A. The moment it happened

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What was the architecture department at Cal Poly Pomona like back then? Who were the main players? What was the philosophy?

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Ray and a core group of young Architect Practitioner-Teachers, all people Ray had confidence in, were assembled in the late 1960s to start an architectural program. I was a student at another University and had heard about what was going on there. What I recall was that whatever I heard had resonated, amplifying the growth hormones of a young man in his formative years. So I called Mr. Kappe directly, multiple times, until he finally took the call.

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Ray wanted adventurous young minds to flourish in a collaborative environment, exploring the outer limits of the architectural mind via project-based teaching and learning. I realized that there was no other place I wanted to be. I was there because of what Ray had conceived, and I would follow him again when we decided to “start our own school.”

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Why did Cal Poly become untenable?

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Simply, the upper admin lacked imagination, and specifically for two reasons:

- they chose perpetuating the lore and conventions of the institutional structure over the well-being of students and teachers,

- they were led by a conventional Dean who could not overcome a personality conflict with the Chair for the good of the students.

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When did you realize/decide it was time to leave Cal Poly Pomona? Do you remember where you were, what else was going on in your mind and around you?

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We resisted the removal of Ray as Chair of Architecture – in positive ways, mostly – and began to meet regularly in a small group of 10-15 people at Ray's Santa Monica office to release our anger and disbelief, and to focus our thoughts as a prelude to discuss what next. One evening we discussed how we might change the minds of the University President and the College Dean, who both were stubborn and not responding to reason. This made me think about how much time it would take to change my own Mother's mind (strong-willed Italian Mother), and how much time would be left to play. ZERO.

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I recall mentioning this, and then I imagined all of us saying, simultaneously,

“Then, let’s start our own school.”

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Although we did not really know the work that was in front of us, hearing Ray say Yes, lets do it, I felt the weight of the confrontation lifted and I felt a lightness. From this joyful feeling, mixed with the confidence of youthful inexperience, we excitedly moved forward on this.

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What was LA as a city, as a cultural hub, like then? How did Santa Monica fit in or differ?

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LA was coming of age as we were coming of age, as the school was being born. It was a wonderful coincidence, and it was four years after the great student riots worldwide, which had already done the "thriving on anger and contempt" thing – which set things in motion, to some degree, but that was not our interest or approach.  We were young Architects who were inherently motivated to solve any problem, no matter how difficult, with optimism and creativity. Instead of trying to transform an outmoded model of governance and education, it made more sense to find our own dirt and build our own school from scratch. So, we did. We sidestepped and went our own way.

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What else was going on in your life or practice?

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Shortly after the school was founded, I had a son – it was serendipitous. He was my portal to discovering love in unexpected ways, and the necessity to be present and patient as a teacher and practitioner. I also learned about the developmental milestones of little humans and the role curiosity plays. I discovered the intersection where matters of the mind meet matters of the heart. This period made me a better teacher and friend.

 

What were you guys doing for fun?

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To me, it felt like we were on holiday every moment of everyday. Imagine when you are young, with more ideas than places to put them. We had each other – a tribe of young creative minds with boundless imagination and energy, who had more responsibility than we had earned, testing ideas about society and education at a scale we could envision and imagine, promiscuously looking for anything to design and build as we invented a practice and life. It was a gift. This was our work and our leisure.

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B. SCI-Arc

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Why did you want to found your own school?

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It was the only way out of the box we were put in, but the greatest motivation for me was that I knew it was going to be so much fun to be completely immersed in architecture. Creativity would come from joy, not fear or torment anymore. I was in the playground once again, as I was as a young boy. And I/we all looked forward to the uncertainty of a challenge we had no prior experience with. I was now believing that anything imaginable was possible.

 

What was the most important quality you wanted to establish at SCI-Arc?

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Finding the sweet spot of equilibrium between Cooperation and Competition, Thinking and Making, Science, Architecture, and Humanities. To construct a curriculum based on knowledge, skills, and values as we searched for better methods of integrating intelligence, emotion, craft, and a speculative longer-term vision into education and practice.

