions are accepted.[4]

History[]

SCI-Arc was founded in 1972 in Santa Monica by a group of faculty and students from Department of Architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, who wanted to approach the subject from a more experimental perspective than traditional schools offered.[5]​ Originally called the New School, SCI-Arc was based on the concept of a "college without walls" and it remains one of the few independent architecture schools in the world. Initially, instead of academic hierarchies the School favored a horizontal relationship between professors and students, who took responsibility for their own course of study. Ray Kappe, who had founded the Pomona department, became the new school's first director, served in that position until 1987, and was awarded the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medal for excellence in architecture education in 1990.[6]

Kappe was succeeded as director by Michael Rotondi, one of SCI-Arc's founding students. Neil Denari became director in 1997; Eric Owen Moss served as director from 2002–2015;[7] Hernán Díaz Alonso was appointed Director and Chief Executive Officer effective Sept 1, 2015.[8] Díaz Alonso has been a faculty member at SCI-Arc since 2001. He is known for championing the school's push toward a digital future and, prior to his appointment as Director, has served as the school's Graduate Programs Chair since 2010.[8] Although SCI-Arc was once unaccredited and its finances unstable—Moss joked, "We used to be considered one step ahead of the IRS, one step ahead of creditors"—the school is now fully accredited, and its finances improved to the point that SCI-Arc was able to pay $23.1 million to buy its campus building in 2011.[5] "The main thing is to figure out a way for SCI-Arc to keep growing without losing its character and pedigree," Díaz Alonso said in an interview following his appointment as director.[8]

Downtown Los Angeles campus[]

North End of SCI-Arc from Santa Fe Ave

The open nature of SCI-Arc's program is reflected in the series of industrial buildings that have housed the school, where students are encouraged to design and construct their own studio environments, and occasionally full-scale projects. The school has been based in three locations—the first (1972-1992) a small industrial building in Santa Monica and later moved into the second, a much larger (architecturally unique concrete post & beam) industrial building (1992-2000) in Marina del Rey. In 2001, it moved to its current home, the 60,000-square-foot 1907 Santa Fe Freight Depot designed by Harrison Albright on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles. When SCI-Arc arrived, the building was a stripped-down concrete shell. Today the building is on the National Register of Historic Places and the school has become an anchor for the city's Arts District. The school conducts design projects that engage with under-served members of the community. To these ends, SCI-Arc has been awarded a $400,000 grant by ArtPlace to develop two on-campus public performance/lecture spaces, as well as development for a third public venue in the surrounding arts district.[9] Across the street, "One Santa Fe," a 438-unit apartment complex designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture (MMA) opened in 2014.[10]

Academics[]

SCI-Arc offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), including a five-year Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) program, a 3-year Master of Architecture (M.Arch 1) open to applicants who hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent in any field of study, and a 2-year Master of Architecture (M.Arch 2) open to applicants with a prior undergraduate degree in architecture.

In addition to its undergraduate and graduate programs, SCI-Arc offers four one-year postgraduate programs in fields including architectural technologies, entertainment and fiction, design of cities, and theory and pedagogy.

SCI-Arc's undergraduate and graduate programs culminate in two public events in which students present their thesis projects to renowned critics from around the world, including Peter Cook, Greg Lynn, and Pritzker Prize recipient Thom Mayne.[11] "SCI-Arc has long been one of this country’s best experimental labs in which designers speculate about the future of the human-made environment, and its thesis projects are its calling cards."[12]

Public programs[]

A recent program and exhibition, "LA in Wien/Wien in LA," investigated the architecture of Los Angeles and Vienna and their respective influences on one another in over the last century. It brought together six esteemed international architects—, Peter Cook, Eric Owen Moss, Thom Mayne, Peter Noever, and of Coop Himmelb(l)au—to share their perspectives and experiences in a discussion led by Anthony Vidler. The full scope of SCI-Arc public programs includes lectures, exhibitions, faculty talks and other opportunities for interaction between the school and the community.

Lecture series[]

Speakers are selected by a forum of students, faculty, alumni, and administrators and the lectures are free and open to the public. Lectures are followed by a dinner in honor of the speaker.

References[]

  1. ^ "Justin McGuirk, "The New LA School", October 2007". . Archived from the original on February 3, 2010.
  2. ^ https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/southern-california-institute-of-architecture/
  3. ^ "most admired architecture schools from the DesignIntelligence 2019 School Rankings Survey". www.di-rankings.com. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  4. ^ https://www.niche.com/colleges/southern-california-institute-of-architecture/#rankings
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Vincent, Roger (April 22, 2011). "L.A. architecture school SCI-Arc buys its unorthodox home". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  6. ^ Volume5. 25 Years of SCI-Arc 1990–1997 19 Sep 2007.
  7. ^ Barrie-Anthony, Steven. Landscape of constant change. Los Angeles Times. July 7, 2005. Retrieved 15 January 2007.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c Gelt, Jessica (November 19, 2014). "SCI-Arc's newly announced director sees growth and a global presence". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2015-09-28.
  9. ^ Nielson, Christopher. "ArtPlace Announces 47 New Grants". artplaceamerica.org. Archived from the original on 15 June 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  10. ^ Hawthorne, Christopher (October 10, 2014). "Maltzan's One Santa Fe apartment complex plays with notion of density". Los Angeles Times.
  11. ^ Nielson, Christopher. "2011 Thesis & Graduation Weekend". Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  12. ^ "SCI-Arc Keeps Us Wondering". Retrieved 2015-09-28.

External links[]

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