CLASS NOTES Class Reunions Sara MacDonald (M.Arch ’92) is planning the M.Arch Class of 1992 20th Anniversary Reunion. Those interested can contact her at rockbarra@earthlink.net.
1970s Dean Nota, FAIA (B.Arch ’74) of Dean Nota Architect is featured in Entra Magazine’s summer 2011 edition for his design of the Robb Residence in Manhattan Beach. Nota is also profiled in the German md Magazine, in a feature duly titled “Der Notable Mr. Nota.” Richard Levy (B.Arch ’78) is nominated to become a Fellow of the AIA. His architectural photography work has been exhibited and published throughout the U.S. and Europe, and he recently received an Honorable Mention, Professional Category from the Advertising Photographers of America (APA). Levy is part of a select group of professionals listed by the National Park Service and the Getty Conservation Institute as capable of performing true archival photography. Most recently, he was brought in to document the restoration of a number of well-known historic and cultural monuments, including the Downtown Los Angeles City Hall Seismic Rehabilitation, the Los Angeles County Hall of Justice, the Entenza Residence Case Study House, and the Glendale Railroad Station. Ralph Mursinna (B.Arch ’78) of RMA is currently at work on a residential addition/remodel project for artist Light Bob (Bob & Bob) in Mar Vista, California. Completion is scheduled early 2012. Michael Folonis (B.Arch ’79) and his firm Michael W. Folonis Architects has won a 2011 National Healthcare Design Honor Award from the AIA and the Academy of Architecture for Health, in the Unbuilt category, for the design of the 50,000-square-foot UCLA Outpatient Surgery and Oncology Center in Santa Monica, California. Steven Lombardi (B.Arch ‘79) is working on the design for the Housing Retreat on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, where construction is scheduled to begin January 2012. Most recently, Lombardi opened a storefront office in Ocean Beach that promotes “architecture to go,” a balance between for profit and nonprofit work/practice. In addition to designing private homes, Lombardi continues to design lighting fixtures out of recycled materials for commissioned works and for nonprofits like “Make a Wish Foundation” in San Diego.
1980s Michael Blatt (M.Arch ’85) and partner Alice Fung are the recipients of a 2011 Honor Award from the AIA Pasadena Foothill chapter for their work on the Sequoyah School in Pasadena, California.
Anne Troutman (M.Arch ’85) is hosting a solo show of her current photo-relief work Condition of the Waters from November 5–December 7, 2011 at Harris & Ruble Art in Hollywood. Liza Gunaratna Chandra (M.Arch ’86) completed a two-year remodeling project of an Italian-inspired villa in Mulholland Park, where she now resides with her husband and two children. The house was recently featured in Indonesian Tatler and Tatler Homes. She also runs an office in South Jakarta, Indonesia. Ron Kappe (M.Arch ’86) of Kappe+Du Architects in the San Francisco Bay Area completed the first phase of construction of the Town of Truckee Service Center Administration and Maintenance Buildings in October. His firm also started construction of the Napa City Bus Transit Administration Building and the Lake County Middletown Library and Senior Center. B.G. Shanklin (M.Arch ’86) is principal of ThreePoint Design Associates in Little Compton, Rhode Island. He is involved in residential, commercial, and institutional design and has been an adjunct faculty at the School of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation at the Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. since 1998. Debra Carol Haddock (B.Arch ’88) completed the reconstruction of her stone casale in Poggio di Guardea, Italy and has launched the estate as a rental property for vacations, reunions, weddings and events. Haddock hopes for the opportunity to host SCI-Arc alumni as guests.
1990s Matthew Fineout (M.Arch ’90) and Douglas Hanson co-founded Smart Architecture in 2010, after working at Frank O. Gehry & Associates for several years. Specializing in the application of digital technologies to advance the art of construction, Smart Architecture recently designed La Machine, an interactive installation in Grand Central Terminal, NYC, designed for the global launch of the Lacoste L1212 clothing collection. The firm also consulted for Fernando Romero on the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City, with Fineout acting as architect-in-charge of the building envelope, and is currently engaged in a master planning project in the fashion district of downtown Los Angeles. Elissa Scrafano (M.Arch ’90) and her firm Scrafano Architects received an AIA design award for the Mendel Residence from the San Fernando Valley chapter in 2011. The design team was led by Thomas Stallman (M.Arch ’91). Other SCI-Arc graduates that work with Scrafano Architects include Debbie Mackler (M.Arch ’94), Carol Lowry Barrett (M.Arch ’93), and Carolyn Tullis (B.Arch ’03). Stephen Barrett (M.Arch ’90-’91), who attended SCI-Arc as a Fulbright scholar, is an associate with Londonbased Rogers Stirk Harbour + Parners, having worked for Richard Rogers
16 for almost 19 years. He has been project architect on a number of notable buildings including the Bordeaux Law Courts in France, a new terminal at Madrid Airport, and a new control tower at Heathrow Airport. Currently, Barrett is leading a team on “Grand Paris,” a strategic metropolitan planning study sponsored by the French state.
