Latin American Architecture Exhibition at MoMA Showcases Video Short by Woodbury Graduate Students

April 9, 2015 - PRLog -- SAN DIEGO (April 9, 2015) – When Woodbury University (http://woodbury.edu/)’s Karen Hiagdera, Blas Herrera and Dhruva Panchal -- members of the School of Architecture’s Landscape Urbanism Graduate Class, 2012-13 -- returned from a trip to Peru two years ago, they brought back a video short the team created of the 1968 housing project PREVI (Proyecto Experimental de Vivienda).

Now, that film has been included in “Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955-1980,” a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1499).

In 2013, Woodbury graduate students from the Master of Science in Architecture program (with an emphasis in Landscape+Urbanism) traveled to Lima as part of the program’s second semester studio project.  While in Lima, the students produced a short video, PREVI_45 Years after its conception, revisiting PREVI, which was developed in the 1960s and stands as one of the most important housing projects in Latin America during the 20^th Century.

“This is an unprecedented exhibit of Latin American architecture, and we’re honored that Woodbury student work has been incorporated into it,” said Rene Peralta, Landscape+Urbanism Program Director, School of Architecture, at Woodbury’s Barrio Logan campus in San Diego.  “This latter-day chronicle of the PREVI project tells an important story in a compelling way, and contributes to a broader understanding of architecture in Latin America.”

Shot on location, the film consists of a series of interviews with longtime residents of the project and with prominent academics from Peru’s Escuela Nacional de Ingenieria.  The film samples opinion from users and architects alike, and explores the controversial realities of self-built housing, in what designers and architects intended to be a completely controlled environment. PREVI_45 Years after its conceptionis a testimony of how social housing and city planning are engaged by both top-down and bottom-up efforts.  The short film is being exhibited on a screen in the PREVI section of the exhibition along with original drawings of the project. This film is the only contemporary visual of the complex within the exhibition.

Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955-1980 brings together a wealth of original materials that have never before been displayed under one roof and, for the most part, are rarely exhibited even in their home countries.  Onthe60thanniversaryofitslastmajorsurveyofmodern architectureinLatinAmerica,TheMuseumofModernArt has returneditsfocustotheregionwith “Latin Americain Construction:Architecture1955–1980,”a complexoverviewofthepositions, debates,andarchitecturalcreativityfromtheRioGrandetoTierradelFuego,fromMexicoto Cuba totheSouthernCone,between1955and1980.  OnviewMarch29throughJuly19,2015,Latin AmericainConstructionisorganizedbyBarryBergdoll,Curator,andPatriciodelReal,Curatorial Assistant,DepartmentofArchitectureandDesign,MoMA;JorgeFranciscoLiernur,Universidad Torcuatodi Tella,BuenosAires,Argentina;and CarlosEduardoComas,UniversidadeFederaldo RioGrandedo Sul,PortoAlegre,Brazil;withtheassistanceofanadvisorycommitteefromacross LatinAmerica.

About Woodbury University

Founded in 1884, Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Southern California.  It offers bachelor's degrees from the School of Architecture, School of Business, School of Media, Culture & Design, and College of Transdisciplinarity, along with a Master of Arts in Media for Social Justice, Master of Architecture (MArch), Master of Interior Architecture (MIA), Master of Science in Architecture (MSArch), and Master of Leadership.  The San Diego campus offers Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degrees, as well as an MSArch degree with concentrations in Real Estate Development and Landscape + Urbanism.  Woodbury ranks 15th among the nation’s “25 Colleges That Add the Most Value,” according to Money Magazine.  Visit www.woodbury.edu for more information.

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