Southern California Institute of Architecture

Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1972, SCI-Arc was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde and more adventurous than traditional architecture schools based in the United States. It consists of approximately 500 students and 80 faculty members, some of whom are practicing architects. It is based in the quarter-mile long former Santa Fe Freight Depot in the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles and also offers community events such as outreach programs, free exhibitions, and public lectures. History SCI-Arc was founded in 1972 in Santa Monica by Ray Kappe, Shelly Kappe, Ahde Lahti, Thom Mayne, Bill Simonian, Glen Small, and James Stafford, a group of faculty from the Department of Architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The founders were frustrated with the treatment of students and faculty members by administrators at Cal Poly and wanted to approach the subject from a more experimental perspective than traditional schools offered. Originally called the New School, SCI-Arc was based on the concept of a "college without walls," and it remains one of the few independent architecture schools in the world. Initially, instead of academic hierarchies, the School favored a horizontal relationship between professors and students, who took responsibility for their own course of study. Kappe, who had founded the Cal Poly department, became the new school's first director and served in that position until 1987. He was awarded the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medal for excellence in architecture education in 1990.