Newsletter, Spring 1992

2
•• , • • .. , , ..... ' ,- - ,- . ".'.' , " '. 108 ao,ele . fo r um f or arohiteeture and urban deail'D IIc hin dl el' house 110l'tl1 killgs road west h o ll ywood, ca l ifo rni a 90089 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• d esIg n Ad"lne ,, ' I , . ; .. r .. ... ' . . T .' .' .. , ' . , rORVII. llPO/l.T •• What t. thi.? Il't;Il.Jwwsletltll'. . an annuuncement. .. n o. it '!! both . [n all effOl,t to cOllserve ou r reSOl'vell and to regula l 'ize OUI' mai l ings . the B oard approved this combo-fo nuu t. Comme n ts, tomatocs ... the j ury's st ill out. Thanks to Sylvia Lav in (01' coming to OUI' aid a nd guest editing thi s ilUSue .• The Book I It s E.bibiUon • It wa.sn"tjusla fi g-mentof Aa l 'O!l "soverzealous imagi nati on. Advance copies of lhe lloon· l o·be avai lab Ie. Riz wli-publis hed . Fo rum bonk. Expt'rimenlal Architecture in Los Angeles, have been sighl.ed but not yet in bookstores , Substantial for members at'!! being ne gotiat ed, Plans to work with MOCA tu mo u nt an exhibit in the TC Hhowca8ing the work of thOStl i n the book hit the s kid s with MOCA's announcement tha t th!! TC would close for HI months after " I- leiter Skelter." Al ternative venues are soug h t . Activities Peter l,ipl:lon. answering t h e ea. 11 of the open road. left town and his pOt;ition of Activities CommiUee chair. Our n extsel' ies , -The Spring Collection," will bechairedjointly by Mal"! : Tedescu and Aaron BeLsk y . Pllmphlet The Forum'" next pamphl et The LA School R eader rumored to be appn'H.ching b ook-nh:e, is in thu work!:! . Help Need ed Th e Ac:tiviti es, a nd Exhibitions CommiUees a ll tletld new par tic ipant s, If you'd like to get leave a message on OU I" machine 213-852-7145. 3.2 mark mack 3.9 michael tolleson 3.16 allison wright 3.23 mehrdad yazdani 3.30 g·enik / daly I 4.6 larry totah .. • :t

description

Forum Update, The Education(s) of an Architect by Sylvia Lavin, UCLA, Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning by Jurg Lang, New Directions and Priorties in the Urban Planning Program by Ed Soja, USC School of Architecture by Dianna Ghirardo, UC San Diego, SCI-Arc by Michael Rotondi, Enviromental Design Department Otis Art Institute by Aaron Betsky, Learning from Bookstores by Christian Hubert

Transcript of Newsletter, Spring 1992

• • ••

,

• •

• • .. , , • ..... '

,­- •

~ ,- . ".'.' ,

"

• • • • • • • • •

'.

108 ao,ele. for um for arohiteeture and urban deail'D

IIchind lel' house

83~ 110l'tl1 killgs road

west h o llywood, california

90089

• • • • • • • • • • •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

desIgn 8e~n Ad"lne

,, ' I

,

. ;

.. r .. ... •

' . . T .' .' .. ,

' . ,

rORVII. llPO/l.T •• What t. thi.? • Il't;Il.Jwwsletltll'. .

an annuuncement. .. n o. it'!! both . [n all effOl,t to cOllserve

ou r reSOl'vell and to regula l'ize OUI' mai l ings . the Board

approved this combo-fonuut. Commen ts, tomatocs ... the

j ury's s t ill out. Thanks to Sylvia Lav in (01' coming to OUI'

aid a nd guest editing this ilUSue . • The Book I Its E.bibiUon

• I t wa.sn"tjusla fi g-mentof Aal'O!l"soverzealous imagination .

Advance copies of lhe lloon· lo·be avai lab Ie. Rizwli-published .

