USC SOA XPO 2024

WELCOME

This program provides an overview to XPO24: Final projects from our Undergraduate & Graduate Architecture and Graduate Landscape Architecture +Urbanism, Heritage Conservation, and Building Science programs.

Two days of presentations, discussions & debates with invited critics, professionals & educators, followed by evening receptions for the opening of our annual exhibition of student projects. Thanks for joining us, and welcome to our students' future worlds.

A great school defines itself by the work made in its studios, and we are grateful to all the students, faculty, and visitors throughout the year that made this work possible. Please find additional materials online @ XPO.USCARCH.COM.

PROGRAM

TUES & WEDS, MAY 7 & 8, 2024

8:30AM – 9:30AM

9:30AM – 1:00PM

1:00PM – 2:00PM

2:00PM – 5:30PM

5:30PM – 7:00PM

CRITICS: COFFEE FACULTY LOUNGE

MORNING SESSIONS SEE MAP

CRITICS: LUNCH FACULTY LOUNGE

AFTERNOON SESSIONS SEE MAP

ALL RECEPTION EXHIBITION

MAP LOCATIONS

2ND FLOOR

3RD FLOOR

STUDIOS STUDENTS

Students: Jennifer Quito Alvarez, Talya Akpinar, Mariana Alonso, Naomi Viola Chavez, Brien Gibo, Alexander Jeong, Lorena Lessa, Anthony Quiroz, Hannah Rodrigues, Luis Salazar, Katie Schindler, Olivia Sheldon

Students: Tianjian Guo, Lauren Jian, Tung Liao, Michelle Ramirez Ramos, Nat Rivera, Lucy Rong, Randy Rong, Hua Wei, Manda Wong, Bowen Xiong, Catherine Zhiqing Ye, Crystal Zhang

Students: Leeor Abutbul, Kate Bowers, Kylie Gantzel, Kevin Lee, Estuardo Pivaral, Aren Shaginian, Catarina de Souza, Claudia Mejia Villalobos, Ellen Wei, William Youngsuk Yun

Students: Lillian Arevalo, Christian Calma, Laylah Fairley, Mikayla Hisamoto, Emily Huang, Karen Lopez, Chinaza Okafor, Isabella Rendon, Nadia Rubio, Calder Scarpa, Arianna Schaden, Hunter Stormoen

Students: Dan Accordino, Jake Bagnall, Kaitelyn Haynes, Sydney Heard, Zoe Jackson, Christy Belle Kradjian, Manuela Barcellos Prata, Wenyue Qiu, Alfredo Rivas, Valchynn Tong, Cassandra Vasquez

Students: Aaron Abunu, Aaron Chen, Sehee Cho, Camille Feorene, Mari Hupiu, Joseph Kim, Daniela Liang, Sandra Maestre, Hanh Nguyen, Jefferson Osorno, Austin Roberts, Isabella Taylor

Students: Anna Avdalyan, Paige Buckner, Viraj Chauhan, Joyce Ji, Jeremy Joo, Eva Malis, Lingli Meng, Adrian Porter, Zoe Wang, Nina Weithorn, Jingting Xu

Students: Michael Alvarez, Rahul Bagga, Joseph Brand, Richard Luu, Nichole MacOy, Daniel Mirharooni, Farida Mokhtar, Grace Poillucci, Juliana Torrez-Ortiz, Quinn Wilbert, Jie Zhang

Students: Hanin Alghamdi, Win Aung, Yujing Chen, Madelene Dailey, Qingnan He, Jingyi Liu, Xiao Liu, Terrance Phillips, Osamu Sakurai, Yasmeen Tizani

Students: Michael Arias, Jerry Ayala, Yuanqi Cui, Darren Chan, Alexandra Gauthier, Anushka Kubsad, Daniela Marentes, Ekta Shreyakar, Alanna Duncan Taylor, Alexander Toribio

Students: Amanda Bonilla, Siddhi Chogle, Laura Cosme Diaz, Conrad Lau, Jordan Levine, Zhiyu Lin, Austin Merchant, Linli Qiu, Yushan He, Mengyan Zhou, Bixuan Zhang

Students: Amir Bolourchi, Yuqi Cao, Honghu (Chloe) Chen, Igor Fridman, Ran (Jeremy) Gong, Yatong (Joyce) Li, Yiqin (Cara) Liu, Alexander Long, Boyuan (Kan) Wu, Yan Zu

Students: Asma Aloraifi, Kristin Garner, Riffath Sultana Hidayathullah, Judy Hsieh, Leigh Stone, Blue Todosiev, Qianqian Wu, Langxian Ye, Jiaqi Zhang

