Coordinates: 34°02′46″N 118°14′00″W / 34.045984°N 118.233431°W / 34.045984; -118.233431

Southern California Institute of Architecture

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Southern California Institute of Architecture
TypePrivate architecture school
Established1972
DirectorWinka Dubbeldam
Students500
Location
Los Angeles
,
California
,
United States

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CampusUrban
Websitesciarc.edu
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Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California.[1] SCI-Arc was founded in 1972, when it was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde.[2] 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. It also offers community events, such as outreach programs, free exhibitions, and public lectures.[1]

History

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SCI-Arc was founded in Santa Monica in 1972 by Ray Kappe, Shelly Kappe, Ahde Lahti, Thom Mayne, Bill Simonian, Glen Small, and James Stafford, a group of faculty from the Department of Architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.[1] The founders were frustrated with how the administrators at Cal Poly[3] treated the students and faculty members, who wanted to address the issue from a more experimental perspective than traditional schools offered.[4]

Originally called the New School, SCI-Arc was based on the concept of a "college without walls". Instead of academic hierarchies, the school initially favored a horizontal relationship between professors and students who took responsibility for their own course of study. Kappe, who had founded the Cal Poly department, became the new school's first director and served in that position until 1987. He was awarded the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medal for excellence in architecture education in 1990.[5]

Kappe was succeeded as director by Michael Rotondi, one of SCI-Arc's original students. Neil Denari became director in 1997, Eric Owen Moss served as director from 2002–2015,[6] and Hernán Díaz Alonso served as director and chief executive officer effective from 2015-2025.[7] Díaz Alonso has been a faculty member at SCI-Arc since 2001. Prior to his appointment as director, he served as the school's graduate programs chair since 2010.[7] On September 1, 2025, he was succeeded as director and chief executive officer by Winka Dubbeldam.

While SCI-Arc initially established a reputation as an unaccredited, experimental school, it has since been accredited. In 2011, it paid $23.1 million for its campus building.[4]

Campus

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North End of SCI-Arc from Santa Fe Ave, Downtown Los Angeles
SCI-Arc Campus at the former Santa Fe Freight Depot building, view facing the institute's library.

The school has been based in three locations. The first (1972–1992) was a small industrial building in Santa Monica, and the second was a larger industrial building (1992–2000) in Marina del Rey.[citation needed]

In 2001, it moved to its current building, the 60,000-square-foot 1907 Santa Fe Freight Depot designed by Harrison Albright on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles. Today, the building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the school has become an anchor for the city's Arts District.[citation needed]

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.[8] Across the street, "One Santa Fe," a 438-unit apartment complex designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture (MMA) opened in 2014.[9]

Academics

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SCI-Arc offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board and the WASC Senior College and University Commission, including a five-year Bachelor of Architecture program, a 3-year Master of Architecture open to applicants who hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent in any field of study, and a 2-year Master of Architecture open to applicants with a prior undergraduate degree in architecture.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

SCI-Arc's undergraduate and graduate programs culminate in two public events in which students present their thesis projects to critics from around the world, including Peter Cook, Greg Lynn, and Pritzker Prize recipient Thom Mayne.[10] "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."[11]

Notable faculty

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Notable faculty, current and former, include:

Notable alumni

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References

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  3. ^ SCI-Arc at Forty: The Original 'Alternative' Architecture School. SCI-Arc at Forty: The Original 'Alternative' Architecture School 17 Aug 2012. Retrieved 26 Sep 2022.,
  4. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  5. ^ Volume5. 25 Years of SCI-Arc 1990–1997 19 Sep 2007.
  6. ^ Barrie-Anthony, Steven. Landscape of constant change. Los Angeles Times. July 7, 2005. Retrieved 15 January 2007.
  7. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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