Forum bonk. Expt'rimenlal Architecture in Los Angeles, have

been s ighl.ed but not yet in bookstores, Substantial discoun~

for members at'!! being n egotiate d , Plans to work with

MOCA tu mou nt an exhibit in t h e TC Hhowca8ing the work

of thOStl i n the book hit the s kids with MOCA's announcement

that th!! TC would close for HI months after " I-leiter

Skelter." A lternative venues are sough t . • Activities •

Peter l,ipl:lon. answering t h e ea.11 of the open road. left

town and his pOt;ition of Activities CommiUee chair. Our

nextsel' ies , -The Spring Collection," will bechairedjointly

by Mal"!: Tedescu and Aaron BeLsk y . • Pllmphlet • The

Forum'" next pamphlet The LA School Reader rumored to

be appn'H.ching book-nh:e, is in thu work!:! . • Help Neede d

• The Ac:tivities, PublieatiOIH~ a nd Exhibitions CommiUees

a ll tletld new participants, If you'd like to get involved~

leave a message o n OU I" machine 213-852-7145.

3.2 mark mack

3.9 michael tolleson

3.16 allison wright

3.23 mehrdad yazdani

3.30 g·enik / daly

I 4.6 larry totah

.. • :t

The Education(s) of an Architect Sylvia lavin

One tends to th i nk 01 Southern Californ i a

as quinteHt'nl ially without locus, lacking

unifo rm direction, and consisting i n dIs­

parate ha mlets w it h only the va guest sense

of co mmo n pu rp ose, The schools ot arch i­

tecture within the region are in the p rocess

bo t h of substantia t i n g and co n tradicti n g

thi 5 commonplace . Without except ion, each

school is planning or has already in ilia ted

considera ble reco nfiguration: deve lopment s

range from tu n icula r revisions and t he sea rch

for new deans to ma jor shifts in phy Sical

plants an d the establishm ent of new pro­

g ram s, de p a rtm e nt s and eve n sc hoo ls

themselves . Whi le c hang e is th e refo re a

commo n rule, the particu lar changes th a i

have b een proposed imply distinct views of

a r chitecture and of Its enabl i n g Institu ·

ti on s_ Th e fo llowi ng statements have been

solicited from participants i n th ese vari ou s

i n it i atives an d t oge th er o ff er an educa ­

tional gl imp se of th e lay of t h is changing

archi t ectura l l and _

Art Center College of Design

Modelling a New Department

of En vi ronmental Desi gn

Art Center College of DeSign bounds into 1992

with optimism and enthusiasm eagerly wel­

coming new challenge, Undaunted by the

confusion surrounding the expansive topic of

the environment. Art Center is drawing on Its

six ty year history of excellence in design and is

group, and the ideas generated will be put to

some greater use. We aren·t just creating theo·

retical design exercises."

The schoo!"s research agendas include housing

prototypes. environmentally appropriate design .

and energy alternatives among many others.

Santos and the faculty are examining the vari­

ety of contexts in which these agendas can be

explored and applied. "The world is ou r labora­

tory .. ' says Santos . "An important part of our

curriculum involves a ·practicum.· Our students

will work with the research group on projects

located locally and throughout developing

coun tries. For example. designing and building

a prototype for affordable housing in Tijuana

has all sorts of dimenSions: climate, culture.

materials and construction technology to name

Just a few"

Santos describes the UCSD School of Arch,tec·

ture as an exc it ing expenment In arch itec tural

educat ion . About the founding facu lty. she says'

"Dana Cuff. Will iam CurtiS, Craig Hodgetts and

Susan Ubbelohde are all individuals who are

exceptIOnal. not only In the sense that they are

accomplished within thelt area of expertise. but

also on their willingness to explore, to be expero­

mental. The chOice of these four indiV iduals

reveals a lot about our aspirat ions for the new

school. We are building th is program together.

from the curroculum to the research group ."

The school IS in the process of admitting its lirst

class in the Mastel of Archit'!cturt' programs for

fa l l , 1992. ThiS first year. two degrees are o f ­

fered : M .Arch I. a fi rst profeSSiona l degree for

students With a bachelor of arts or a bachelo r of

sCience : and M .Arch II for those students who

have earned a bachelor of architecture. £nroll­

ment wil l be limited to a maximum of thirty

students . Also In progress is an international

search for additional faculty at the school : five

pulling together Its ImpreSSive faulty and fa­

cili t ies to set IBeif the task of defin ing for Itself

and Its community a new Department of EnVI­

ronmental DeSign . The vIsion It embraces lo ves

p;omanly In the mind of Its new 01<1lr. PatnCla

Belton Oliver She sees a program wh ich suc­

cessfully bndges the academiC and corporate

worlds by explOri ng and developing a holistic

structure for the inter-diSCiplinary components

o f the program. She believes Art Cen ter should

be the laboratory where the Ind iVidual diSCiplines

of arch itecture, mtetlor deSign and product deSign

are employed to examine. test and propose

new solutions to cur rent condit ions, The class­

room. the home . tne operating room. the

restau rant whatever ··i t· ' IS demands the

separate disciplines of Archi tecture (spatial .