Master of Building Science

Students: Selin Guner, Manan Lakhani, Saba Raji, Niyoshi Sanghrajka

Master of Heritage Conservation

Students: Zoe Detweiler, Eliza Jane Franklin-Edmondson, Ryan Holcomb, Paul Kim, Sam Malnati, Andrea Mauk, Evan McAvenia, Yan Su, Hongyi Wu, Jude Zoubi

MHC Presentations will be in Verle Annis (HAR 125)

TUESDAY

MORNING

UNDERGRADUATE, B.ARCH

Wendy W. Fok

9:30AM – 12:45PM, WATT 208

Critics: Thom Mayne, Lucia Tahan, Biayna Bogosian, Natasha Sandmeier, Winka Dubbeldam, Gueston Smith

Eric Haas

9:30AM – 12:45PM, WATT HALLWAY

Critics: Kenny Chao, Frank Escher, Gabby O’Connor, Rob Ley, Breanna Browning, Dorothée Imbert

Jimenez Lai

9:30AM – 12:45PM, WATT 207

Critics: David Ruy, Erin Kasimow, Emily Mohr, Tom Rivard, Simon Kim, Mariana Ibanez

GRADUATE, M.ARCH & M.AARS

Amy Murphy

9:30AM – 1:00PM, WAH 200

Critics: Yishan Lo, Katy Barkan, Joshua Foster, Peter Ekman, Michael Maltzan, Laure Michelon

Sascha Delz

10:00AM – 1:00PM, UPPER ROSENDIN

Critics: Yang Yang, Vivian Schwab, Paul Kim, Miroslava Brooks, Scrap Marshall

Andy Ku

10:00AM – 1:00PM, WAH 201

Critics: Yo Hakomori , Jeanine Centuori, Emil Mertzel, John Southern, Sarah Hammond, Daniel López-Pérez, Hallie Black

AFTERNOON

UNDERGRADUATE, B.ARCH

Wendy W. Fok

2:00PM – 5:15PM, WATT 208

Critics: Michael Rotondi, Julia Koerner, Soomeen Hahm, Yara Feghali, Geoffrey von Oeyen, Jasmine Benyamin, Hallie Black, Nataly Gattegno

Eric Haas

2:00PM – 5:15PM, WATT HALLWAY

Critics: Dana Bauer, Rodolfo Reis Dias, Alex Sheft, Chava Danielson, Daniel López-Pérez, Natasha Sandmeier

Jimenez Lai

2:00PM – 5:15PM, WATT 207

Critics: Kutan Ayata, Anna Neimark, Tom Rivard, Kate Chiu, Andrew Zago, Winka Dubbeldam

GRADUATE, M.ARCH & M.AARS

Sascha Delz

2:00PM – 5:00PM, UPPER ROSENDIN

Critics: Andri Luescher, Vivian Schwab, Gillian Shaffer Lutsko, Peter Ekman, Mariana Ibanez, David Martin

Andy Ku

2:00PM – 5:00PM, WAH 201

Critics: Marcos Sanchez, Valery Augustin, Heather Scott Peterson, Carmen Cham, Pavel Getov, Breanna Browning

Amy Murphy

2:00PM – 5:30PM, WAH 200

Critics: Christopher Torres, Cory Henry, Edwin Chan, Erin Kasimow, Dorothée Imbert, Scrap Marshall

GRADUATE, MHC

Cindy Olnick & Trudi Sandmeier

1:00PM – 3:30PM, VERLE ANNIS (HAR 125)

Critics: USC Faculty and Alumni

WEDNESDAY

MORNING

UNDERGRADUATE, B.ARCH

Rob Berry

9:30AM – 12:45PM, WATT 208

Critics: Liz Falletta, Mariam Mojdehi, Alex McDowell, William Virgil, Hallie Black, Liam Denhamer

Erin Kasimow

9:30AM – 12:45PM, WATT 207

Critics: Myrna Ayoub, Annie Chu, Jasmine Benyamin, Jimenez Lai, Barbara Bouza, Eva Hagberg

Hadrian Predock

9:30AM – 12:45PM, WATT 209

Critics: Emily Mohr, Jia Yi Gu, Gillian Shaffer Lutsko, Andrew Zago, Max Kuo, Michael Rotondi

GRADUATE, M.ARCH & M.AARS

Lisa Little

10:00AM – 1:00PM, UPPER ROSENDIN

Critics: Mark Ericson, Amy Murphy, Russell Thomsen, Gesa Büttner Dias, Neil Denari, Winka Dubbeldam

Ryan Tyler Martinez

10:00AM – 1:00PM, WATT 201

Critics: Rachael McCall, Erin Wright, Cody Miner, Shane Reiner-Roth, Kevin Sherrod, Jennifer Bonner, Nataly Gattegno

