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NEWS
Undergraduate Thesis Weekend The 2016 Undergraduate Thesis reviews were held Friday and Saturday, April 22–23. The reviews culminated with SCI-Arc Director Hernan Diaz Alonso and Undergraduate Program Chair Tom Wiscombe awarding the newly established Blythe and Thom Mayne Undergraduate Thesis Prize to two students for Best Thesis: Matt Pugh and Shawna Meng. Merit Undergraduate Thesis Awards were also awarded to Jacky Hoang, Zaid Kashef Alghata, Justin Kim, Kathleen Mejia and Kazi Maysun, Jinhyang Park, and Justin Tan. Thom Mayne and his wife Blythe Alison-Mayne established the Blythe and Thom Mayne Undergraduate Thesis Prize this year as an annual award to the best undergrad thesis projects. A co-founder, trustee and faculty of SCI-Arc, Thom Mayne has been an integral part of SCI-Arc since its foundation in 1972, the same year he established his award-winning experimental design and research architecture firm Morphosis. Among his many personal achievements, Mayne is a distinguished professor at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, is a recipient of the Pritzker Prize (2005) and the American Institute of Architects Gold Metal (2013), and was appointed to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 2009. Undergraduate Thesis weekend included reviews of the 41 thesis projects with over 60 critics including SCI-Arc faculty and invited guests. Guest critics included Thom Mayne, Sir Peter Cook, Yael Reisner, Winka Dubbeldam, Evan Douglis, Nanako Umemoto, Ferda Kolatan, Francisco Pardo, Alejandro Hernández, Alexandra Cunningham, and Kristy Balliet. This year, thesis projects included the design of housing here and abroad, and several museum and civic projects. Darin Johnstone, Marcelo Spina, Peter Testa, Devyn Weiser and Undergraduate Thesis Coordinator Marcelyn Gow were this year’s advisors to the students. The Special Thesis Advisor was Neil Denari. A reception and Jury commendations concluded the reviews. Selected thesis projects were included in SCI-Arc’s tenth annual Spring Show from April 29 through May 8.
Opposite Page: Merit Undergraduate Thesis Award winner Zaid Kashef Alghata, Advisor: Darin Johnstone Above Right: SCI-Arc’s tenth annual Spring Show on display throughout the school Right: Dan Lu, Advisor: Darin Johnstone