structural. formal), Intetlor Design (color. light.

texture) . and Product DeSign (the .. tools" for

the use of the envltonment) be In tegrated and

pOSSibly developed as a package. Professor Oliver

envisions a slice through these worlds - a kmd

of topographic slice - to discover the layers of

sediment that have produced them and the

emergence of a kind of section model of what

could become an integrated environment. She

is very interested in discovering with her col­

leagues what is possible by investing in the

separateness of the environmental design disci­

plines and forging the link between them . This

is unconstellated air. but with new conviction

the Art Center faculty throw themselves to the

skies .

UCLA, Graduate School of Archi­tecture and Urban Planning

Future Directio ns:

Arch itecture and Urban Design

Jurg Lang. Head of A/UD Program

DeSign is the central focus of architectural prac-

hundred applications were received for the small

number of posts .

SCI-Arc

SCt·Arc In Mot io n

Michael Rotondi , Director

Afler Ilmosllwenty ynrs It lis orlg lnll site on

Berkeley Street In SIOII Monlu . SCI -Aft wi ll be

moving this spring to new qUlrters on 5454 Beethoven

Street. The former lutory an d offiCes of the Quotron

data services will provide double the currently Ivall_

able squ a r~ footaseat the ume cost. with the ~ecu r ltr

of a Ions-term luse_ among other beneflls.

The move IS symbolic. for the most part - what

does It mean to go from a building that leaks to

a building that doesn't leak? In some ways It

means that SCI-Arc is growing up. because

,"stitutlons change the same way people change

ThiS mo~e IS the eqUivalent of gomg from ado­

lescence to young adu lt hood . a momen t when

you begin to gel a focus on what your ambi­

tions are for the rest of your li fe It IS also like

mov'"g trom young adulthood to middle age

when you move from the promise of youth to

the I,m,ts of ma turo ty Although thiS ,"volves a

mixture of regret and nostalgia . these limits can

be positive : you realoze you don't have to climb

the Himalayas . or play basketball With the Lak­

ers or swim the English Channel

The new location IS a step up and seems more

substan tial In many ways. ThiS brongs With II

certa in risks. On Berkeley St reet. everyth,"g

felt Impermanent and things worked well ,n

part because there was a high degree of uncer­

tainty. Ou r energy has been devoted to putt '"g

up reSistance to the tendency to make th'"gs

more certa," Institutional structures are baSI­

cally deSigned to make thongs predictable bu t

tlCe as well <IS education Strength and d istInc­

tion on deSign IS thus an Indl spt'nsable atlrobute

for any le.J.dmg school of Mchltecture Because

of the centralrty of deSign In architectural edu­

cation. the methods, approaches and theones

dea ling With thiS subject have been paSSion ­

ately debated through the ages Al l of these

debates - the rela t,on between deSign and theory.

deSign and research . deSign as a comprehenSive

approach to architectural deCiSion-making as

opposed to design as a specialozed inqulfy onto

the essence of archi tecture - com prose part of

the Intellectual concerns and progress of archi­

tec ture schools. Rather than adopting attitudes

that are vague and consequently non-conlron­

ta tional. every leading school of archi tecture

needs to engage in such vigorous debates so as

to clarify and consolidate the underlying frame­

work for a distinct philosophy o f deSign and

teaching.

The central issue in this debate is how to achieve

excellence in architectural deSign and design

education From i ts inception the Program at

UCLA has used a dual strategy to deal with t his

issue: first. by improving the design process

itself through better methods and by integrat­

ing the use of computers: and second . by enriching

the design process through inclusion and em­

phasis on d istinct sub-disciplines that would

not only strengthen architectu re. but also result

in a better product. Th is dual strategy is reflected

in the program's comprehensive studios and

theory courses: nurturing 01 creativi ty ( basic

design); development of design methods (com­

puter-aided design_ formalized design processes,

shape grammars): development of design theo­

r ies (prinCiples of composition. color theory.

computational theory); incorporation of struc­

tura l design and technology (building

construc tion. structural analysis. sound. light

and heat technologies, architectural detail ing) ;

often cause the heat-death of the institution .