John Southern

10:00AM – 1:00PM, WATT 200

Critics: Andy Ku, Xixi Chen, Gary Paige, Jeremy Quinn, Daniel López-Pérez, Heather Flood

GRADUATE, MLA

Alison Hirsch

10:00AM – 1:00PM, LINDHURST

Critics: Andrea Binz, Peter Ekman, David Godshall, Jerry Hastings, Dorothée Imbert, James Lord, Esther Margulies, Alex Robinson, Takako Tajima

AFTERNOON

UNDERGRADUATE, B.ARCH

Rob Berry

2:00PM – 5:15PM, WATT 208

Critics: Orhan Ayyüce, Sarah Lorenzen, Gillian Shaffer Lutsko, Luciana Varkulja, Jia Yi Gu, Daniel López-Pérez, Florencia Pita

Erin Kasimow

2:00PM – 5:00PM, WATT 207

Critics: Alice Fung, Amy Murphy, Kate Chiu, Shane Reiner Roth, Myrna Ayoub, Gueston Smith, Hallie Black

Hadrian Predock 2:00PM – 5:15PM, WATT 209

Critics: Mira Henry, Gary Paige, Rachael McCall, Kristy Balliet, Barbara Bouza, Liam Denhamer

GRADUATE, M.ARCH & M.AARS

Lisa Little

2:00PM – 5:00PM, UPPER ROSENDIN

Critics: Matthew Gillis, Biayna Bogosian, Warren Techentin, Catherine Johnson, Alice Kimm, Nataly Gattegno, Georgina Huljich

Ryan Tyler Martinez 2:00PM – 5:00PM, WATT 201

Critics: Jackilin Hah Bloom, Emily Mohr, Irvin Shaifa, François Sabourin, Jasmine Benyamin, Hernan Diaz Alonzo, Winka Dubbeldam

John Southern 2:00PM – 5:00PM, WATT 200

Critics: Selwyn Ting, Lorcan O’Herlihy, Dora Chi, Axel Schmitzberger, Annie Chu, Eva Hagberg, Marc Guberman

GRADUATE, MLA

Alison Hirsch 2:00PM – 5:00PM, LINDHURST

Critics: Dorothée Imbert, James Lord, Sarah Swanseen, Erin Voss, Alexa Vaughn, Lauren Elachi, Ross Woodley, Jerome Chou, Peter Ekman, Esther Margulies, Allen Compton

VISITING CRITICS

Kutan Ayata is the Vice-Chair and Associate Professor at UCLA AUD and partner of Young and Ayata.

Orhan Ayyüce is an architect and Professor at East Los Angeles College. www.elarchitecture.org/orhan-ayyuce

Myrna Ayoub teaches at UC Berkeley and is a principal of Myrna Ayoub Studio. www.yrnaayoub.com

Kristy Balliet is an architect and cofounder of BairBalliet and Undergrad Chair at SCI-Arc. www.bairballiet.com

Katy Barkan is a principal of the Los Angeles-based practice Now Here. www.nownowherehere.com

Dana Bauer is a partner at Elysian Landscapes. www.elysianlandscapes.com

Jackilin Hah Bloom is principal of JHB Studio and Grad Thesis Coordinator at SCI-Arc. www.jhbstudio.com

Biayna Bogosian is an interdisciplinary researcher and architectural technologist and an Asst. Prof at ASU. www.biaynabogosian.com

Jennifer Bonner is the founder of the Portland-based office MALL. www.jenniferbonner.com

Barbara Bouza is an architect and former CEO of Walt Disney Imagineering.

Miroslava Brooks is an Asst. Professor at UCLA AUD and a founding partner of FORMA. www.formany.net

Breanna Browning is a media artist in Los Angeles and teaching at UCLA DMA. www.breannabrowning.com

Jeanine Centuori is a principal partner in UrbanRock Design. www.urbanrockdesign.com

Carmen Cham is an architect and Global Practice Area Leader in Mobility and Transportation and Design Director at Gensler. www.gensler.com

Edwin Chan is the founding principal of EC3 and former design partner at Gehry Partners. www.ec3.us

Kenny Chao teaches at Long Beach City College and is an associate at COArchitects. www.kennychao.com

Xixi Chen is a Los Angeles (Tongva)based architectural designer born in Shanghai and raised in the Midwest.

Annie Chu is an architect and a founding principal of Chu-Gooding in Los Angeles. www.chugooding.com

Allen Compton is the founder and principal of SALT Landscape Architects www.salt-la.com

Neil Denari is an architect and founder of NMDA and a Professor of Architecture at UCLA. www.denari.co

Liam Denhamer is a director of Juvenilia and teaches at UCLA AUD.

