Architect Qingyun Ma

The USC Dean Loves Downtown and Breakfast Burritos; Texting and Air China Not-So-Much

Architect Qingyun Ma is a curator, winemaker, and dean of the University of Southern California School of Architecture. He is also the founder of architecture firm MADA s.p.a.m., which has constructed buildings and public works all over China. Before participating in a Zócalo/Getty panel on who designs L.A.’s future, Ma answered some questions in the Zócalo green room about breakfast, air travel, and texting behind the wheel.

June 21, 2013

Open the Gates of Troy

Closing the USC Campus Could Separate the University From Itself

By Keith Thorell | February 5, 2013

Before attending the University of Southern California in the 1990s, I’d heard that the neighborhood regarded SC students as privileged white kids in an otherwise minority neighborhood. People told me …

Ivory Tower No More

Are Universities More Engaged With Their Cities Now?

January 12, 2012

Throughout the 20th century, Eastman Kodak–whose bankruptcy has been in the news recently–was the largest employer in the city of Rochester. But 70 years after George Eastman’s death, another institution …

What Should Universities Do For Their Cities?

Perspectives On How Gown Can Help Town

January 11, 2012

Universities often set up shop in cities, and cities often set up shop around universities. But the relationship between the two communities–town and gown–can be quite distant, even hostile. What …

Get More Zócalo