Although thiS future is unlikely with the type of

people around here SCI·Arc is filled with

anarchists the most in terest ing and discon­

certing thing I've found in this process was the

resistance that was put up to the move by

people w ithin the SCI-Arc community. In the

end even anarchists don· t like change . But rather

than judge the change as good or bad, we have

to focus on what the changes are and learn to

construct something new out of these ing redi­

ents . We may end up with something else. bu t

can retlon our original vitality.

We are not moving somewhere designed or

that stands as an emblem of what has been

accomplished at SCI -Arc in the last 20 years

The new tilt-up concrete building is almost

non-denominational . bu t nevertheless i t offers

dist inct poss,blhtles. On Berkeley Street. the

three differer,t parts of the school were discon­

nected ' graduate students didn't see

undergradualeS who didn't see advanced stu­

dents. who were In another buitd,"g This Situation

IS not unloke a normal campus where '" teraction

between schools and depa rtments takes effort

In the new bUilding. everyone Will be ,n one

place and SOCially It Will be a better place with

a better miX The layout IS a fast track version of

how a city grows accretlonally. It Will be hill"d to

te ll who dec,ded what and thongs will remain

open-ended . But more permanence and lon­

gevity wol l let us use the entore B5,000 squart'

feet as a build ing site V"'e Will be able to use the

place literally as a la boratory for mateflals and

methods of construction We Will be able to do

light experoments by cutting '"to the roof. Stu­

dents Will be able to see how deCISiOnS materialize

and test thin gs very d irectly So much can hap­

pen," the new bU lld'"g that couldn· t happen

before and these pOSSibili t ies wil l broaden our

concept ual expectd tlons

and focus on buddong use and funcltion (pro ·

grammlng and policy). We have co,nS lstently

emphaSized that these broad areas off teaching

must coexist and complement one anoother. and

must aVOid Isolated deSign approa'ches that

claim exclUSiveness or rejec t Viable InlnOvat lonS

and alternat ives offered by other are-as

The Program has been a leader rn atte mptong to

move beyond the subject ive deflnitio.ns of cre­

atiVity In arch itecture without abandoning it

completely. A fundamental component o f our

attempt to continue moving in this direction is

our location in Los Angeles. The i ncreasing

diversity and multicultural nature of this con­

text demands that the Program not on Iy address

the need for wider representation of different

ethnicities among faculty. students .and staff.

but also integ rate new ,:omposite v.alues and

diverse concerns into the curricula. Thie maze of

challenges and opportunities in -1.05 Angeles

have always served as a laboratory for our

explorations. We aim to implement our new

research. ideas and design in Los Angeles through

increased exposure of our work and active com­

munity involvement. We aim to recover

architecture from being a tool of commercial­

ism. from its timid use of yes terday's tectlnologies,

and to transform the discipline into an arena of

experimentation , challenge, and innovation by

linking creat ivity w ith scientific research . We

aim to provide a socia!!y responsible cultural

direction in architecture and reunite its useful­

ness w ith art.

New D irections and Pr iorities

in t he Urb an Plann i ng Prog ram

Ed SOia. Assistant Dean

I have decided to use the broad title of

Critical Sludies in ArchItecture and Urban

Plaoninj: to encompass what has recently

Whatever happens in the next few years, the

changes that are happening now and that are

symbolized by the move reflec t a process of

renewal. The energy that has been here In the

last five years will simply take on a differen t

focus . We're just trading a building that leaks

for a bui!ding everyone gets lost on .

Environmental Design Oepart­ment. Otis Art Institute

Experiments Against Bui ldi ngs

Aaron Betsky, Department Coordinabr

What is a Department of Environll1'n ta l De­

sign? During the 19605. Environmenal Design

was a phrase meant to del use th. imperial

overtones of arch itecture, It Implied :he disso­

lution of a formalist practice inlo teclnologiul

crr teria and process-droven modes . f design .

