Greg Lynn to Lead UCLA 2009 - 2010 M.Arch.II SUPRASTUDIO

Technology Transfer

Greg Lynn, winner of the Venice Biennale in 2008, will lead a one year studio exploring the impact of new manufacturing and digital technologies from aerospace, naval, automotive, defense and entertainment industries on architectural form.  California has the highest concentration of high technology industries in the world and is the center for entertainment and animation software whose implications for architecture were first deployed by Professor Lynn. This Suprastudio is not merely vocational; although new tools will be learned, the focus is on new design mediums using animation, robotics and the spatial, formal and material expression of these popular cultures germane to Southern California.  The studio will take advantage of these resources including developments in robotics, through sponsorships with industry, participation of a client, and the involvement of professional consultants.  The studio will work closely with the Laboratory for Misfit Robots in the newly launched UCLA Architecture and Urban Design Center for Design Technology.  Physical model studies and mock-ups of methods of construction will be central to the design work. 

A project in the Los Angeles region will be chosen to illustrate the applicability of these technologies to the design of a state-of-the-art sustainable building. The studio will culminate in a publication.

UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design, known for its powerful blend of avant-garde thinking and innovative design practice, launches SUPRASTUDIO, a new model for architectural education. A higher order of design education, SUPRASTUDIO elevates the academic experience of future leaders in architectural design to a level unique among post-professional M.Arch. II programs. The M.Arch. II degree promotes critical practice by emphasizing applied research.

SUPRASTUDIO is an intensive combination of five elements modeling advanced design practice:

• Close, extended studio work with a major architect
• Intensive collaboration with outside consultants
• In-depth study of contemporary architectural and urban issues using cutting- edge research, modeling, and visualization techniques
• A team of faculty and visitors offering critical studies and technical seminars related to the studio project
• Direct experience working with a private or institutional client

SUPRASTUDIO is a series of four studios and associated research leading to the post-professional degree.

SUPRASTUDIO investigates architecture’s experimental deployment at the city scale, as well as the building and its fabrication. A team of faculty and visitors offer critical studies and technical seminars related to the studio project. Advanced students from across the globe undertake projects with internationally recognized faculty in collaboration with expert consultants, visitors, and client leaders from industry, government and civic community. The year’s focused, four-studio sequence, anchored by emerging design technologies and current theory, takes a fresh look at architecture in the contemporary post urban condition. There is no better site than Los Angles to sue as a springboard in to the provocative opportunities confronting the next generation of architects. 

Greg Lynn biography
Greg Lynn has defined how designers and architects use computers as a medium, operating in an expanded field that fuses cutting-edge technology, contemporary art, and science fiction aesthetics with architectural form. In 2008 he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale for Best Installation Project. In 2005, Forbes magazine named Lynn one of the ten most influential living architects and in 2000 Time Magazine named him one of one hundred people that would shape the next century. He is the author of several seminal books and the subject of Rizzoli’s new publication edited by Mark Rappolt, Greg Lynn FORM.

Application deadline is December 15, 2008
For late application extension please contact Jim Kies at [email protected] or 310.825.0525.
www.aud.ucla.edu

Contact
Jim Kies
Student Advisor
1317 Perloff Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Phone: 310.825.7857
Email: [email protected]