Hernán Díaz Alonso is the SCI-Arc Director and principal of HDA-x. www.hda-x.co

Winka Dubbeldam is a New York-based architect and former Chair of Architecture at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at UPenn. www.archi-tectonics.com

Lauren Elachi is a senior design principal at Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) where she leads design and planning projects. www.kounkuey.org

Mark Ericson is a computational designer and Chair of Applied Computer Science and Media Arts at Woodbury University. www.markericson.com

Frank Escher is the principal of Escher Gunewardena Architecture. www.eschergunewardena.com

Liz Falletta is a professor and Program Director of Urban Planning Programs at USC’s Price School of Public Policy. www.priceschool.usc.edu

Yara Feghali is an architectural designer working at the intersection of architecture, transmedia, and immersive technologies and a Lecturer at UCLA AUD.

Heather Flood is the Dean and Professor at Woodbury School of Architecture and a Founder and Principal of F-lab.

Joshua Foster is an award-winning community builder, architectural designer, educator and CEO of JAF. www.jafcsolutions.com

Alice Fung is the founding principal of Fung + Blatt and an architect, artist, and educator. www.fungandblatt.com

Nataly Gattegno is an artist and founder of FUTUREFORMS and a professor at the CCA in San Francisco. www.futureforms.us

Pavel Getov is a founder of Studio Antares, and teachers at SCI-Arc faculty. www.studio-antares.com

Matthew Gillis is a partner at GRANT GILLIS and founder of G!LL!S and an Asst. Professor at Woodbury University. www.grantgillis.com

David Godshall is the principal and a co-founder of TERREMOTO, in Los Angeles and San Francisco. www.terremoto.la

Jia Yi Gu is the director of the MAK Center in LA, and co-director of Spinagu. www.spinagu.com

Marc Guberman is a Senior Partner/ Designer at Foster + Partners and studied architecture and business at Yale. www.fosterandpartners.com

Eva Hagberg is an author, educator, historian, and media strategist in Los Angeles. www.evahagberg.com

Soomeen Hahm is a founder of SoomeenHahm Design Ltd. and a faculty member and robotic researcher at SCI-Arc. www.soomeenhahm.com

Jerry Hastings is a landscape architect and former adjunct professor at USC SOA.

Cory Henry is the founding principal of Atelier Cory Henry and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (UK). He teaches at Harvard University. www.a-ch.com

Mira Henry is a designer and co-principal of Collaborative Architectural Design and teaches at SCI-Arc.

Georgina Huljich is a founder of the LA office P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S and an Assoc. Professor at UCLA AUD. www.patterns.work

Mariana Ibañez is the Chair of UCLA AUD. and is a co-founder of Ibañez Kim Studio. www.ibanezkim.com

Dorothée Imbert is the Director of the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture in Columbus, Ohio.

Catherine Johnson is a founding partner of the cross-disciplinary LA firm Design, Bitches. www.designbitches.com

Simon Kim is an architect and researcher in applied sciences and a co-founder of Ibañez Kim Studio. www.ibanezkim.com

Alice Kimm is a co-founder of John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects and former Chair of Undergraduate Architecture at USC. www.jfak.net

Julia Koerner is an award-winning LA-based designer working at the convergence of architecture, product and fashion design. www.juliakoerner.com

Max Kuo is a founding partner of the studio ALLTHATISSOLID and Lecturer at UCLA. www.allthatissolid.net

Vicki Li is an assocaite at EPTDESIGN with experience spanning diverse sectors and cultural regions in Australia, China and US.

Yishan Lo is a LA-based architect and currently guiding developments at SFO. Past projects include Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, Houston IAH Terminal B.

Daniel López-Pérez is an architect and Director of the Architecture at UC SD. He is the founder Polyhaus. www.polyhaus.com

James Lord is a founding partner of Surfacedesign Inc. and teaches at Harvard GSD in the MLA program. www.sdisf.com

Sarah Lorenzen is an architect and professor at Cal Poly Pomona and founder of Peter Tolkin + Sarah Lorenzen Architecture. www.toloarchitecture.com

Andri Luescher is an architect and an adjunct design faculty at Cal Poly Pomona and a principal of Schneider Luescher. www.schneiderluescher.com

Michael Maltzan is the founder of Michael Maltzan Architecture. Recent projects include MoMA QNS, the new Sixth Street Viaduct and the Hammer Museum. www.mmaltzan.com

Scrap Marshall is an architectural designer and educator. He teaches at Woodbury and is founder of Hawkins+Marshall. www.HawkinsMarshall.com As of May 2

David Martin is an architect and cofounder of MADWORKSHOP, a foundation that endows innovative designers. He was design principal for AC Martin Partners. www.madworkshop.org

Thom Mayne is a Pritzker-Prize-winning architect in Los Angeles. www.morphosis.com

Rachael McCall teaches at SCI-Arc and is a lead designer and project manager at HDA-X Creative Agency. www.rachael-mccall.com

Alex McDowell is an award-winning production designer, Creative Director, and a Professor at USC's School of Cinematic Arts and holds the William Cameron Menzies Chair in Production Design.