The result was a loss of historrcal m6l10ry and

any method of creatong an autonOm)US arch i­

tecture . ThiS might on and of Itself not have

been too bad. except that the alternabve turned

out to be a collection of abstract pseudo­

scientific actiVities that dissolved Into a

purposefully uncritical acceptance d conton­

gency and accepted social structures. rven when

posing itself as an aid In empowerm~nt

The Idea of dissolving traditional notions of the

arch;tectural profession is one that contonues to

Interest us at Otis . II IS. however. not only

archi tecture that must try to escape from i ts role

as an Integral par t of the propagation of the

existing status quo. Interior DeSign . Landscape

Design. Urban Plann ing. Set Design and Furni­

ture or Industrial Design find themselves also

OWing their self-definition to the efficacy With

which they produce eff iCient. unCritical des'gn

been called C .. tlca l Urbanism or Critical Urban

St udies and History. and what is usually

descfl bed as History. Theory an d Criticis m

in Arch i tecture. I see this area overlapping

significantly with our course offerings in

planning theory. compara t ive in ternat iona l

studies. and urban and regional po litical

economy. I also see critical iQ.i1i..al theory as

its central unifying perspectiv e.

Nearly all of us in the U rban Planning

Program, in one way or another. are engaged

in critical stu d ies with respect to public

pol icy or in our approaches to teach ing the

theoretical and conceptual underpi nnings

of our subfields. Indeed. this cri t ical stance

is one of the most important features

distinguishing us as a leading planning school .

Why t hen should cr itical stud ies be ra ised

as an impor ta nt new direction and prior ity?

There ar€ several reasons.

1. We do no t teach cr itical theory and

methods per se. except perhaps as a sidelight

to some of our history and planning theory

courses We tend i nstead to take in d ividual

st ances on what and how to critique and

teach our students by personal example

Rarely do we make expliCit our theory of

critICism - or critically examine al ternative

approaches to our personal favorites . Cri t ical

studies in urban planning should be par t of

our core curriculum as one of GSAUP's mos t

disti ro ctive specializations

2 What we do here In GSAUP has increasongl~'

become the focus of attention for cri t ical

t heorists and philosophers all over the world .

Archi t ecture, urbanism and spatialities are

often seen as the " privileged" languages

and most revealing " texts " of contemporary

debates In critical theory. And then these on

Los Angeles Itst'11. Sure ly more needs to be

profeSSionals. The Environmental Design De­

partment at the Otis Art Institute proposes to

create a course of study that glve~ studen ts the

tools they need to be crotically aware of their

environment. and then al ter it .

The Departmen t of EnVironmen tal Design was

estabfished five years ago. and Its director. Fred

Fisher. has been trYing to ex tend and dissolve

the notion of deSign as it is defined withon each

of the design disciplines into an in terdiscipli­

nary course of study ever since His goal has

been to tra in "design generalists " who can

engage the "real world" With the critical eye of

an artist . Traditional notions of architecture.

however. have still tended to overwhelm such

attempts at cross-diSCiplinary th inking. More­

over. at least half o f the students in the sma ll

depar tment see themselves as future archi tec­

tural professionals.

This fall. the faculty has started to review the

CUrriculum o f the Department in order to come

up With ways of breakmg down the building as

Isolated oblect -orlented tendenCies of the course

There IS a slill evolvong plan that will expose

students to all levels, sca les and methods of

deSign In it way that dissolves the barroers be­

tween such classifications In lavor of a focus on

different deSign methodologies. Process rears

ItS ugly head agaon. but here as a focus on

making. or. on how human beings extend

themselves and make real their actiVitIes In a

socialized space

Students are asked to explore ways In which

they can make themselves at home in the world

by becomll1g aware of the socio-spatial quali­

ties of their environment and of the act of

mapping themselves into that world . They are

asked to see tools and oblects as mirrors that

conflate themselves and their world . They are

done to consolidate and expand our role In

these debates, to make us leaders rather

than followers.

3 . New approaches to critical studies are

becom ing increasingly important to making

practicaJ and political sense of the seemingly

chaotic contemporary world . This is especially

pertinent to an Urban Planning Program

wh ich nurtures social movement approaches

to change. Our students not only have areas

of academic concentra t i on but also

organization of social action (communi t ies

of resistance?) based on gender, ethnicity.

class. sexual development. etc. .

How Critical Studies in Arch jtect ure and

Urban Planning should be developed IS

difficult to answer, al t hough the urgent need

for additional resources. courses , and faculty

is clear no matter what path is followed .

However. Crjtical Studies w ill build on our

established leadersh ip and add Significantly

to new initiatives thaI combine t he interests

of the Urban Planning Program to those of

the Architecture and Urban DeSign Program

and extend to other departments across the

campus .