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We were just becoming familiar with what critical practice meant. Since we were not pedigree and were on the other side of the Rocky Mountains (which the European umbilical never really negotiated), we could learn from the past, yet in ways that suited our own needs and interests, and in the context of a place that had no traditions to weigh us down. We were informed without expectations, if you will. In some ways we had to learn self-discipline and rigor. We also believed that the ultimate test of a good idea was to construct it.  

 

What were the challenges in being an independent, renegade school?

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We had no higher authority to tell us what to do, no traditions to adhere to, and no one to fall back on when we made mistakes or did not understand the true relationship of structure and freedom. I did not ever think we were renegades, because we were living in a world we were creating, so we did not have to strategize taking down an existing system. We were constructing a new one. The ultimate test of an idea.

 

What were the opportunities in being an independent, renegade school?

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Inventing a hybrid model based on what we considered the best practices from recent memory: Black Mountain College, AA, UCL-Bartlett, Cooper Union, Cornell/Syracuse axis, Reggio Emilio, Montessori, Waldorf, and IAUS/Eisenman in NYC.

 

What were those first students like? Who stands out?

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The first class consisted of 10 students, which included me. We were a tight band of brothers with a common purpose and cooperative approach. We gave each other strength and helped each other succeed. This was where I relived my childhood memories of a family. We were the core group who left Cal Poly and the main crew who repurposed our first home, an industrial building constructed by an eccentric engineer who scavenged materials from any source during WW2. It was a DIY hybrid building located in Santa Monica.
 

Besides the class of 10, there were about 100 others who came and went. Open enrollment may have its positive theoretical moments, but overall, it does not work. It attracts a lot of architectural tourists who do not make a longer-term commitment. I found it to be an interesting concept, but disruptive and distracting as a teacher. So, when Ray gave me the responsibility of setting up a Graduate Program, I started an admissions program. This stimulated a lot of debate and name calling. I still moved forward with it, and it worked. The main criteria was that they wanted to really be here and nowhere else, loved the cooperative nature of the place, and were motivated to contribute to its success/survival. The most important thing I was looking for in every interview I did was proof that there was a fire burning inside them.

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What were your hopes for SCI-Arc?

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A place that always valued curiosity, work ethic, and kindness. A place that brought out the best in people, creatively and socially, encouraging everyone to share knowledge and insights as they searched for new ways of thinking and making at any scale; objects, buildings, events, and cities. Our work would be guided by memory and invention, fueled by speculative imagination, and driven by curiosity, with the entrepreneurial intention of bringing it into the world. And finally, that SCI-Arc would always be open source. Specifically, I hoped it would always self-select the best people and create the conditions for them to do their best work. 

 

What were your fears?

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From the beginning, I had no fears. We were too young, too curious, too optimistic, to be fearful. We were aware that there were others who would not support our quest, but no matter. We were on a self-motivated, adventurous path, with open minds and wide eyes, and the confidence that we could creatively manage any and all unexpected challenges in ways that lead to inventive outcomes. I have faith that this became an evolutionary imperative.

 

In our early years, survival mode, we were always looking for problems to solve, and working on them with others. I did not have any long-term fears at that time. I believed that we could solve any problem. We were confident enough and aligned in ways that I never had thoughts of possible failure, and if we did fail, we would study and learn from it. Ray, in his quiet way, gave us confidence to roll the dice, and if it came up 'snake eyes' we rolled them again.    

 

What was the atmosphere like?

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If you could imagine a petri dish scaled up to a playground, that was operating like a laboratory and behaving like a train terminal, inhabited by a large group of strong-willed people improvising as they negotiated with each other, individually pursuing their own unique interpretation of the New School (original name) ……………..that’s what I recollect.

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C. Looking back

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What are you most proud of, looking back at the founding of SCI-Arc and what came after?

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Its core values and its founding algorithm (although the school was pre-digital) are still present, as is its ability to attract good people with great talent, and for the most part, from where I sit and listen, people with big hearts. SCI-Arc contributed exponentially to raising the bar of Architectural Thinking and Making, using education as a portal. It gave a lot of ‘good misfits' a home.

