SAN DIEGO—December 21, 2015—Ramiro Losada, an undergraduate architecture faculty member at NewSchool of Architecture & Design (NewSchool) is profiled in the December issue of Architectural Record for his firm, Losada García, which was named one of the top 10 emerging architecture firms worldwide in 2015.

According to Architectural Record, each year the publication highlights architects “doing some of the most innovative work in the field who will lead the profession in the future.” In the profile of Losada, along with his business partner Alberto Garcia, the author writes that they “represent a new breed of Spanish architect” that is globe-trotting and media savvy. Prior to starting their firm in 2008 in Cáceres, Spain, the pair launched Studio Banana TV, a multimedia platform that produces interviews and documentaries about design, art, and culture on the web.

“This recognition, by one of the most respected industry publications in the world, is really important both for me and my partner Alberto Garcia,” said Losada, who teaches third-year architecture studio at NewSchool. “Our San Diego office recently opened, so this selection reinforces the idea that our projects are understood in two different cultures, both European and American. We aim to promote thinking globally but acting locally, so with this selection we reaffirm this concept.”

In his capacity at NewSchool, Ramiro, along with more than a dozen students and fellow instructor Victor Navarro, designed and constructed an installation for the STEAMConnect Education Conference held in San Diego spring 2015. Other upcoming projects of Losada García include the Peraleda House, Peraleda (Cáceres), Spain, 2014–16; Torres House, Navalmoral (Cáceres), Spain, 2015–16; and Interior Library, San Diego, 2016.

For more information on Losada Garcia Architects, as profiled in Architectural Record, visit https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/11360-losada-garca-architects-cceres-spainsan-diego.

NewSchool students, along with architecture professor Chuck Crawford, were recently featured in the December issue of the San Diego Jewish Journal for the Leichtag Foundation’s commissioned project to design and construct a sukkah, which is a temporary shelter covered in natural materials.

October’s Sukkot Festival was the third year that NewSchool students and faculty led the sukkah design project, which gave students the opportunity for hands-on learning around designing a structure that would appeal to the public; creating a construction schedule; identifying a list of needed materials; and handling administrative details that go into a building project of this size.

To read the full article and learn more about the project that has involved more than 30 students over the past three years, check out the current issue of San Diego Jewish Journal (article on page 38).

The new accelerated undergraduate architecture programs will allow students to graduate and enter the workforce more quickly

Media Contact:

Lauren McDaniel

lmcdaniel@newschoolarch.edu

1-619-684-8775

San Diego, CA —December 17, 2015 —NewSchool of Architecture & Design (NewSchool) today announced that the university now offers accelerated options for students to earn undergraduate architecture degrees, allowing them to graduate and enter the workforce more quickly and to decrease their overall costs.

“There have been various studies and increased awareness about the need for a contemporary approach to and innovative methods of teaching and learning in architecture education,” said Len Zegarski, NewSchool Undergraduate Architecture Program Chair. “The new vision for professional architecture education needs to be innovative. The result needs to be efficient, time-and cost-sensitive, and sufficiently agile to meet the needs of future architects.”

The academic framework now implemented for the accelerated undergraduate architecture program options at NewSchool include a comprehensive professional architecture education that consists of accelerated degree tracks that fit the needs of students of all ages and proficiency levels. Through the new tracks, available at a tuition discount, students are able to complete their Bachelors of Arts in Architecture in three years or the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)-accredited Bachelor of Architecture professional degree in four years by taking up to 18 credits of course work each quarter. This is one year faster than NewSchool’s traditional five-year undergraduate architecture programs, allowing students to save time, reduce tuition costs and give them a head start on their career in architecture.

In addition to the new accelerated undergraduate architecture degrees, NewSchool is also one of the first 13 accredited architectural programs to be accepted for participation in the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL) initiative. The new pathway to licensure will incorporate all elements required for licensure into the academic program, decreasing time to architectural licensure for students who complete all IPAL program requirements. A rule change allowing students to take the Architect Registration Examination sections while still in school is currently pending final approval by the California Architects Board.