USC School of Architecture

O n th e Search for a New Dean

Dianne Ghorardo. Associate Professor

Through some strange sequPnce o f events. an

astonishing number of schools are seeking new

deans this year, Not surprosingly. one o f the first

questions asked by faculty members IS what

kind of person the new dean ought to be.

Should the dean be a famous practitioner. ei­

ther with a well-established corporate practice

or a small but very prominent and trendy one?

asked to engage In methods of analySIS (such as

"void sectronong" ) that challenge traditIOnal

methods of composition based on the autonomy

of the object They are encouraged to see their

activities as investigations. installations and in­

terventions . ra ther than as the creation of

programmed spaces. They are continually forced

to conlront the physical and socia l reality of

their work through matenals and methods o f

construct ion that are in terwoven with historical

discussions. The Depart ment is. In other words.

moving away from the idea of a curriculum

based around the production of buildings.

1\ remains to be seen how effective this evolv­

Ing course of studies will be. The Department

has the advantage of being part of an art school

which encourages such ways of thinking. but

the disadvantage of not offering students "sal­

able" skills that can be immediately and efficiently

applied, The Department is moreover sma:1.

and will need to grow substan tially to be able to

give itself the leeway to explore various alter­

natIVt'S, The Environmental Design Department

at Otis IS a continull1g experiment With no

results expected .

Learning from Bookstores

Christian Hubert

The architectural culture of any metropolos both

needs and IS reflected by the quality of its

bookstores More than places to buy books,

they are II1dlspensable educational resources

for the communities they serve. For many

profeSSionals . bookstores take the place of the

school library: they are a si te of SOCIal interaction

and intellectual exploration .

Booksellers who acknowledge their cultur al ro le

and i ts responSibilities are o ften ded lcatt'd

Should he or she be an establoshed admonls\ra­

tor. or a well known scholar? Someone already

on the co mm unity or outSide o f 111 There are no

easy answers to these questions. but SInce my

own Insti tut iOn . USC. IS also looking for a new

dean. like others I have asked them .

In part the answer depends upon the types of

tasks that the dean will be expected to perform .

These days most institutions want someone

who will be an effective fundra iser. for prag­

matic reasons relating to the financial stability

of mstitutions of higher education today - espe­

cially important for private universities . But

there are perhaps more signifiunt items on the

agenda of a new dean for USc. The Dean must

be able to stabil ize or devt'lop three sets of

relations: that of the archilecture school to the

rest of the un,versity, to the architectural com ­

munity outside of the univerSity. and among

faculty members w ithin the school i tself ,

At USC the School of Archi tecture IS perceived

as Isolated by the res t of the UniverSity the

ger.era l education requiremen ts do not match

those that the res t of the unoversity IS adopting.

faculty members who design buildings. land­

scapes or urban p lans do not produce the kind

of schola rly research typically found in other

disciplines. and archi tecture students take rela­

tively few classe~ outSide of Architecture. A

new dean must be able to help bind studen ts

and faculty to the univerSity and to bnng stu­

dents from o ther departmen ts Into contact with

architecture courses,

This relation to the rest of the univerSity IS no

small matter in these days of shronklng budgets

and belt-tightening and. In fact. USCs School

of Architecture has sever~1 yeMs of defICi ts to

overcome on ordel to return to good standing

withon the unoverSIty. However. beyond these

ind iViduals whose enthUSiasm transcends mere

commerC ialism. A poin ted example of these

quali t ies IS William Stout whose bookstore I'!

SarI FranCISco IS pervaded In every aspect by a

passionate Interest In both books and architecture

As much as any archi tecture school. Stout Books

and its publications helped create t he

contemporary architectural culture of that city.

Despite i ts current world-wide status as a mecca

for architects. Los Angeles is at present poorly served by its art and architecture bookstores.

Hennessey and Ingalls remains the one-stop

venue. yet the .. indifference to books and

architects makes shopping or browsing there

less an intellectual adventure and more li ke a

trip to the supermarket. The store's notable

facade Inspires false hopes. InSide it is inundated

w ith commercial calendars and gift books and

shor t on publications 01 importance to anyone

whose interests are not limited to the commercial

mainstream. Asking their staff for information

only reinforces the supermarket analogy. When

was the last t ime you asked a supermarket clerk

for cul inary advice?

The Forum Publications Committee r~cently

experienced the depth of that Indifference in

our eflorts to distribute the ARCH INFO pamphlet.