Emil Mertzel is an architect and Art Center Spatial Experience Design Faculty member and works at Rios in Los Angeles.

Laure Michelson is a principal at Studio MMR and Lecturer at UCLA AUD. She is a creative technologist with a focus on digital simulation. www.lauremichelon.com

Cody Miner is a LA-based designer and Assistant Professor at Woodbury and a co-director of MODEST Common. www.codyminer.com

Emily Mohr teaches at SCI-Arc and is a partner at Mohr Rieke Studio (MR Studios). www.mrstudio.us

Mariam Mojdehi is an architect and sustainability expert and founding partner of MAAM. www.maam-made.com

Anna Neimark is a principal of First Office, and a faculty member at SCI-Arc. www.firstoff.net

Gabby O'Connor is a Senior Design Strategist and Design Manager with OU at Google. www.gabrielaoconnor.com

Florencia Pita is a principal of Florencia Pita and Co., teaches at Sci-Arc and visiting faculty at Princeton University. www.florenciapita.com

Jeremy Quinn is an architect and associate principal at RADAR, Inc., in Los Angeles.

Rodolfo Reis Dias is a principal of büttnerreisdias. www.buttnerreisdias.com

Tom Rivard is a founder of Urban Islands. He an urbanist, artist and educator engaged in speculative city making.

Michael Rotondi is an architect and educator and founder of RoTo Architects. www.rotoark.com

David Ruy is an architect, theorist, and director of Ruy Klein and post-grad programs chair at Sci-Arc. www.ruyklein.com

François Sabourin is a designer, educator, and practises archiecture at yyyy-mm-dd in LA. www.yyyy-mm-dd.today

Natasha Sandmeier directs the A+D Design Museum in LA and leads the postgraduate Entertainment Studio at UCLA's MSAUD.

Axel Schmitzberger is a professor at Cal Poly Pomona. He is an architect and principal of a_platform.

Vivan Schwab is an architect, writer, and sculptor and teaches at the California College of the Arts.

Heather Scott Peterson is an artist, designer, curator and Woodbury University Interior Design Professor. www.heatherscottpeterson.com

Irvin Shaifa is a designer and artist in South Central Los Angeles. He practices at RIOS and focuses on civil and commercial projects.

Alex Sheft is an architect and principal of Sheft Farrace. www.sheftfarrace.com

Gueston Smith is the founder of Guesscreative LLC and Head of Design at Kubed Living. www.guesscreative.com

Sarah Swanseen is a senior landscape architect at Olin. www.theolinstudio.com

Lucia Tahan is an architect and product designer of spatial computing software. Currenlty she is AR/VR at Facebook. www.luciatahan.com

Russell Thomsen is a founding partner of Central Office of Architecture and IDEA Office and currently teaches at SCI-Arc. www.rnthomsenarchitecture.com

Christopher Torres is a founding principal of Agency Artifact Landscape Architecture and Urban Design and serves as a principal at Somos. www.agencyartifact.com

Luciana Varkulja is an architect, urban designer, and Senior Lecturer at Otis. www.uma-archdesign.com

Alexa Vaughn is a deaf landscape and urban design consultant and PhD student at UCLA.

William Virgil is an artist, educator, Army veteran, co-founder of Brash Collective and Design Studio and on faculty at SCI-Arc. www.instagram.com/williamvirgil

Erin Voss is a landscape designer with SWA in Los Angeles.

Ross Woodley is a senior associate at EPT Design. He has a Master of Landscape Architecture from the USC School of Architecture.

Erin Wright is a painter and architect based in LA. She is an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Woodbury University. www.erinkwright.com

Yang Yang is an Associate Director of cityLAB-UCLA. She holds a PhD in Architecture from UCLA.

