Architecture at the Crossroads

Qingyun Ma is the dean of the USC School of Architecture and holder of USC’s Della and Harry MacDonald Dean’s Chair in Architecture. Ma has long been regarded among the most exciting Chinese architects to emerge on the contemporary scene. According to Business Week, Dean Ma is one of the “27 most influential designers making an impact on business today.” After practicing architecture with Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates in New York City, Ma founded the Shanghai architectural firm MADA s.p.a.m. (strategy, planning, architecture and media) in 1996, creating award-winning projects such as the Longyang Residential complex in Shanghai and the Silk Tower in Xian. Ma’s other buildings include Qingpu Community Island in Shanghai; Centennial TV and Radio Center in Xian; and Tianyi City Plaza in Ningpo. Ma’s honors include a Design Vanguard award from Architectural Record; Phaidon’s Emerging Design Talents designation; and a New Trends of Architecture designation by the Euro-Asia Foundation.

William Fain, Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture, is an architect and urban designer with an international reputation and a long list of professional honors. During his career, he has won two separate Fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and Humanities, and he was the recipient of a Rome Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. He is the managing partner and directs master planning and urban design for Johnson Fain, a firm of 50 architects, planners and interior designers, headquartered in downtown Los Angeles. With extensive polymathic experience in urban design, community planning, downtown redevelopment and transit-oriented development, his career has focused on advancing the practice of urban design as a bridge between the public good and private benefit. His projects have won several national AIA and Progressive Architecture awards including Mission Bay in San Francisco, Beijing's new Central Business District, the Greenways Plan for Los Angeles, and the American Indian Cultural Center in Oklahoma.

Diane Ghirardo is professor of architecture and art history at USC. She teaches history and theory of architecture, with special emphasis on Italian Renaissance architecture and urbanism, 20th century Italian architecture, gender and architecture, and contemporary criticism. She has lectured across the globe, including periods in Italy, South Africa and Australia. In addition to her work on Italy, she has also begun a project on issues of identity, heritage, and place in Cape Town, South Africa.