SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) was created in 1972 and based on the concept of a "college without walls". Its original name was New School, which symbolized a paradigm shift in teaching architecture, focusing on a horizontal relationship between teachers and students and on experimentation, making it one of the few independent architecture schools in the world. In 2022, the institution turns 50 and has planned a calendar full of events and projects to take place throughout the year.
As the retrospective on its official website demonstrates, there are extraordinary parallels between the historical circumstances during the school's opening and our current global situation. If in 1972 we were still in the wake of the revolutionary 1960s, an era of social unrest intertwined with radical shifts in our collective cultural, scientific and artistic imagination; 2022 is marked by the evident climate crisis, a global pandemic and racial justice movements. “The school has functioned since as a scion of visionary thinking, a hub for exploratory discourse, and a laboratory for innovating the medium of architecture. For 50 years, SCI-Arc has been restless, bold, and optimistic.”
Throughout 2022, the school will be commemorating this banner milestone with special events, lectures, podcasts, public programs, exhibitions, editorial features, community initiatives, and more to honor the contributions SCI-Arc has made across the past five decades. The lectures will feature names such as Shigeru Ban, Bernard Tschumi, David Adjaye, and Anupama Kundoo, among many other prominent professionals.
In addition, SCI-Arc Channel will be releasing the 50 + 50 Film Series, engaging various topics around the school. SCI-Arc’s Main Event returns with a special gala celebration honoring architect Frank Gehry, visual artist Alison Saar, Walt Disney Imagineering, and the Herald Examiner Building/Georgetown Company.
More than a celebration of the past, the institution seeks to reimagine the next 50 years, pushing the boundaries of architecture and producing the next generation of risk-takers who will push us towards a better future.
Find out more about the institution's celebrations on its official website.