Revit on the design and development of the Aragon High School Theater, under construction in San Mateo. He also received awards for his Anschel ink drawings Neon Boulevard and Polis at Artslant. Shirriff was overjoyed to reconnect with fellow alumni Tod Stockwell (B.Arch ’92) and Kevin Conley (B.Arch ’92) through LinkedIn.
Angela Brooks (M.Arch ’91) and partner Lawrence Scarpa of Brooks+Scarpa Architects received the AIA California Chapter 2011 Merit Award for Architecture for their Cherokee Studios, a 32,000-square-foot mixed-use housing project in Los Angeles. The firm also received 2011 COTE awards for both the Cherokee Studios and Step Up on Fifth, a 31,600-square-foot mixed-use building that includes 46 apartments for mentally disabled residents. Brooks also received the University of Florida Alumni of the Year award.
M. Charles Bernstein (’92-’94), AIA LEED AP recently bought a 1,200-square-foot 1971 modular house in Topanga, California. With a very limited budget, Bernstein and his wife completely rebuilt the interior, two thirds of the exterior envelope and plan to add an additional 100 square feet. The two lived in the house during the last 4 months of construction and are now settling in.
Christopher Mercier’s (M.Arch ’91) Inglewood-based (fer)studio has been voted one of California Home & Design magazine’s “Top 10 Firms to Watch” by a panel of judges including Neil Denari, Hsinming Fung, John Peterson, Tom Buresh, Luke Ogrydziak, Barbara Bestor, Steven Ehrlich, Margaret Griffin, Carrie Byles and David Meckel. The feature was published in the magazine’s September/ October issue. Thomas Stallman (M.Arch ’91) is an instructor at the Art Institute of California, Hollywood Campus, where he teaches Design Basics-3D, Sketch Techniques, and Institutional Design. PJ Berjis (B.Arch ’92) leads a design firm specializing in landscape and water feature design. He is currently working on high end homes and commercial projects. Barbara Bestor (M.Arch ’92) of Barbara Bestor Architecture received an AIA|LA Restaurant Design Award and a nomination from the 2011 James Beard Foundation Award for its design of Pitfire Pizza in Los Angeles, which transformed a dark Shakey’s pizza parlor into a light-filled contemporary artisanal pizza restaurant. Lars Langberg (M.Arch ’92) currently leads his own practice in Sebastopol, California. A recent project includes working with a group of local residents/professionals to craft an ideas competition for their town. Dubbed The Core Project, the competition is open to architects, artists, planners, landscape architects, schools, and others, who are invited to enter their submissions at the-coreproject.org.
Jeremy Levine (M.Arch ’93) joined the Board of Directors for “Side Street Projects,” a non-profit art organization in Pasadena. His firm, Jeremy Levine Design recently completed a solar garden shed for Occidental College, and two of his residential projects, Red Box and Three Trees, will be published in the new book, Passive Architecture, from Braun Publishing. Benjamin Ball (B.Arch ’94) and Gaston Nogues (B.Arch ’93) of Ball Nogues Studio recently completedg Yucca Crater, an interactive installation for the High Desert Test Sites initiative located near Joshua Tree National Park, California. Idealized as an oasis for travelers of the vast and arid Mojave Desert, the project merges the theory of earthwork art with a man made structure, presenting a unique opportunity for Ball Nogues to intervene upon the landscape with ecologically-minded and imaginative architecture. Robert Adams’ (M.Arch ’94) exhibition, The Asclepius Machine: Genetic Diversity and Extreme Urban Euphoria, is on view at UC Berkeley through December 2. Named for the Greek god of healing and medicine, the show explores the relationship of genetic diversity and architecture as a means to re-think contemporary design methodologies and the rich vitality of disability culture. Adams is an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Sara MacDonald (M.Arch ’92) AIA, LEED AP is principal of Rockbarra Studio. She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband, Rob Barnett, and their 4-year-old twins and 18-yearold step-daughter.
Todd A. Erlandson (M.Arch ’94) and his team at (M)Arch Branded Architectures collaborated with Deborah Sussman and typographer Andrew Byrom on the design of the exhibition Eames Designs: The Guest Host Relationship, which opened in October at the A+D Museum. The exhibit is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980, a collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, sponsored by a grant from the Getty Foundation.
Jason Shirriff (B.Arch ’92) completed construction on the St. Isidore Elementary School Library Remodel in Danville, California, for which he served as project architect with HKIT Architects. Most recently, he spoke at the East Bay AIA and San Francisco AIA Revit user groups about his use of
Jennifer Siegal (M.Arch ’94) hosted the symposium Motopia: A New Age for Modular Construction at the University of Southern California (USC). Siegal is principal of Los Angelesbased Office of Mobile Design and a visiting associate professor at USC. She and her husband welcomed their