Since it first opened in 1972, SCI-Arc has been relentlessly expanding and honing its ambitions. As we move into the next 50 years, we are confronting numerous challenges—a planet on the edge of ecological collapse, social and racial inequality, global health and healthcare crises, and uncertain economic conditions. As we find ourselves existing amid a pivotal period of history during which stakes are especially high, now is not the time to be fearful. Rather, now is the time to examine the world with fresh eyes and be ready to forge decisively ahead.
Message from the Director
We embrace the cutting edge at SCI-Arc. As an institute and not a university—neither constrained by stubborn bureaucracies, nor preservationists of traditional forms of knowledge—moving with great agility into new territories. As early testers of the pioneering use of models and methodologies such as machine learning, AI, and VR, we believe that the humanistic endeavor of architecture education is best suited to employ critical and layered thinking about this technology and how it will shape the future. We must never forget that architecture is an act of optimism, a dynamic form of knowledge, and a way to approach the world that can be applied to many other disciplines and modes of professional practice.
Across our history, SCI-Arc has become a place where virtuosos train and thrive, but we also believe in the interconnectedness of great design and social change. Drawing on our legacy of seeking radically new responses to the changing needs and aspirations of our society, we are listening more deeply, playing more meaningfully, and remain dedicated to reimagining spatial and social environments for an increasingly diverse world.
Design matters like never before. On behalf of the many students and teachers who have been with us through the past 50 years: we are so very proud of how they have already transformed the world. To the many students and teachers yet to arrive: it is a wonderful thing to welcome all that is to come as we imagine the next fifty years, your imaginations ignited in ways you could have never thought possible.
We never stop evolving. SCI-Arc, like architecture, is forever a work in progress. Embracing the future requires confidence and humility in equal measure: confidence to believe that we can shape reality, and humility to understand that we are always learning. We don’t have all the answers—but we invite you to work together with us to discover them.
We look forward to your contributions to this collective, audacious, evolving, optimistic school of architectural thinking. Welcome to SCI-Arc.
-Hernán Díaz Alonso, Director/CEO