Ari Seligmann

Position:

Lecturer and Theory/History Coordinator, Department of Architecture

Qualifications:

• PhD University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
  
• Master of Science, Architecture History University of California at Berkeley
  
• Bachelor of Architecture Rice University
• Bachelor of Arts, Architecture Rice University

Personal Statement:

Ari Seligmann is a critic specializing in developments of modern and contemporary architecture, especially in Japan, as well as a designer with professional experience in the United States and Japan. Before joining Monash University, he accumulated a range of experiences teaching history, theory, and design at University of California, Berkeley, Woodbury University in Burbank, California, Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, and UCLA. He completed a dissertation Architectural Publicity in the Age of Globalization (2008) examining the repercussions of public sponsorship of innovative design and the mediation of architecture for disciplinary and interdisciplinary audiences. Building on this research he is investigating issues of architecture and marketing. He is actively engaged in broadening perspectives on contemporary global architecture and investigating the impacts of globalization on the built environment. He has lectured and participated in design juries around the world and recently served as coordinator for the International Architectural Education Summit in Tokyo 2009. Currently, he is working on several collaborative projects involved with explicating urban configurations in Tokyo.

Selected  Publications:

   Book Chapters:

•  “Kumamoto’s Artpolis: Mediating Innovative Architecture and Creative Cultural Expression.” In Cultural Expression, Creativity and Innovation, the Culture and Globalization Series Vol. 3, edited by Helmut K. Anheier and Yudhishthir Raj Isar.  London: Sage Publications.
  
  
•  “Curating Contemporary Architecture: Touring the Bilbao Guggenheim and the Seattle Central Library.” In Curating Architecture in the City, edited by Sarah Chaplin and Alexandra Stara. London: Routledge, 2009.
  
  
•  “More Lines.” In After the Crash:  Architecture in Post-Bubble Japan, edited by Thomas Daniell.186-191. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008.
  
  
• Seligmann, Ari.  “Megastructures and Beyond, Prototyping Densification Strategies.” In Thought Matters II, Los Angeles: UCLA Department of Architecture and Urbanism, 2008
  
  
•  “Style.” In Crib Sheets, Notes on the Contemporary Architectural Conversation, edited by Sylvia Lavin and Helene Furjan. 87-88. New York: Monacelli Press, 2005.

   Journal Articles:

• Seligmann, Ari. “Crafting a Modern World: The Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noémi Raymond -exhibition review.” In Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 66, no.3 (2007, September): 390-1.
  
  
• Seligmann, Ari. “Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture -exhibition review.” In Journal of Architectural Education,  61, no.1 (2007, September): 106-7.

   Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings:

• Seligmann, Ari. “Kumamoto’s Artpolis: Mediating Globalization with Architectural Publicity.” In Reassessing East Asia in Light of Urban and Architectural History, Proceedings I, I-609-618. Kyoto: Executive Committee of the International Conference on East Asian Architectural Culture, 2006.
  

Selected Exhibitions:

• 2009:  A/cute Tokyo, Curator, Los Angeles, California
  
  
• 2005:  Kumamoto Artpolis: Architecture Through Communication, Curator, Los Angeles, California
   
  
• 2004:  Research: Architecture’s Media, Messages and Modes, Los Angeles, California
    
  
• 2002:  Exhibiting the Exhibit, Los Angeles, California
  
  
• 1996:  InCiting Japan, Curator, Berkeley, California

Selected Conference Presentations:

• 2008:  Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Annual Conference, Panel Chair-  “Branding and the Built Environment,” Houston, TX, USA
  
  
• 2007:  The Emerging Asian City, Its Transformations, Tensions, and Traditions-  “Constructing Traditions, Comparative Approaches and Urban Implications,” Burbank, CA, USA
  
  
• 2007:  Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) Annual Conference, Marketing Modernism Session-  “Promotional Consideration: Seattle Central Library,” Pittsburgh, PA, USA
  
  
• 2006:  International Conference on East Asian Architectural Culture-  “Kumamoto’s Artpolis: Mediating Globalization with Architectural Publicity,” Kyoto, Japan
  
  
• 2006:  Architectural Institute of Japan-  “Architectural Publicity: Kumamoto Artpolis Alternatives to Emulating ‘Bilbao Effects,’” Kanagawa, Japan
  
  
• 2005:  Savannah Symposium: Architecture and Regionalism-  “Exemplifying Regional Enterprise:  Kumamoto Artpolis,” Savannah, GA, USA
  
  
• 2003:  UCLA Research Design Pedagogy Symposium- “research design research...,” Los Angeles, CA, USA
  
  
• 1998:  Harvard Center for Japanese Studies-“Ishimoto Kikuji and the Shirokiya Department Store: Forging Modern Architecture,” Boston, MA, USA

Selected Lectures / Juries:

• 2006:  “Mediating Globalization with Architectural Publicity: Public Architecture Programs in Bilbao, Seattle, and Kumamoto” The University of Tokyo, Japan
  
  
• 2006:  “Japanese Public Architecture Programs in the 1990s,” The University of Tokyo, Japan
  
  
• 2006:  "Mediating Japanese Modern Architecture, Kikuji Ishimoto and the Shirokiya Department Store" International Christian University (ICU) Tokyo, Japan
  
  
• 2004:  "Architectural Research" SciArc, Los Angeles

   Guest Critic:
         California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC), San Francisco
         SciArc, Los Angeles
         Seika University, Kyoto, Japan
         University of Houston
         University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles
         Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

Other Relevant Experiences:

   Academic

• 2007- 2009:  Lecturer, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
• 2008:  Senior Lecturer, Otis College of Art & Design
• 2007- 2008:  Adjunct Professor, Woodbury University
• 1998- 2000:  Lecturer, University of California Berkeley

   Professional

• 1999-2001:  Trachtenberg Architects, Berkeley
  
• 1998-1999:   Del Campo Maru Architects, San Francisco
  
• 1994-5, 97:  Itsuko Hasegawa Atelier, Tokyo
  

          Selected project images