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Dear USC Architecture Community and Collaborators,
Welcome to the Fall 2023 edition of our academic newsletter. This issue celebrates the remarkable endeavors and innovative spirit of our USC School of Architecture faculty and students.
Throughout the summer and fall of 2023, our faculty have been at the forefront of architectural thought, earning notable awards and recognition for their pioneering work. Their dedication to pushing the boundaries of design and urban planning is evident in their numerous contributions to prestigious international and national forums.
Our students, in collaboration with our esteemed faculty, have continued to excel, producing visionary projects that address contemporary challenges in urban housing, sustainable design, and public space rejuvenation. These initiatives not only showcase their creativity but also their commitment to impactful, socially responsible architecture.
The newsletter also highlights significant publications and lectures by our faculty, showcasing their thought leadership in the field. Their scholarly work spans a range of topics, from historic preservation to the intersection of technology and design, contributing valuable insights to the architectural community.
Additionally, we feature various outreach and exhibition initiatives that exemplify our school’s engagement with the broader community. These projects underscore the importance of architecture in shaping public discourse and enhancing communal spaces.
We hope you find inspiration in this newsletter’s diverse achievements and projects. Their collective efforts underscore the vibrant intellectual community at the USC School of Architecture and its ongoing impact on the field.
Thank you for your continued support and interest in our community's work.
Best regards,
Joon-Ho Choi Ph.D., LEED AP, Assoc. AIA
Associate Dean of Research and Creative Work
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Dezeen's School Shows features 10 award-winning projects from Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture Final Thesis Studios. A playground that encourages social exchange across the Mexico-United States border wall is included in University of Southern California's school show. Also included is an architectural system that imitates a sponge to store and release water sparingly and a cathedral informed by patterns found in nature.
Works by Fangshuo Zhao, Francesca Picard, Debdeep Dam, Eleanor Selzer, Brandon Smith, Ian Leung, Sophia Sabini-Leite, Diana Alejandra Pérez, Drake Velasco, and Thomas Wang.
Faculty tutors are Ryan Tyler Martinez, Lisa Little, Sascha Delz, Yaohua Wang, Marcos Sánchez, Mary Casper, Eric Haas, Wendy Fok and Evelyn Tickle.
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Vinayak Bharne, Adjunct Professor | |
Vinayak Bharne was honored by the Indian Society of Landscape Architects
on September 16 with its 2023 Allied Professional Appreciation Award. The highest honor bestowed by the organization to non-members, the award recognized Bharne's significant contributions to the profession of landscape architecture in India. "He has helped diffuse [the profession's] boundaries with the fields of urban design, city planning and heritage conservation" and "served as an intellectual ambassador spreading knowledge about Indian landscapes," as stated in the award nomination.
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Nate Imai (Texas Tech University) and Matt Conway (USC) won the ARCC Research Incentive Award ($10K) for their Pet Parcel project. Their project leverages digital cartography to address cities’ growing housing shortages, identifying small-scale odd lots as prime sites for addressing urban housing. These sites' unique geometries make them resistant to formulaic real-estate development models and ideal candidates to realize novel housing solutions. By utilizing municipal GIS data with custom scripts, the research proposed in this project analyzes locational data as well as lots’ geometries to determine a set of parcels for generating housing strategies at an urban scale. | |
Yo-ichiro Hakomori, Professor of Practice | |
Yo-ichiro Hakomori is leading the redesign of the Berkshire Museum - The redesign and re-imagined concept of the Berkshire Museum ground-floor creates an enhanced aesthetic experience of the existing collection of artifacts and art. The concept plan generates a journey as visitors experience the episodic galleries that are diverse in their design but follow a consistent aesthetic and narrative of exploration. The connection between the galleries is a choreographed passage emphasizing axial connections and highlighted thresholds between galleries. A large emphasis of the renovation of the museum experience lies in the creation of spaces and new casework for displays which highlight the collection in a new light. Multidisciplinary exhibitions will emphasize the common thread of historic context, human endeavors, the ecology of places and environments, and the continuum of the natural world, as its underlying connection between seemingly disparate elements. | |
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Julia Sulzer, Lecturer and Sascha Delz, Assistant Professor
PRINCIPLES OF ADAPTIVE P/RE-USE
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The last semester of the inaugural one-year M.AARS (Arch-705L) program focused on producing a publication and an exhibition for the program’s work of the past year. All semesters of the program focused on Venice, Los Angeles, and were framed by the topic “Adaptive P/Re-Use,” which sought to explore design strategies that “re-use” existing materials and conditions, as well as establish the notion of “pre-use” to develop proposals that can anticipate future change. The publication compiles research and ideas investigated during the design and research classes. It presents a guidebook for how to transform Venice more sustainably, socially and environmentally. Highlighting main challenges, the report postulates a series of calls to action and shows how the identified principles could be applied through design projects.
