It's well established that college should be a time of experimentation, but the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is taking that mandate way too seriously. One class for grad and upper-level undergrad students is dedicated to—what else?—designing a hybrid brothel and child-care center. How utilitarian! The design studio, which is led by the architectural critic and theorist Jeff Kipnis and the architect Eric Owen Moss, explains itself via a bizarre, rambling video where one of the instructors is dressed like a French royal (with a voluminous fake beard) and playing with a Boxer dog.
According to the video, this particular building's design calls for "a fascinating interior with lots of action," similar to Adolf Loos' modernist Villa Müller, which is name-dropped early on. Obviously, it will need a "completely nude exterior." The focus will be on "secrecy, privacy, the movements of the staff, the movements of the clientele, and the movements of the various professionals involved." Several images of ancient Indian sculptures involving bestiality are then shown, for no compelling reason whatsoever.
Oh, and there's a field trip in the works: "I'm still trying to arrange a site visit to a brothel for us, but we're having a little bit of trouble getting permission for that," Kipnis told his students, via video.
Only sixteen Southern California Institute of Architecture students will be allowed the pleasure of joining this class, and getting to design their dream brothel/daycare center. On the first day students are instructed to bring "a piece of clean, fresh fruit in a sanitary container as an offering to me, plus a receipt for tax purposes." Okay then.
· Southern California Institute of Architecture [Official site]
· Architecture Studio at SCI-Arc Proposes Hybrid Brothel/Child-Care Center [Hyperallergic.com]
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