LOS ANGELES, Nov. 11, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SCI-Arc Director Hernan Diaz Alonso today announced the launch of SCI-Arc EDGE, Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture. Appointed to chair the postgraduate program is architect and educator David Ruy. Beginning in fall 2016, the new center led by Ruy will offer four graduate degree programs in fields including architectural technologies, fiction and entertainment, design of cities, and design theory and pedagogy, along with two fellowships in synthetic landscapes.
"We're thrilled to have David join us at SCI-Arc beginning next summer," says Director Hernan Diaz Alonso. "As one of the most prominent and innovative thinkers of his generation, David has been focused on design theory and new platforms of architectural production throughout his entire career. We look forward to his contribution to taking SCI-Arc to new frontiers."
SCI-Arc EDGE is intended to serve as a platform for multiple postgraduate programs following the think-tank model—with programs intended to crossbreed and inform each other and provide a space where new conversations take place.
"I envision SCI-Arc EDGE as a platform to engage in advanced studies in architecture that are far more embedded in the world and plugged into what's happening now," says newly appointed chair David Ruy. "Architecture today is multiplying its territory by perpetually colonizing new frontiers. Everything is potentially an architectural problem and SCI-Arc EDGE is the platform for exploring this proposition."
Two of the four postgraduate programs offered are built on the success of a couple of existing SCI-Arc programs that will be incorporated into the new SCI-Arc EDGE, Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture. These include the Master of Science in Architectural Technologies led by Marcelo Spina, a program driven by a consideration of technology's relationship to architecture, and the Master of Science in the Design of Cities led by Peter Trummer, which tackles the complexities of urban design with an emphasis on contemporary urban phenomena that is yet to be theorized. The two new postgraduate programs offered by SCI-Arc EDGE include a Master of Arts in Fiction and Entertainment led by Liam Young that will explore the production of fiction and entertainment in contemporary culture, and a Master of Science in Design Theory and Pedagogy led by Chair David Ruy designed as a platform for training the next generation of studio instructors. SCI-Arc Edge will also offer two fellowships in Synthetic Landscapes, with design faculty Marcelyn Gow and Margaret Griffin serving as advisors. The selected fellows will be tasked with exploring the design and theory of synthetic landscapes and the strange interactions between machinic and natural organizations that mark emerging landscapes.
Newly appointed postgraduate program chair David Ruy is an architect, theorist and educator with an extensive background in academia, who has served as an important voice in conversations regarding the future of architectural education. Most recently, he was co-chair of the 103rd ACSA Annual Meeting where he led a national discussion of architectural educators addressing the future of the core curriculum and its relationship to research and experimentation. He has previously been on the faculties of Columbia University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, and has been a visiting professor at numerous universities in the United States and Europe. Currently, David is an associate professor at Pratt Institute, where he coordinates the institute's urban design program. He is also an external examiner of the DRL at the Architectural Association and an advisor to a number of international organizations examining contemporary problems in architecture.
In parallel to his academic appointments, Ruy is co-director of Ruy Klein with Karel Klein in New York City. His practice examines contemporary problems at the intersection of architecture, nature, and technology, encompassing a wide array of influential projects that have migrated across the boundaries of architecture, art and design. The firm studies the mutual imbrications of artificial and natural regimes that are shaping an ever more synthetic world. The work of Ruy Klein has been widely published and exhibited and has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 2011 Emerging Voices Award of the Architectural League, recognizing the firm as one of the leading experimental practices in architecture today. The work is part of the permanent collection of the Frac Centre in Orléans, France. David Ruy received his Master of Architecture from Columbia University and his Bachelor of Arts from St. John's College where he studied philosophy and mathematics.
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About SCI-Arc
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is dedicated to educating architects who will imagine and shape the future. It is an independent, accredited degree-granting institution offering undergraduate and graduate programs in architecture. Located in a quarter-mile-long former freight depot in the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles, the school is distinguished by its vibrant studio culture and emphasis on process. SCI-Arc's approximately 500 students and 80 faculty members, most of whom are practicing architects, work together to re-examine assumptions, create, explore and test the limits of architecture. SCI-Arc faculty and leadership have garnered more than 500 national and international design awards and recognitions, including Progressive Architecture awards, American Institute of Architects (AIA) awards, and the prestigious Jencks and Pritzker architecture prizes. SCI-Arc is ranked 1st in computer applications and 2nd in design in the 2013 America's Best Architecture Schools survey from DesignIntelligence, and #1 graduate and undergraduate architecture school in Western U.S. SCI-Arc is located at 960 E. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013. www.sciarc.edu
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