The exhibition was built without buying new materials. Reclaimed from Universal Studios set designs, and scavenging left-over materials from the School of Architecture, the studio applied a reverse design process: cataloging and limited by available materials, students had to design an exhibition allowing for flexible spatial arrangements, disassembly, and potential re-use.
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Fernanda Oppermann and Jose Herrasti's architecture studio, Mutuo, is participating in the ongoing 'Architecture at Home' exhibit at the Cristal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Their contribution to the exhibit, 'A Journey to Find Flexibility within Systems,' questions the idea that the housing system must respond to a rigid set of rules, proposing an alternative vision that promotes diversity and flexibility. Mutuo's fragmented prototype challenges the visitor's expectations and assumptions about housing and the housing system, encouraging visitors to ask themselves, "what is missing? Who is in and who is out? How could the current housing system be redesigned for inclusion?" | | |
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Alvin Huang, Associate Professor & Director of Graduate Architecture | Alvin Huang has recently authored a book chapter titled "Casa Gilardi: A Surreal Journey through Architectural Contrasts & Human Values," set to be published in the upcoming book "Gilardi House - Barragan's Last Witness," edited by Jose Luis Alvarez Tinajero and published by ACTAR. This chapter features contributions from fellow authors such as Toyo Ito, Neil Denari, Ryu Nishizawa, Charles Renfro, Kengo Kuma, and others. Furthermore, Huang's design work will be exhibited in three noteworthy exhibitions: "Transformers, Design and Energy" at the Vitra Design Museum, "ACADIA 2023: Habits of the Anthropocene" at the University of Colorado, Denver, and "G-code Is My Love Language" at San Jose State University. His design philosophy and work were also profiled in "California Dreaming: Architectural Design, Vol 93, No 2 (2023): 24-31," edited by Neil Spiller and authored by Max Kuo. | | |
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Cindy Olnick, Associate Director, Heritage Conservation | Working with the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions, Cindy Olnick authored the new NAPC Messaging Guide for Local Preservation Programs. The guide offers tips, messages, examples, and sample content to help local historic preservation programs communicate more effectively about their work. A year in the making, the guide used input from hundreds of preservation professionals and dozens of peer reviewers nationwide. It's available for free to anyone interested in conveying the value of preservation, clarifying the local preservation process, and/or advocating for more effective policy and practice. | | |
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Jasmine Benyamin, Lecturer | Jasmine Benyamin was co-author and editor with Elena Manferdini of the publication entitled "Full Spectrum: Colour in Contemporary Architecture," Design Studio 2023 Vol. 7, RIBA Books on Architecture, 2023. | | |
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Wendy W Fok, Adjunct Associate Professor | Wendy W Fok’s upcoming research “Hidden Infrastructures: From Spy-Hubs to Hollow Buildings that Conceal the New Digital” will be published in the final AD Journal by Wiley UK, in their Multispace edition, edited by Owen Hopkins. The journal will be coming out this November/December 2023. | |
Jose Herrasti and Fernanda Oppermann's work was included in Space 10's Inclusive Home Report. As a response to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art exhibit to create a housing prototype, Mutuo produced a digital living journal highlighting the barriers to achieving home ownership through participants' stories. | |
Frances Anderton, Lecturer | |