Andrew Zago is the principal of Bouwman Zago, and is on faculty at the University of Illinois in Chicago and Sci-Arc. www.bouwmanzago.com

FACULTY CRITICS

Valery Augustin

Jasmine Benyamin

Rob Berry

Hallie Black

Gesa Bütner Dias

Dora Chi

Kate Chiu

Chava Danielson

Sascha Delz

Peter Ekman

Wendy W. Fok

Eric Haas

Yo Hakomori

Sarah Hammond

Alison Hirsch

Erin Kasimow

Andy Ku

Jimenez Lai

Rob Ley

Lisa Little

Gillian Shaffer Lutsko

Esther Margulies

Ryan Tyler Martinez

Amy Murphy

Geoffrey von Oeyen

Lorcan O’Herlihy

Gary Paige

Hadrian Predock

Shane Reiner-Roth

Alex Robinson

Marcos Sanchez

Kevin Sherrod

John Southern

Doris Sung

Takako Tajima

Warren Techentin

Selwyn Ting

UNDERGRADUATE ARCHITECTURE

ERRORS AND OMISSIONS

Faculty Eric Haas

Location Watt Hallway

HIDDEN INFRASTRUCTURES

Faculty Wendy W. Fok

Location WAH 208

STUDENTS Aaron Abunu, Aaron Chen, Sehee Cho, Camille Feorene, Mari Hupiu, Joseph Kim, Daniela Liang, Sandra Maestre, Hanh Nguyen, Jefferson Osorno, Austin Roberts, Isabella Taylor

The truth about doing things is that sometimes we do them wrong. There are outs when things go awry: correction, restitution, tolerance, grace. But how do we treat the architect’s predictions of the future, where current decisions might turn out to be grave mistakes, or perhaps cause happy accidents?

To saboteurs, their acts are the seeds of justice, a way to situationally rebalance power by doing wrong to start making things right. Can architecture do the same?

STUDENTS Tianjian Guo, Lauren Jian, Tung Liao, Michelle Ramirez Ramos, Nat Rivera, Lucy Rong, Randy Rong, Hua Wei, Manda Wong, Bowen Xiong, Catherine Zhiqing Ye, Crystal Zhang

As the world bolts towards a circular economy of information (data), economic, political, and material exchange, the ‘Hidden Infrastructures’ thesis studio is to promote a larger awareness of the interconnected activities that impact the material (hard goods and soft goods) and technical exchange of trade for our built environment.

Hidden infrastructures – digital and fossil fuel – and its deleterious effects on the environment are easy to hide when they are at the bottom of the ocean, but much harder when the infrastructure is part of our cities, part of our urban experience. Yet this is precisely what both oil and tech industries have long sought to do, frequently via architectural means.

STORIES OF THE SECOND DECADE

Faculty: Jimenez Lai

Location WAH 207

STUDENTS Lillian Arevalo, Christian Calma, Laylah Fairley, Mikayla Hisamoto, Emily Huang, Karen Lopez, Chinaza Okafor, Isabella Rendon, Nadia Rubio, Calder Scarpa, Arianna Schaden, Hunter Stormoen

With one year remaining until the first quarter of the 21st Century completes, the identity of this time period is currently being forged. In this thesis group, the students will tell stories of our era, and dial the conceptual scale of their stories onto a macrocontext at this moment in the ongoing history of architecture. In particular, the stories will demonstrate the spirit of our times. This can be done with the sensibility of the images, the approach to working methodology, the cadence of the chosen subject matter, the mastery of contemporary technologies, or other means and methods.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS

Faculty Rob Berry

Location WAH 208

Faculty Erin Kasimow

Location WAH 207

STUDENTS Jennifer Quito Alvarez, Talya Akpinar, Mariana Alonso, Naomi Viola Chavez, Brien Gibo, Alexander Jeong, Lorena Lessa, Anthony Quiroz, Hannah Rodrigues, Luis Salazar, Katie Schindler, Olivia Sheldon

Architecture is inherently public. Our work as architects necessarily engages with the concerns of the world around us. We do not (and cannot) work in isolation; rather, through our actions, we enter into an exchange with the interests and welfare of the common good.

Any act of architecture—building, drawing, idea—participates in an ongoing, collective set of political, social, and cultural conversations. These public engagements are broad and robust, difficult and complex. How does architecture effectively enter into such a dialogue? What role does architecture play in setting an agenda for these discussions? How do the disciplinary concerns of architecture converse with the diverse motives of culture at large?

STUDENTS Leeor Abutbul, Kate Bowers, Kylie Gantzel, Kevin Lee, Estuardo Pivaral, Aren Shaginian, Catarina de Souza, Claudia Mejia Villalobos, Ellen Wei, William Youngsuk Yun

The architectural image has the ability to shape a larger narrative and understanding of place that transcends the material of the built environment and can rewrite the intentions of the architect. Our dependency on the visual communication of the screen drives the desire for endless content in many disciplines. As we’ve moved from the analog methods of early photography, from film to pixel, from human to AI we are able to proliferate new imagery at continually increasing speeds.

Under this avalanche of content, it becomes imperative to question its worth thus Face Value calls for an interrogation into the embodied value systems of architectural imagery. How is it being generated and consumed and what can or should be leveraged from these images towards new proposals for building and designing?

