Faculty Talk
Friday, Sept 27, 1pm
The Steps
For those of you in Downtown L.A. on Friday, John Southern will be giving his faculty talk at SCI-Arc. With an intro by Undergraduate Director, John Enright and a post-lecture discussion moderated by Cultural Studies Coordinator, Todd Gannon, it promises to be a stimulating event. 
More
Urban Operations:http://www.urbanops.org/

John Southern has been a visiting critic at ELAC for Arc202.

posted by: O.A

Hot on the case, the TED Blog already has a solid recap of Teddy Cruz‘s talk just a few hours ago, here at the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. Drawing on his classic talk about his life’s work, Cruz covers the border cities of San Diego and Tijuana.

“The slums of Tijuana can teach a lot to the sprawl of San Diego,” says Cruz. Cities of the wealthy grow selfishly, says Cruz. They suck up oil, consume tons of energy and divide space into single uses, often of the personal variety. But in communities of scarcity, like those in Tijuana, Cruz sees inspiration for how we can peel back this selfish urbanization. “I don’t want to romanticize poverty,” says Cruz. “But I want to suggest that this informal development…is a set of social and economic procedures that we can translate.” To put it bluntly: There are other ways of constructing cities.

BIO:
Teddy Cruz’ work dwells at the border between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico, where he has been developing a practice and pedagogy that emerge out of the particularities of this bicultural territory and the integration of theoretical research and design production. Teddy’ Cruz has been recognized internationally in collaboration with community-based nonprofit organizations such as Casa Familiar for its work on housing and its relationship to an urban policy more inclusive of social and cultural programs for the city. He obtained a Masters in Design Studies from Harvard University and the Rome Prize in Architecture from the American Academy in Rome. He has recently received the 2004-05 James Stirling Memorial Lecture On The City Prize and is currently a Professor in public culture and urbanism in the Visual Arts Department at UCSD in San Diego.

Teddy Cruz will be speaking at ELAC in November as our new Public Lecture Series. Watch for the announcement soon.
Link
With Teddy Cruz on "Power" and "Powerlessness"
Estudio Teddy Cruz

posted by: O.A

"Drawing on Life is a film about architects, and how they see the world through drawing.

Filmed amidst their studios and projects, the film traces the thoughts of a number of leading architects and asks them why and how they draw.
Why are architects still drawing by hand in the digital age? What value does drawing have in shaping their creativity and imagination?

Watching them draw, and talking to them about their work and ideas, the film reveals a hidden world of why architects draw."

Watch the trailer: Drawing on Life
More: The Secret Laboratory

posted by: O.A

Light fixture design by Elac student Saul Romero in Arc 102 thought by Michael Hamner. Saul designed this concept from several symbolic references he has chosen, including koi fish and lily flower. 
Materials: hand folded paper. Approx.16"x14"

posted by: O.A

Here are some great words of wisdom from Roger K. Lewis, FAIA to young architects and students of architecture. Published in Architect Magazine which is the official publication of AIA.

"Are you wondering what lies in store for you given the current state of the profession and the recent, profoundly stressful challenges faced by your generation of designers—the Great Recession, work slowdowns, unemployment, stagnant incomes? Beyond economic uncertainties, you face other significant challenges: choosing among ever more diverse career paths and roles; thinking critically about always shifting and often short-lived aesthetic trends, such as ersatz, postmodernist historicism; satisfying increasingly stringent project needs and constraints; and keeping abreast of rapidly evolving, innovative technologies.

Yet the basic mission of architecture, considered the world’s second oldest profession, has not changed. Although modern technologies, specialization, and design theories have transformed how architects are educated and practice, most practitioners still do essentially what the Greeks and Romans did: design buildings.

Nevertheless, it’s no surprise that in this uncertain age you may be angst-ridden as you ponder your future in the profession. If you are an intern, you may already feel put upon by the ordeal of accumulating thousands of hours of experience and having it validated to satisfy licensing requirements. You may even be considering deferring your path to licensure.