NewSchool recently hosted Vancouver-based architecture critic/urbanist Trevor Boddy on campus as part of its ongoing lecture series. Boddy spoke on a “Dialogue of Cities” between Vancouver and the rapidly redeveloping downtown area of San Diego, highlighting the history and development of the two cities. He also met with a smaller group of NewSchool students to discuss his published article in the Journal of Architectural Education on the state of architecture criticism and changes in the industry.

According to Boddy, San Diego’s East Village (home to NewSchool) has the opportunity to serve as the “test tube” for a formula for the new San Diego, with its cultural diversity and interesting projects such as SILO in the Makers Quarter. Drawing from his own home base in Vancouver, Canada, Boddy also emphasized that today’s architecture students should have interests outside of architecture and be willing to travel; He indicated how the world is getting even more global today – with ideas, people and money – and learning in another climate, with new friends and interests, will translate into more professional opportunities for today’s graduates.

In addition to his role as critic, urbanist and historian, Boddy is also a curator and catalog editor of the current exhibition, “Rethink: Behind San Diego’s Skyline” in a newly designed gallery at 700 First Avenue in San Diego.

NewSchool is one of four schools in California that will host the Division of the State Architect’s (DSA) “7x7x7: Case Studies in School Energy and Water Reduction,” event series, dubbed “7x7x7: Design, Energy, Water” in January 2016.

Sponsored by DSA, a part of the California Department of General Services, in partnership with the California Energy Commission and AIA California Council (AIACC), the initiative engages seven architecture firms to develop a total of seven conceptual case studies for seven representative school campuses. The case studies, each of which will examine the retrofit of a hypothetical classroom building, a multipurpose building, or both, are intended to serve as training programs and to foster conversation among school administrators and facilities members to “reimagine together how schools can be renovated to reduce energy and water usage and create great opportunities for education.”

Read more about the initiative in Architect Magazine.

Of the 17 awards given to companies and professionals recognized at the 39^th annual Orchids & Onions event in San Diego, three awards went to NewSchool of Architecture & Design alumni for their architecture design and innovation. NewSchool alumni specifically took home an Orchid for Architecture, Orchid for Interior Design and an Orchid for the Miscellaneous category.

Orchids & Onions is an annual fundraising program of the San Diego Architectural Foundation, which aims to educate the public on what makes good architecture, planning, landscapes, graphics and interiors. The event also raises awareness and practical discourse about the environment in order to effect positive change and more thoughtful design.

Orchid for Architecture

Kettner Exchange (NewSchool alumni from the San Diego firm Tecture):

https://www.orchidsandonions.org/project/kettner-exchange/

As reported in the San Diego Union Tribune, the judges said: “Kettner Exchange appears like a box of light, illuminating the night and inviting passerby to come inside for a further look. The jury was impressed that the designer kept the original structure intact, yet included a series of intriguing and fresh design elements.” Tecture collaborated with Bluemotif Architecture on this project.

Orchid for Interior Design

Patio on Goldfinch (NewSchool alumni from the San Diego firm Tecture):

https://www.orchidsandonions.org/project/the-patio-on-goldfinch/

“The designers took an eyesore and transformed it into something that has been wholeheartedly embraced by the community.”

Orchid for the Miscellaneous Category

Quartyard (NewSchool alumni from the San Diego firm RAD Lab):

https://www.orchidsandonions.org/project/quartyard/

“The jury felt this was another example of a project that created great spaces out of garbage places. It is a true community gathering space and offers something for everyone. It has successfully activated and utilized open space and creates a wonderful gathering place for residents and visitors alike.”

SAN DIEGO—October 12, 2015—NewSchool of Architecture & Design (NewSchool) awarded architect Jorge Zapata (’95) as its ‘Alumnus of the Year’ during its annual convocation ceremony on Friday, Oct. 9. Zapata is recognized for his body of architectural and design work, and for his leadership in starting his own New York-based firm.