ADVENTURES IN THE ALGORITHMIC ORDINARY AND/OR ODD OPERATIONS ON THE EVERYDAY

Faculty Hadrian Predock

Location WAH 209

STUDENTS: Dan Accordino, Jake Bagnall, Kaitelyn Haynes, Sydney Heard, Zoe Jackson, Christy Belle Kradjian, Manuela Barcellos Prata, Wenyue Qiu, Alfredo Rivas, Valchynn Tong, Cassandra Vasquez

Architecture of the built environment is overwhelmingly ordinary. This ordinariness is represented through a range of architectural expressions: the generic, the copy, the perfunctory, the banal, the useful, the bare logics of capitalism, etc. The identity of American architecture in particular has been built on the ordinary. Algorithms underlie much of current architectural production in the form of instructions, and packages of commands which follow logic driven formulas of optimization, economic constraints, codes, and cultural standards. Learning from art, comedy, the literary and other forms, How do we simultaneously challenge and engage the ordinary and its underlying instructions through architectural proposals?

GRADUATE ARCHITECTURE

ADAPTIVE P/RE-USE: BEYOND PROPERTY – ALTERNATIVE PRACTICES FOR EQUITABLE & SUSTAINABLE CITY HOUSING

Faculty Sascha Delz (M.AARS)

Location UPPER ROSENDIN

CULTURAL PRACTICE

STUDENTS Yuqi Cao, Honghu Chen, Amirali Bolourchizadeh Esfahani, Igor Fridman, Ran Gong, Yatong Li, Yiqin Liu, Alexander Long, Boyuan Wu, Yan Zu

We explore how housing can be designed and built based on the concept of re-use, where recirculation and repurposing of materials, existing buildings, social structures, and environmental settings are a given necessity. And how can we conceive, design, and build housing based on the premise of pre-use, where future adaptation, transformation, reassembly, disassembly, as well as social and environmental change are an integral part of design considerations? Second, with the proposition of Beyond Property we investigate how alternative forms of property and ownership could give rise to a more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable way of housing delivery.

Faculty Andy Ku

Location WAH 201

STUDENTS Asma Aloraifi, Kristin Garner, Chun Hsieh, Leigh Stone, Riffath Sultana Hidayathullah, Vincent Todosiev, Qianqian Wu, Langxian Ye, Jiaqi Zhang

The studio observes social phenomena, historical development, and everyday life as collective cultural stewardship and advancement for making architecture. The course aims to generate ideas for spatial productions with cultural concerns, promoting conscientious design endeavors, resolutions, and identities. This approach makes cultural interest the foundation for design research and thesis, immersing the researcher in a vibrant, communal, and spiritual perspective to advance project discoveries. The thesis is a practice for everyone to establish creative concerns toward cultural endeavor as a way of being.

PRACTICING TIME: THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE LA 2028 OLYMPICS

Faculty Amy Murphy

Location WAH 200

STUDENTS Amanda Bonilla, Siddhi Chogle, Laura Cosme Diaz, Conrad Lau, Jordan Levine, Zhiyu Lin, Austin Merchant, Linli Qiu, Yushan He, Mengyan Zhou, Bixuan Zhang

“In the city, time becomes visible.” Lewis Mumford.

From Mumford to Gideon, Moneo to Rossi, Tschumi to Virilio, scholars of architecture have long associated the evolution of cities with our evolving understanding of time. This thesis section will explore architecture as a practice rooted in and deeply informed by philosophies of time – historical time, technological time, ecological time, and human time. Through the design of temporary structures for the 2028 Olympics, students will be asked to take a stand on the structure’s more permanent impact on the Los Angeles community of the future.

CONSTRUCTION, ABSTRACTED

Faculty Ryan Tyler Martinez Location WAH 201

PRACTICE MAKES PERFORMANCE

STUDENTS Michael Alvarez, Rahul Bagga, Joseph Brand, Richard Luu, Nichole MacOy, Daniel Mirharooni, Farida Mokhtar, Grace Poillucci, Juliana Torrez-Ortiz, Quinn Wilbert, Jie Zhang

The goal of this studio was to create a platform for students to understand and develop a thesis topic that supports current trends of architectural discussion in today’s context. Specifically, the studio looked at ‘Construction, Abstracted’ as a disciplinary problem. Throughout the semester, students were asked to participate in a series of assignments that engaged in conversations and theories on this topic. The section focused primarily on different ways of working, both through modes of techniques for accidental and deliberate disciplinary misbehavior to help students argue and position their placement within a larger architectural discourse. Additionally, the studio explored the possibility of misaligning work for creative speculation.