But do not despair. I assure you that despite any frustration or skepticism you may feel, architecture is still an extraordinarily stimulating calling, offering artistic and intellectual fulfillment unmatched by any other profession. Architects not only create visual poetry embodied in beautiful structures and urban settings, they also deal with pressing, real-world issues such as climate change, sprawl, affordable housing needs, and urban revitalization. We always serve two clients: those who hire us and those who inhabit or interact with the architecture we make, and who worry about safety, accessibility, traffic, and aesthetics. By designing architecture of lasting value for all stakeholders, we enable social, economic, and cultural progress. This will be your ultimate reward."
More from Architect Magazine

posted by: O.A

In the 1970′s architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, both unknown at the time, collaborated and erected one of the most famous and radical buildings of our time, Centre Georges Pompidou. The cultural center in Paris, France turned our world inside out, literally. It all began with Georges Pompidou, President of France from 1969 to 1974, who wanted to construct a cultural center in Paris that would attract visitors and be a monumental aspect of the city. Receiving more than 150 million visitors since is completion thirty three years ago, there is no doubt that Pompidou’s vision became a successful reality.
More @ archdaily
More classics

posted by: O.A

70's. Los Angeles, post Vietnam, pre Blade Runner. Computer aided design is still on baby formula, most everything is physical.

SCI-Arc, a Ray Kappe invention, with his gang and their students, is up and running, beaming with energy from 1800 Berkeley Street in Santa Monica. A hot-rodded school of experimental architecture, trials and errors. By its environment and output it is the House of Glen Small, a Los Angeles architect at the time and a founding member of the school.

Inside the 8000 square-foot, corrugated metal SCI-Arc, dismantled airplane wings along with the student models of space stations and large interplanetary cities built for zero gravity are suspended from the ceiling, and rhombic structures sitting like mushrooms on multi level platforms, housing the students who are living and working in them. There are other kids hanging out in the school that aren't students but are interested in futurism, film and art. Everything is interchangeable with “kee klamps, steel pipes and 8'x 8' modular wood panels”. A low, plus or minus 600 dollars (no big money even then), gets you a semester with a young faculty of talented architects and artists. Most people are attracted to SCI-Arc because, conceptually, it is a free thinking school and it is about the Future. The New School (its first name) is magnetic.
Read the whole article

posted by: O.A

 by T38 studio / Alfonso Medina, Tijuana-Culver City
Status: Built
Location: Tijuana, MX
Additional Credits: Architects: T38 studio / Alfonso Medina
Project Team: Oscar González, Sara Díaz, Ana Darice Payan, Alejandro Bustos, Pablo Casals-Aguirre, Alina Castañeda, Joseph Ruiz Tapia.
Construction: Taller38
Project Year: 2011
More on the project with additional images and drawings
Also, HDJ 58

posted by: O.A

The prestigious Aga Khan Awards for Architecture program has announced the 2013 winners at a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal.

Established in 1977, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture is given every three years to recognize all types of building projects that positively affect today’s built environment in communities in which Muslims have a significant presence. The Awards are selected by an independent Master Jury appointed by a Steering Committee for each three-year Award cycle. The nine members of the Master Jury for the 2010-2013 Award cycle are:

• David Adjaye, Principal, Adjaye Associates, London, United Kingdom
• Dr. Howayda al-Harithy, Professor, Department of Architecture and Design, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
• Michel Desvigne, Landscape Architect and Founder, Agence Michel Desvigne, Paris, France
• Professor Mahmood Mamdani, Professor and Executive Director, Makerere Institute for Social Research (MISR), Wandegeya, Uganda
• Kamil Merican, Principal Designer and CEO, Group Design Partnership, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Professor Toshiko Mori, Principal, Toshiko Mori Architect, New York City, USA
• Shahzia Sikander, Artist, New York City, USA
• Murat Tabanlıoğlu, Architect and Founder, Tabanlıoğlu Architects, Istanbul, Turkey
• Wang Shu, Architect and Founder, Amateur Architecture Studio, Hangzhou, China

The US$ 1 million prize will be divided among the five recipients and distributed to the architects, municipalities, builders, clients, master craftsmen and engineers who have played important roles in the realization of a project.
More on Bustler with images of the winning projects

posted by: O.A

"This amazing story begins when a Seattle, Washington–area farmers’ market goes in search of a new space from which to sell its products. It ends with a 21-acre state-of-the-art facility supporting all zones of local sustainable agriculture: education, farming, year-round farmers’ market, model of green construction and energy usage, and even a rental kitchen for local artisans to cook and prepare their own goods. This center presents a shining example of how an entire local community can become involved with and support sustainable agriculture, and help it thrive as the area thrives. Welcome to 21 Acres."
More at Organic Connections

posted by: O.A