Frances Anderton's book, "Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles," was published by Angel City Press in 2022. In 2023, Foreword Reviews gave the book a Gold award for best Regional Nonfiction of 2022. In 2023 the book was covered in the New York Times, the Guardian, Capital & Main, and the Los Angeles Times. This year she has given talks on the book at the AIA National Convention, Palm Springs Modernism Week, the Los Angeles Times Book Fair, the Glass House, and several other venues. She was also included in a documentary about Angel City Press, made for KCET. | |
Peyton Hall, Adjunct Professor | |
Peyton Hall, Adjunct Professor | |
John Lesak, Adjunct Assistant Professor | | |
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John Lesak Weighs in on L.A.'s Best and Worst Buildings
The Real Deal asked some of the city's top architects—including Adjunct Assistant Professor John D. Lesak, AIA, FAPT, LEED AP—to opine on local structures, reporting that "classic Los Angeles buildings continue to inspire and define the best of Los Angeles."
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Alvin Huang, Associate Professor | |
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At the 2023 ACADIA Conference in Denver in October, Professor Huang showcased his project, "Enhancing Therapeutic Experiences: The Role of Geometry, Color, and Texture." This innovative work reimagines medical spaces using parametric patterning and digital fabrication to create a vibrant, patient-centered pediatric neurology clinic. Custom-designed elements, like CNC-milled acoustic felt cladding and a brain scan-inspired feature wall, enhance the sensory experience for children with neurological disorders.
In March 2024, at the 2024 ACSA Conference in Vancouver, Professor Huang will present his paper, "Trailblazing Asian-American Architect Gin Wong: Exploring Authorship, Socio-Political Context, and Architectural Discourse in Mid-Century Modernism and Googie Architecture." This research delves into the legacy of Gin Wong, an Asian-American pioneer in architecture, shedding light on his career's significance amidst a backdrop of social change and architectural evolution.
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USC Architecture alumna presented on "Women in Preservation" | |
On September 9, 2023 a who's who of USC Architecture alumna shared their wisdom at "Women in Preservation," a panel discussion at the Pasadena Museum of History. The Gamble House Conservancy held the event as part of the Sidney D. Gamble Lecture Series, "Preservation in Practice." A full house of guests heard from (pictured L-R) M. Rosalind Sagara (MHC '15), Neighborhood Outreach Manager for the Los Angeles Conservancy; Christy McAvoy, Founding Principal of Historic Resources Group and one of the designers and original faculty members of the USC Heritage Conservation program; Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, FAIA (BA '82, B.Arch '83), Founding Principal of Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture and the first female Gamble House Scholar-in-Residence; and Laura Dominguez, PhD (MHP '12, PhD '23), National Park Service Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow for the American Conservation Experience. The panel was moderated by Jennifer Trotoux, Director of Collections and Interpretation for the Gamble House Conservancy. | |
Meredith Drake Reitan, Lecturer | |
As part of the Bunker Hill Refrain project, Dr. Meredith Drake Reitan and colleagues from the USC Libraries were selected to participate in this year's Visions and Voices series of events. On Thursday, April 11, 2024, the team will present an exhibition and discussion exploring housing justice in Los Angeles. Providing unique perspectives on the history of Los Angeles, the fight for housing justice, and the impact of urban renewal policies, the digital exhibition features a representation of a residential hotel at 240 South Figueroa on Bunker Hill, a building that housed hundreds of working families from around the world. The exhibition also includes immersive VR representations of the neighborhood before it was demolished, highlighting the urgency of the current struggle for housing in Los Angeles. Following the exhibit, a panel with students, scholars, and activists will discuss lessons of the past and how they can inform the fight for housing justice today. | | | | |
