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This collection of videos traces the evolution of Graduate Thesis at SCI-Arc through a series of selected lectures, symposia, and final reviews held in the past 10 years of Graduate Thesis at SCI-Arc, curated by Elena Manferdini, currently the Graduate Programs Chair at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles and former Graduate Thesis Coordinator.

Convinced that nowadays architectural academic discourse emerges from buzzing conversations and online feeds between students and professors as well as practitioners and theorists, Elena Manferdini has selected these videos as a useful guide for the students that embark into the personal project of thesis. The collection attempts to evoke this present-day architectural conversation and offer a snapshot of a particular strain of cultural production at SCI-Arc.

Curated by Elena Manferdini, SCI-Arc Graduate Programs Chair

2019 Graduate Thesis Weekend

2019 Graduate Thesis Weekend

06:28

SCI-Arc’s 2019 Graduate Thesis Weekend included reviews of the thesis projects with over 50 critics including SCI-Arc faculty and invited guests. Critics included Ellie Abrons, Frances Anderton, Johan Bettum, Edward Eigen, K. Michael Hays, Thom Mayne and Amanda Reeser-Lawrence among others.

SCI-Arc Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2019

SCI-Arc Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2019

11:35

Highlights from the 2019 SCI-Arc Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition. The show featured award winning Graduate Thesis projects in the SCI-Arc Gallery. Graduate Thesis represents the culmination of the Graduate curriculum at SCI-Arc.

SCI-Arc's Gehry Prize Winners

SCI-Arc's Gehry Prize Winners

07:42

SCI-Arc’s Gehry Prize is awarded annually to Graduating students in the school’s M.Arch programs for the Best Graduate Thesis. The prize, established in 2012, is generously endowed by Frank Gehry, FAIA. Five recent recipients of the Gehry Prize speak about how the prize was instrumental in launching their careers as young professionals in the field of architecture.

Brett Steele and Hernán Díaz Alonso: Thesis? (March 27, 2009)

Brett Steele and Hernán Díaz Alonso: Thesis? (March 27, 2009)

01:29:17

Brett Steele discusses the architectural thesis project with Hernan Diaz Alonso. Steele begins with a survey of significant projects from the past, arguing that these projects are more interesting for their new ways of making an argument than for their designs.

Thesis Prep Symposium (March 6, 2012)

Thesis Prep Symposium (March 6, 2012)

01:25:57

Elena Manferdini moderates a discussion between Eric Owen Moss, Hernan Diaz Alonso, Jeffrey Kipnis, and Peter Eisenman regarding the relevance of thesis in architecture school.

Todd Gannon: Thesis Research lecture (February 16, 2015)

Todd Gannon: Thesis Research lecture (February 16, 2015)

48:17

Todd Gannon proposes five general guidelines to graduate students embarking on their thesis:

Privilege Difference Over Similarity Avoid Cliché Making Privilege How Over What Develop New Vocabularies Enfranchise New Constituencies

2017 Grad Thesis Prep Symposium (March 3, 2017)

2017 Grad Thesis Prep Symposium (March 3, 2017)

01:28:25

SCI-Arc students Connor Covey, James Kubiniec, Sasha Tillmann, and Nithya Subramaniam present drafts of their in-process graduate thesis proposals. Stan Allen, Florencia Pita, Marcelyn Gow, and Todd Gannon critique the proposals.

2018 Graduate Thesis Weekend

2018 Graduate Thesis Weekend

09:00

SCI-Arc’s 2018 Graduate Thesis Weekend included reviews of the thesis projects with over 60 critics including SCI-Arc faculty and invited guests.

SCI-Arc Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2018

SCI-Arc Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2018

11:56

Highlights from the 2018 SCI-Arc Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition.

Graduate Thesis Weekend 2017

Graduate Thesis Weekend 2017

05:02

Watch highlights from SCI-Arc’s 2017 Graduate Thesis Weekend

Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2017

Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2017

04:22

Join Graduate Programs Chair Elena Manferdini and Graduate Thesis Coordinator Florencia Pita for an in-depth look at SCI-Arc’s Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2017, a juried exhibition of exceptional thesis projects by 2017 graduates.

Graduate Thesis Weekend 2016

Graduate Thesis Weekend 2016

06:36

Watch highlights from SCI-Arc’s 2016 Graduate Thesis Weekend. The weekend’s events included reviews of the 81 thesis projects with over 50 critics including SCI-Arc faculty and invited guests.

Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2016

Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2016

08:59

Graduate Programs Chair Elena Manferdini and Graduate Thesis Coordinator Florencia Pita give an in-depth look at SCI-Arc’s Selected Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2016, a juried exhibition of exceptional thesis projects by 2016 graduates.

SCI-Arc Channel Presents Grad Thesis Weekend 2015

SCI-Arc Channel Presents Grad Thesis Weekend 2015

05:45

Grad Thesis Weekend, the school’s biggest annual event, is a culmination of up to three years of study and coursework leading toward Master of Architecture degrees.

2014 Selected Thesis Exhibition (September 15, 2014)

2014 Selected Thesis Exhibition (September 15, 2014)

29:03

Eric Owen Moss opens the 2014 exhibition of selected thesis projects, encouraging current students to view the work not as models but as starting points for new explorations. Faculty advisors comment on the three Gehry Prize-winning projects: Moss on”Puzzling” by Hannah Pavlovich (M.Arch 1), Hernan Diaz Alonso on”Glass House” by Jeffrey Halstead (M.Arch 1), and Elena Manferdini on”I Am Out of Focus” by Mustafa Kustur (M.Arch 2).

2014 Grad Thesis Prep Symposium (March 19, 2014)

2014 Grad Thesis Prep Symposium (March 19, 2014)

01:57:43

After Elena Manferdini explains the history and format of the symposium, six students present their thesis proposals: Taryn Bone, Scotty Zane Carroll, Mustafa Kustur, Hannah Pavlovich, Julian Ma, and Yu Li. To begin the panel discussion, Manferdini reviews some of the key ideas that have shaped thesis at SCI-Arc over the last eight years. Marcelyn Gow, Hernan Diaz Alonso, and Andrew Zago debate what is needed now to keep thesis at SCI-Arc relevant, the crucial transition from thesis research to design, and plausibility.