11/06/18 Alice Kimm’s GIP Presentation

   This past Tuesday, members of Poly’s Global Initiatives Program, along with faculty and other members of the student body, had the select opportunity of hearing from Ms. Alice Kimm, principal architect at Los Angeles-based firm John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects (JFAK). In addition to co-heading her own firm alongside her husband, John Friedman, Ms. Kimm has a vast history in architectural education, having been appointed as Chair-- and then Director of Undergraduate Architecture-- at USC from 2010 to 2014, before being appointed as Adjunct Professor in 2015. In her presentation, Ms. Kimm paired photographs of past projects (including a JFAK renovation of Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) with explanations of what went on behind the scenes, describing processes of sustainable design and development, manipulation of natural light, and physical implementation of literal and figurative “motifs” to provide each building with its own identity.

   Towards the end of her talk, Ms. Kimm spoke about a fascinating phenomenon-- one which, she argues, has fundamentally shifted the ways in which our society experiences architecture. Instead of immersing ourselves in the beauty of the buildings that we stand in-- like we once did-- we’re now focused on snapping the perfect picture to share online; “selfie culture” has taken over. Ms. Kimm’s lecture was illuminating and engrossing (as was evident by the audience’s eager questions), and Poly is immensely lucky to have Ms. Kimm in our community.

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