Faculty Lisa Little Location UPPER ROSENDIN

STUDENTS Asma Aloraifi, Kristin Garner, Riffath Sultana Hidayathullah, Judy Hsieh, Leigh Stone, Blue Todosiev, Qianqian Wu, Langxian Ye, Jiaqi Zhang

The advent of digital mass customization means many similar but different parts can now be produced as economically as a single repeated part. Aggregation of mass customized parts has rich potential including architectural qualities of open-endedness, blurriness, and the non-figural. But systems built of small parts combined together also afford specificity and precision through their scale and variability thus providing powerful potential in terms of performance. With partto-whole mass customization as the premise, students directed their research and thesis projects in one of several possible directions. Through additive design strategies and processes such as aggregation and 3d printing, students iteratively worked between research and making as a way to ‘practice the practice’, interrogating the small part with an emphasis on iteration as a means to excellence.

TACTICAL TECHNIQUES: OPERATIVE METHODS FOR SPECULATIVE ARCHITECTURE & CONCEPTUAL PRAGMATISM

Faculty John Southern Location WAH 200

STUDENTS Michael Arias, Jerry Ayala, Yuanqi Cui, Darren Chan, Alexandra Gauthier, Anushka Kubsad, Daniela Marentes, Ekta Shreyakar, Alanna Duncan Taylor, Alexander Toribio

In contrast to the discursive conversations prevalent in 20th-century academia, which focused on artistic practices and the global exchanges of post-war modernism, the concept of the citizen architect rejects the traditional service-centric model of architectural practice. While many offices adopting this model may operate at various scales, they share similar operative methods rooted in Tactical Techniques. By embracing a blend of speculation and conceptual pragmatism, designers employing tactical techniques navigate what writer William H. Gibson terms the 'future present' – a reality infused with technological foresight. This understanding keeps designers ahead by fostering situational awareness and anticipation of future developments.

MLA, MBS, & MHC

MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE + URBANISM

THE OTHER CALIFORNIA: LAND, LABOR, LIBERATED FUTURES IN CA’S HEARTLAND

Faculty Alison Hirsch

Location LINDHURST

MASTER OF BUILDING SCIENCE

STUDENTS Anna Avdalyan, Paige Buckner, Viraj Chauhan, Joyce Ji, Jeremy Joo, Eva Malis, Lingli Meng, Adrian Porter, Zoe Wang, Nina Weithorn, Jingting Xu

This topic is a deep consideration of California's 'Other' - the invisibilities of violence and work, land and labor that fuel the nation - calorically and economically - specifically in the Tulare Lake Basin. Starting with the reemergence of the lake that has captured the nation's imagination - a phantom that reemerges despite the industrial violence used to erase it- its story has become a symbol of a possible future, of liberation and transcendence, within and despite Capitalist ruins. Yet this offer of transcendence has nuance - with the engineering that hijacked the lake to facilitate 150 years of industrial agriculture came communities of people stolen for and drawn by capitalist promise that have been impacted by the flooding. Designing a nuanced future that negotiates what was, what is, and what can be in this landscape is the primary question.

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH

Faculty Gideon Susman

Location WATT HALLWAY

STUDENTS Selin Guner, Manan Lakhani, Saba Raji, Niyoshi Sanghrajka

This course introduces the concept of total building energy performance, delineating the full range of performance mandates required for today’s architecture. Students explore the relationships, opportunities, and conflicts of various performance goals, and the integration of building systems necessary to achieve high performance buildings. Four ARCH 615 students from the Chase L. Leavitt Graduate Building Science Program - Saba Raji, Manan Lakhani, Niyoshi Sanghrajka, and Selin Guner took the Honor Award in the Graduate Category of the 2023 Architecture@Zero design competition for their design of an agriculture center and farmers’ housing in Allensworth, California. The graduate students formulated their plan as part of professor Gideon Susman’s Architecture 615 course, who incorporated the competition into the syllabus.

MASTER OF HERITAGE CONSERVATION

PAST MEETS FUTURE

Faculty Trudi Sandmeier, Cindy Olnick

Location WATT HALLWAY

STUDENTS Zoe Detweiler, Eliza Jane Franklin-Edmondson, Ryan Holcomb, Paul Kim, Sam Malnati, Andrea Mauk, Evan McAvenia, Yan Su, Hongyi Wu

Master of Heritage Conservation students learn how to strengthen communities using existing places and the stories they tell. They envision the future through the lens of the past: what was here before, why and how it took shape, and how it evolved or disappeared over time. They study the close connections between the natural environment, the built environment, and intangible cultural heritage. Each student selects a thesis topic that fuels their passion, pushes the boundaries of the field, and has very real consequences for the built environment. How do we use places to advance racial equity and social justice, address climate change, and foster healthy communities? How can cities change while sustaining the evidence of our past? How do we choose which places and stories matter? Who tells those stories, how, and to what end?

JOSEPH BRAND, SPRING 2024

Design: Janine Ibrahim