SCI-Arc Commencement 2023 Ushers in New Generation of Radical Architectural Minds

On September 10, 2023, SCI-Arc held its annual commencement ceremony to celebrate and honor the hard work, dedication, and achievements of this year’s graduating class, marking the end of a thrilling and eventful month at the school, which included a remarkable, boundary-pushing installment of its renowned Graduate Thesis Weekend.

Taking place at the SCI-Arc’s Arts District campus, friends, family, faculty, staff, and graduates gathered beneath the P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S Pavilion for the commencement ceremony, which saw rousing remarks by director Hernán Díaz Alonso, professor and dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University Mónica Ponce de León, and student speaker and B.Arch graduate Babatunde-Majadi Adejare.

“Today, of course, is a celebration,” began Díaz Alonso. “You’ve accomplished a massive milestone in your career and your life—it's a moment to enjoy, it's a moment to treasure… all of you today are architects.”

After a dedication to the memory of Robert Mangurian, a longtime, influential SCI-Arc faculty member who passed away this summer, he continued: “It's important moment for us always to remember those who were part of the school and those that came before us; they are part of the legacy that you are now adding your name to.”

Delivering the commencement address de León noted that “architecture is a creative practice like music composition or creative writing, but architects occupy a very special and unique place in our culture. We give shape to ideas, and we know how to make the future present. We build that which was not there. We think critically about the world around us, and we provide change. We do not reflect culture, we build it—that is our superpower. And I'm very confident that this class of graduates will use their superpowers well.”

De León continued with an aspirational tint: “Make no mistakes, you are all part of a runaway school built as an alternative to architectural education. You are part of a crazy venture that began with a handful of faculty and a few students. Now, look around and see what has become of this crazy venture just 50 years later…I believe not only that bold ideas are needed, but also that the architect to make concrete, to build, to materialize is more important than ever.”

Speaking on behalf of this year’s graduating students Adejare expressed, “There's something really electric about seeing the results of our work at SCI-Arc, and it's not just because we have all of our friends to see our final results. It's not because of the crowds we have at Thesis. It's because we know better than others the blood, sweat, and tears it really took to make our idea come to realization. And to get to this moment is incredible. It's hard for all of us to congratulate ourselves sometimes, but as a student, I really want to invite you all to take a moment to say, ‘You did it. We made it.’"

Following remarks was the presentation of SCI-Arc Service Awards, Bronze Alpha Rho Chi Medals, AIA Medal for Academic Excellence, and SCI-Arc Peer Appreciation Award by SCI-Arc Vice Director and Chief Academic Officer John Enright. Undergraduate Programs Chairs Kristy Balliet and Marcelyn Gown, Graduate Programs Chair Elena Manferdini, and Postgraduate Programs Chair David Ruy then handed out diplomas and Graduation with Distinction Awards.

Díaz Alonso concluded the ceremony with the Hsinming Fung and Craig Hodgetts Postgraduate Thesis Prize, Blythe + Thom Mayne Undergraduate Thesis Prize, and SCI-Arc Gehry Prize, adding: “We have massive, massive amount of confidence in all of you. We know the integrity that all of you have, the passion that you have in your work. Architecture, as I said, that was at the beginning, is not just a profession, it's a way of life.”

The evening commenced with a lively fête catered by Palikao, accompanied by the musical stylings of DJ Estradation, with projection mapping by Caroline Marks, as attendees and graduates danced the night away against a backdrop of Los Angeles’s spectacular sunset.

Complete list of 2023 award winners is below:

SCI-Arc Service Award
- Babatunde-Majadi Adejare (B.Arch)
- Angelina Castagnola (M.Arch 1)
- Jack London Freedman (M.Arch 2)

Bronze Alpha Rho Chi Medal
- Matthew Ross Hunt (M.Arch 1)

AIA Medal for Academic Excellence
- Kevin James Foley (B.Arch)
- Maxsolace Chidindu Enwere (M.Arch 1)

SCI-Arc Thesis Peer Recognition Awards
- Adam Edward Rafeedie (B.Arch)
- Pan Tan (M.Arch 1)

Graduation with Distinction
- Nadia Larissa Calderón (B.Arch)
- Kevin James Foley (B.Arch)
- Jennifer Frangieh (B.Arch)
- Zhuohao Guo(B.Arch)
- Eliot Victor Sauquet (B.Arch)
- Eric Gordon Swanson (B.Arch)
- Edwin MacKenzie Masson Champlin (M.Arch 1)
- Maxsolace Chidindu Enwere (M.Arch 1)
- Matthew Ross Hunt (M.Arch 1)
- Pan Tan (M.Arch 1)
- Kristoff Sebastian Fink (M.Arch 2)
- Jack London Freedman (M.Arch 2)
- Felix Alexander Reyes (M.Arch 2)
- Fang Shu (M.Arch 2)
- Kyle Jacob Zufra (M.Arch 2)
- Yu-Ting Chang (MS Architectural Technologies)
- Yewoinhareg Tesfa Geberemariam (MS Architectural Technologies)
- Jonathan P. Penvose (MS Architectural Technologies)
- Sereyvathana Heng (MS Design of Cities)
- Daniel A. Mabie (MS Design Theory and Pedagogy)
- Chinnapat Asavabenya (MS Fiction and Entertainment)
- Hyunoh Chang (MS Fiction and Entertainment)
- Blaze Gonzalez (MS Fiction and Entertainment)
- Sakaokaew Jindawitchu (MS Fiction and Entertainment)
- Saumil Upadhyay (MS Fiction and Entertainment)
- Thomas Stanley White (MS Fiction and Entertainment)
- Justin Doro (MS Synthetic Landscapes)
- Alena Saveleva (MS Synthetic Landscapes)

Merit Undergraduate Thesis Awards
- Nadia Larissa Calderón + Eliot Victor Sauquet (B.Arch)
- Iok U Chan + Ethan Keen Wai Tham (B.Arch)
- Timothy Jin Choi + Kevin James Foley (B.Arch)
- Siyu Shelley Luo + Wenhao Huang (B.Arch)
- Eric Gordon Swanson (B.Arch)

Merit Graduate Thesis Awards
- Edwin MacKenzie Masson Champlin (M.Arch 1)
- Jingbo Huang (M.Arch 1)
- Matthew Ross Hunt (M.Arch 1)
- Matthew Pak (M.Arch 1)
- Pan Tan (M.Arch 1)
- Jenny Cook + Hanna Park (M.Arch 2)
- Kristoff Sebastian Fink + Felix Alexander Reyes (M.Arch 2)
- Jack London Freedman (M.Arch 2)
- Arthur Thomas Modine (M.Arch 2)
- Yiyu Zhou (M.Arch 2)

Hsinming Fung + Craig Hodgetts Postgraduate Thesis Prize
- Jonathan P. Penvose (MS Architectural Technologies)
- Chinnapat Asavabenya + Sakaokaew Jindawitchu (MS Fiction and Entertainment)
- Alena Saveleva (MS Synthetic Landscapes)

Blythe and Thom Mayne Undergraduate Thesis Prize
- Peter Andres Rosa (B.Arch)

SCI-Arc Gehry Prize
- Charite Carballo (M.Arch 1)
- Man Shu (M.Arch 2)