 

What are you most troubled by? What would you do differently?

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I have several concerns.

 

We lived, worked, and learned in our own invented alternative world, but we never asked the basic question, What is the nature of and the theories and practices of an alternative world, especially in learning and education?  We know of them, but never expanded our personal interests into being a part of the curriculum. We needed a broader and deeper context of understanding to give us deeper insight into our great social, educational, and architectural experiment.

 

As we succeed, I am concerned about institutional complacency setting in, with expectation overtaking the longing for uncertainty, discover, and the joy of surprise. Students do not have enough time, if any, to sit quietly and reflect on what they are learning, placing it in an expanded context to give them a greater perspective and depth of understanding.

 

Finally, our ambitions and high energy blind us from realizing the necessity of down time and quietude, which is the basis of reflection, the time for apprehending and absorbing.

   

What do you want people to know about the founding of the school?

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Although we did not have it all figured out in the beginning, we had faith that this was the right thing to do, compelling us to become masters of improvisation. Observing everyone as we worked on the school and our projects, and with the sense of adventure and risk taking, I developed faith that anything imaginable was possible.

 

What’s the legacy of the school?

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SCI-Arc has contributed exponentially to raising the bar of Architectural Thinking and Making using education and life-long learning as a portal.

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It gave a lot of ‘good misfits’ with unconventional minds and unique lenses a home.

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It continues to show the city and the world what’s possible.

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D. Looking forward

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Best case scenario, what do you hope the future holds for architecture?

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It never changes. That the Architectural Mind keeps ascending to higher and more significant positions of governance and leadership, and that the Architectural Mind’s second nature is DIY Polymathy as much as it is to conceive and construct new and better worlds.

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Best case scenario, what do you hope the future holds for SCI-Arc?

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That:

-it strikes a balance between analogue and digital, physical and virtual,

-the leadership remains interested in continuity and change, and

-the place continues to do the things that keep it engaged, relevant, and a great attractor for the next generation who intend to apply their Ark Mind to the grand challenges confronting us, and still put beauty into the world.

 

Best case scenario, what do you hope the future holds for LA?

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Cities have a life of their own, no matter what we Architects would like to do and see happen. BUT, knowing that does not diminish my wish of an Architect becoming Mayor, Governor, and President. LA must find new and imaginative ways to grow and sustain its social, cultural,  linguistic, and spatial diversity. The Architectural Mind must be at the center of this discussion. 

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What are you worried about, for the future of architecture?

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We have to keep a higher degree of objectivity about who we work for and what our long-term vision and objectives are in such a short cycle world. What if we knew more about the meaning and application of the term Seventh Generation, of the Iroquois Confederacy?

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What are you worried about, for the future of SCI-Arc?

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To sustain the high level it has defined for itself, it needs good people throughout the place making it happen, so it is very important for leadership at every level to continue to place the highest value on its social capital.

 

Also, it must continue to learn how to be more and more resilient in an unpredictable world. In a world of unrest, driven by almost incomprehensible forces creating the complex problems that confront us, as teachers, we need to support and encourage each subsequent generation to aspire to becoming POLYMATHS with Architectural Minds.

 

What are you worried about, for the future of LA?

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I worry that Civic Leaders, public and private, are not civic minded, which guides one in making short cycle decisions with a long-term vision. Quite often they do not fully recognize and appreciate the unique value and potential LA has naturally, with all of its entangled complex systems socially, economically, and ecologically. Great urban geographers who have lived and taught in LA could see it. We and they must understand the dialectic between Tragedy of the Commons (G. Hardin) and Benefit of the Commons (E. Ostrom).

 

Make a prediction about the future of the school.

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Impossible…….but, I do have faith that we will always be conscious of the imperative to jump over our own shadow, and that it will continue to attract, worldwide, curious, talented, and generous people, motivated by love and not fear.

 

Michael Rotondi,

Los Angeles

2021, 2025

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