General Information
Cal Poly LA Metro Program
The Los Angeles Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design immerses aspiring architects in a multicultural urban setting--rich with amazing learning, practicing, and networking opportunities. The program is designed to engage local architects, alumni, and the many institutions in Los Angeles to support student education and future career goals. In addition to our unique curriculum that will focus on Los Angeles -- its architecture, history, urbanity, and culture -- we will reach out to the local community to enhance our program's learning structure through visiting lecturers, digital design workshops, internships, and public events. This exciting program will introduce Cal Poly Architecture students to living and working in Los Angeles, and assist them to begin their careers as contemporary architects.
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Geared towards Architecture students, this program offers students the opportunity to earn major credit while learning, practicing, and living in Los Angeles, CA. Students earn Cal Poly credit on this program.
Students will be responsible for developing their own interest and trajectory for their design investigation based on the stated program and assignments to be provided. Through extensive collaboration with their instructors, each student will elaborate and focus their work. Projects will develop quickly and advance significantly in coordination with a rigorous schedule set by the instructors. Students will be expected to participate in studio in both group and individual conversations with their instructors. Students will be present at all scheduled classes and field trips.
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The design studio will be a regular full studio meeting M,Th,F that will focus on design, theory, technology, and urbanism - most likely an extremely technology driven institutional/infrastructural multi-use project located in Los Angeles. The first quarter will emphasize research, site analysis, diagramming, programming, and architectural studies and schematic design investigations. The second quarter will emphasize design development, technology, detailing, wall sections, skin studies and rendering/presentations skills.
Additional faculty teach in the program alongside the director in studio design, practice, and/or history/theory. There are also added guest lectures, office visits, building tours, symposia, field trips, digital workshops, mid and final reviews, and varied public events planned to incorporate, introduce, and involve students within the greater Los Angeles area - its rich and vibrant history and contemporary design culture. Supplementing the design studio, these events will be held either in our studio and seminar space, or at off-site venues, and at other institutions or architecture offices. There is typically one field trip to New York City or another national location as part of the program to visit other architecture school, urban cultures, buildings, and offices. Field trips are at the student’s own expense.
A History/Theory seminar will be offered in the winter or spring and will fulfill the Arch. 420 requirement. A practice seminar will be offered in the winter or spring and will count toward the Arch. 443 requirement.
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During the Winter and Spring Quarters there will also be professional studio/internships on TW (12-16hrs/wk total) that will count for educational credit. These internships will provide students a valuable work experience that will assist them to find jobs when they graduate and introduce them to the Los Angeles architecture community.
Firms participating include: AC Martin Partners, Ball Nogues, B+U, Eric Owen Moss Architects, CO Architects, FreelandBuck, Griffin Enright Architects, Marmol Radziner, Michael Folonis Architects, Morphosis Architects, Montalba Architects, MURMUR, Neil M. Denari Architects, NBBJ, PATTERNS Architects, Patrick Tighe Architecture, CalliosnRTKL, Shimoda Design Group, Synthesis Design + Architecture, Tom Wiscombe Design, WTARCH, ZGF, among others.
Every reasonable effort will be made to match students to an internship program of their interest and/or choice. Internship opportunities, selections, and assignments will be determined during the Fall Quarter for Winter Quarter—Winter Quarter for Spring Quarter. Students will have opportunities to intern in two different offices. Many of these internships are paid in addition to receiving educational credit; students are encouraged to seek AXP hours towards licensure as applicable.
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Courses - Winter Quarter
- ARCH-452 (5 units) Architectural Design 4.2
- ARCH-420 (4 units) Seminar in Architectural History, Theory and Criticism
- ARCH-480 (3 units) Special Studies in Architecture
Courses - Spring Quarter
- ARCH-453 (5 units) Architectural Design 4.3
- ARCH-443 (4 units) Issues in Contemporary Professional Practice
- ARCH-480 (3 units) Special Studies in Architecture
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•This is primarily a design studio, students are here to learn methods, techniques, and the processes involved in learning how to think about and create innovative architecture
• We are here to explore and develop a process throughout that can provide the basic research tools to conceptualize and design a unique experimental architectural language
• We are here to learn to read, analyze, and design in correlation to a complex program and site
• We are here to learn to create meaningful projects that respond to sophisticated programming interests
• We are here to learn to design and construct elegantly conceived and beautifully crafted complex drawings and models (both analog and digital)
• We are here to develop our visual, material, and computer skills used to design and represent ideas
• We will learn basic approaches to develop pragmatic skills necessary to build and construct our innovative architectural designs (note: we are not here to learn how to design standard construction solutions for practical building designs)
• We are here to learn the skills and practices necessary to obtain positions in the best architecture firms and top graduate schools nationally and internationally.
• We will learn to promote a process of education that aims towards life-long learning.
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How to Apply
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Cal Poly, SLO
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Administration
Faculty: Past and Present
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Stephen Phillips
Program Director
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Jimenez Lai
Design
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Joanna Grant
Design
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Ernestina Osario
Architectural Theory and History
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Pavel Getov
Professional Practice
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Teddy Slowik
Professional Practice
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Fabio Zangoli
Structural Consultant
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Ismael Soto
Assistant Professor
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Sarah Hearne
Architecture Theory and History
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Alex Maymind
Architecture Theory and History
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Jia Gu
Architecture Theory and History
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Erick Carcamo
Assistant Professor
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Alexis Roworth
Professional Practice
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Aaron Ryan
Architecture Design and Software Applications
Student Internships