The Architecture and Design Museum (A+D) in Los Angeles has announced it will host the Free School of Architecture (FSA) during its inaugural session this summer.
The tuition-free architecture school launches June 1 and runs through July 15th, 2017, catering to a cohort of 36 students accepted to the school from across the world. The six-week session will feature free courses on a variety of architectural topics taught by ten unpaid lecturers.
The school also aims to launch with an inaugural symposium at the museum on the first day of classes. The convocation—dubbed “FREE”—will focus on the current and future states of architectural education and aims to delve into “new forms of education and pedagogy, disciplinary [and] vocational conversations, the socio-economics of education and post-digital and post-studio education.” FSA also plans to publish an online and print journal titled FSAONE.
In a statement, founder Peter Zellner said: “We are very grateful for the museum’s spirit of collaboration. In particular, I am especially honored by A+D Executive Director Dora Epstein-Jones’s vision, generous support and advocacy for the Free School of Architecture.”
The partnership is not new for A+D, an institution with deep ties to architectural public education. Epstein-Jones—a founding member of the FSA Advisory Board—explained in a statement that the partnership would bolster A+D’s role in the architectural community: “We are pleased to offer classes and spaces in our galleries to this endeavor, and to be a true center for architectural discourse in our city. Education is our ethical mission at the A+D Museum.”
FSA was started by Zellner following a thought-provoking debate between Zellner and Southern California Institute of Architecture faculty Todd Gannon via The Architect’s Newspaper.
See here for Zellner’s original editorial, Architectural education is broken—here’s how to fix it, and here for Gannon’s response: Of prophets and professionals: a response to Peter Zellner.
For more information, visit the FSA website.