Zapata is co-founder of Diad Architecture in New York City a full-service architecture firm that works on projects ranging from cultural, residential and commercial buildings to product and furniture design. As managing director, Zapata oversees client relations, office operations, and directs projects from conception through habitation. He closely oversees all aspects of design, balancing the pragmatic considerations of construction and the pursuit of ideas.

“I have very fond memories of when I studied at NewSchool of Architecture & Design and I am very grateful for the education I received,” said Zapata. “My time there as a student consolidated my passion for architecture, a passion which I am continually trying to nurture. I believe the foundation I received at NewSchool, through the teachers and friends I met there, as well as the learning environment that we as students were surrounded with, kept me true to my passion.”

Zapata graduated from NewSchool in 1995 with a degree in architecture, previously receiving a Diplôme de Langue et de Culture Françaises (language and art history) at L’Université Catholique de L’Ouest in Angers, France. He went on to attend Yale School of Architecture, where he was awarded the Charles O. Matcham Scholarship upon graduating with a master’s degree in architecture. Zapata has been invited as a guest juror to various design studios at the New York Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology and has taught architecture-related courses at the PRATT Center for Continuing and Professional Studies.

“Architecture teachers consider themselves fortunate if they get to teach just a handful of truly good designers in their careers, and Jorge Zapata was one of those students,” said Kurt Hunker, Director of Graduate Programs and Chair of the Graduate Program in Architecture at NewSchool. “Jorge’s projects, such as the Kent Avenue Arts Center, opening in January 2017, as well as the Seaside House, demonstrate his natural, innate, seemingly effortless talent as a designer of exceptional buildings.”

For the second year in a row, a NewSchool team of students took first place in the initial stage of the Design Build Institute of America’s (DBIA) 2015 National Student Competition – Western Pacific Region. According to the Executive Director of DBIA and the Competition Chair, “the competition was extremely strong, and the regional jury members were very impressed with [the] team’s qualifications and responses to the RFQ.”

The NewSchool team will advance to the next stage of the competition and won a $1,500 stipend.

Participating students and alumni include Jose Ponce (team captain), Chris Lerma, Jaime Mello, Beatrice Soto, and Luis Valdovinos. They will work with NewSchool Construction Management Chair George Welch as they begin the preparation of a design/build plan for a virtual project.

Juhani Pallasmaa, a world-renowned Finnish architect who visited NewSchool in 2014 to participate in the university’s lecture series, was recently featured in Dwell Magazine. In the article — drawn from the reporter’s interview with the architect just prior to his NewSchool lecture — Pallasmaa discusses challenges for today’s emerging architects; his feelings about San Diego’s Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute; and provides insight about city skylines and architectural integrity, among other topics.

As an architect, educator, and critic, Pallasmaa, Architect SAFA, Hon. FAIA, Int FRIBA, is a leading international figure in contemporary architecture, design, and art culture. The 1999 recipient of the International Union of Architects’Jean Tschumi Prize for architectural criticism, Pallasmaa has written and lectured extensively throughout the world for more than 40 years on architecture and the visual arts, on environmental psychology, and on cultural philosophy. Since 2008, he has served on the jury for the Pritzker Prize for Architecture.

The NewSchool lecture series brings inspiring and innovative designers and architects from around the world to campus as part of the school’s mission to enhance global design education opportunities for its students and the community. During his time at NewSchool, Pallasmaa led two lectures, “Hand and Symbol: A Dialogue Between Architecture and the Science of the Brain,” as well as “Landscapes of Architectural Education: Architecture, Knowledge and Existential Wisdom.”

For some memorable quotes from his lecture, visit https://newschoolarch.edu/news/memorable-quotes-by-architect-juhani-pallasmaa/. Upcoming programs in the NewSchool lecture series can also be found at https://www.newschoolarch.edu/events.

Read the full interview here.