All the bookstores we contac ted expressed a

cautious wi llingness to buy a few copies . The

on ly exception was H&.I - and thi ' despite the

unusually low cost due to the amount of free

labor that goes Into theIr production . The purpose

of the Forum IS to promote archItectural cul ture

,n Los Angeles. and the refusal of Hennessey

and Ingalls to support that effort is an egregious

failure (Incidental ly. If YOU're looking to buy a

copy of ARCHINFO. go to Arcana or Big and

Tall ,n los Angeles. Wrillam Stout in San FranCISCO .

Jaap R,etman or Perimeter 111 New York , or to

Ballen ford Books 111 Toronto We hear thl' y're

difficult and faltly pragmatiC ,ssues are the greatN

Issues about the Intellectual and creative li fe of

the school. Most univerSi ty faculties. If they are

,11 all vigorous. havl' diverse vlewpoonts and

philosoph ies. and often substantial disagrl'C­

ments about ped'lgogy. appOintments and tenure.

budget expend itures. and school admon lstra ­

tion . USC is no d ifferent from others In thiS

respect. but Ideally a new dean should be able

to negotiate di fferences and establish an envI­

ronment where Informed de b.1\1' {an take place.

A dean must be able to recognize and nounsh

others. have the imagination and boldness to

build a strong program of Vis it ing faculty to

supplement th e existing faculty. support fac­

ulty who a re cont ributl ng to the dlsCipli ne through

creative projects or scholarly work . stimulate

challenging teachers and curricula. and work to

create courses and exchanges With other schools

Within the univerSIty. Contrary :0 convent ional

Wisdom. however. a dean need neither bt' a

g rea t archltecl nor a great Intellect to be able to

accomplosh these Important oblectlves

UC, San Diego

An Arch itecture Schoo l In the Mak ing

Under the leadership of founding dean Adele

Naude Santos. the UCSD School of Architecture

is absorbed in its firs t research project : re thonk ­

ing the nature of architectural education Wi th

Just nine months until the arrival o f th e first

class of students. she and her four foundIng

faculty are honing In on the final aspects of the

curriculum

"We're starting o ff With the Idea of re~ear(h. of

Inqulty. then developing our program around II

At some level Irs a sta ' e of mond," says Santos

"Deslgn on thl' studiOS Wil l be ,lssoclated With

the questions we are addreSSing In the research

selling well )

A VISit to Big and Tall books, In contrast. IS a

stimulatIng expeflence bot h SOCially and

Intellectually. even though ItS architecture section

IS re latively small. Some may f ind Its unabashedly

trendy spirit excessive while others may think

i t epitomizes the best of Los Angeles . Bu t for

anyone with a general interest In contemporary

book culture. its selections Me conSIstent ly

rewarding. Irs also fun to hang out there.

We understand Rizzoli is opening a store 111

Beverly Hills. This way. at least . Los Angeles w ill

have a top-ol-the-line artbook supermarket A

f irst-rate bookstore wi t h ties to the loca l

arch itectural community a bookstore from

which architects can learn - is stili sadly lacking.

Officers M,chele Saee Pre~Id~nt

John Cha~e Vice Pr~side nt Jul;e Silliman Secr~tary f Tr~a~urer

Newsletter Stiff Natalie Shlv~r~ Editor Sylv.a lavln Gu~~t Editor

Contribut ing Editors Aaron Bel .. ky John Chas~ Randall Cloud

Design Sean Adam .. Ch"Slln~ GOOdreau

Board of Directors Sh" lley A. B ~ rger Aaron Benky Ben Caffey John Chase Mlng Fu"!: Ron Golan

Chri~tlan Hub~ rt

John Kah .. k,

Dougla~ Macleod Michael P,lta .. M"h~le Sae~

Na\ahe Shlver~ Ju ll ~ S,lhman Roland Wi ley

Bo"d of Advisors Tony Bill

Juha Bloomf.eld Pamela Burlon Peter de Breltev. lle Fred FI~n"r Kurt FO'SI~r Frank Get"y Ely .. ~ G"nSleln Rob~rt Ha lfl; Thom., " 'ne\ Cra 'g Hodg<"tt; Frank Israel Richard ~ eal lng Barton My~r;

M,cnael Rotondi Abby She, Richard We,nSleln

For Memb",sh,p Inlo 113 852 71~5