960 East 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Located in Los Angeles, the Southern California Institute of Architecture was founded in 1971 in an industrial building in Santa Monica. The more relaxed, casual school atmosphere sought to help inspire students to be more exploratory free thinkers.

The school was established with just 35 students and six teachers. Among the faculty was the founder, Ray Kappe, who formerly taught and was the chair of the architecture department at Cal Poly Pomona. Southern California Institute of Architecture has been growing since - in both reputation, as well as physical locale. The school moved in 2000 to the more spacious Santa Fe Freight Depot Building in downtown Los Angeles.

Ranked #3 for its undergraduate programs by Design Intelligence's America's Best Architecture & Design Schools in 2006, Southern California Institute of Architecture offers a five-year Bachelor of Architecture. From theoretically and practical skills, the program is designed to prepare graduates to either enter one of the top design and architecture firms, start their own business or go into a related design field.

In addition to the Bachelor's degree program, Southern California Institute of Architecture offers several graduate programs which include a 2-year Master of Architecture, a three-year Master of Architecture, a one-year SCIFI program, designed for people entering non-professional architectural fields, such as city planners or administration and the MediaSCAPES program, a one-year intensive study for people wishing to earn a Master's degree in architecture with an emphasis in media.

Students at Southern California Institute of Architecture can choose to study one semester abroad in one of the following countries: Switzerland, India, Holland, Mexico, China, Japan, Egypt, and Turkey. Other programs at the school offer students more schools in the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, France and Israel. In addition, students may also visit other schools for a semester in the United States. Among the states are Texas, Michigan and Utah.


Quick Facts:

The student Union is central to social activities at Southern California Institute of Architecture. The student Union helps plan all the campus activities from BBQs and Halloween parties to graduation. The union is also sometimes involved with planning exhibitions. The union is comprised of students from each studio.

Southern California Institute of Architecture routinely hosts symposiums and lecture series. Guest lecturers are some of the most noted names in the business.

The gallery at Southern California Institute of Architecture is frequently filled with student's work. Student's designs can also be found in many galleries in the area, as well as around the world.

Designing brick and mortar isn't the only thing Southern California Institute of Architecture is noted for accomplishing. The Southern California Institute of Architecture website was recently nominated for a Webby Award, proving modern architecture and design has expanded to the electronic world.

This school profile has been compiled and updated by The CollegeBound Network. The school is not affiliated with The CollegeBound Network and shall not be considered a sponsor of this program.