R. Scott Mitchell
Associate Professor of Practice
BA, Brown University BA, Brown University; M.Arch, Sci-Arc
R. Scott Mitchell is the owner/principal of Gigante AG, a Los Angeles design-build and fabrication consulting firm. He has worked for Gehry Partners, Morphosis, Bestor Architecture and Atelier Van Lieshout. Early in his career he worked as both a laboratory machinist, welder and engineering fabricator. His work has appeared in Fast Company, Wired, Architectural Record, Dwell, Dezeen, Designboom, Art News, ArtForum, and Paper Magazine. He has been an AEC research resident at Autodesk's Boston Technology Center since 2018. Scott has exhibited at High Desert Test Sites, Vox Populi Gallery and Socrates Sculpture Park, where he was a Socrates Emerging Artist Fellow. Since 2007 he has been teaching digital fabrication and design at the USC School of Architecture. He is on the advisory boards of 826LA, a children's educational non-profit, and MADWORKSHOP, a design education non-profit. He holds an M.Arch II from SCI-Arc and a BA in Architectural Studies from Brown University.
Related Links: Designers are 3D printing masks at home for LA hospital workers, gigante.ag
- 109Design Foundation WorkshopDesign Foundation Workshop
Architecture is visible. Architecture is willful. Architecture is disciplinary, specific to a medium.
Architecture exhibits or expresses order. Architecture is real, embodied.
This course will introduce students to concepts and principles that are the distinguishing
attributes of the discourse. Students will experience these core, intrinsic principles within the
larger context of design, through a series of exercises and examples from a wide selection of
disciplines. Study of relevant design precedents will hone conceptual understanding, while
experience doing and making will develop judgment.
The Workshop will introduce students to the range of skills essential to the design process.
Prescribed themes and processes are intended to advance those technical skills, sharpen
awareness of spatial conventions, and stimulate critical thinking and creativity.
- 481Furniture DesignFurniture DesignExplore the intersection of architecture, art, and design in this hands-on furniture design course. Four influential early 20th century movements (futurism, neo-plasticism, modernism, and constructivism) explored ideas relating to the changing nature of society, technology, industrialization, new discoveries, and invention. Artists and architects were interested in utilizing the newest materials, construction, and joining methods, as well as innovative finishing techniques. Steel and metalworking were at the forefront of this exploration. This course will look closely at furniture designed by a variety of architects and artists, ranging from Pierre Chareau to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to Charles and Ray Eames. More contemporary design works and interpretations (Peter Pearce, Morphosis, Richard Meier, and Herman Miller) will also be discussed. Students will design and fabricate metal furniture.
- 581Techniques in Digital FabricationTechniques in Digital FabricationThe arrival of two KUKA 6-axis robotic arms marked a new phase in USC’s fabrication and design curriculum. With the reliability, accuracy and flexibility afforded by these machines we hope to change the way students understand and engage digitally driven tools for fabrication. Students taking this course will be given primary access to our KR6 Agilus and KR120HA industrial robots. Building on the original digital fabrication seminar, students will become well versed in the language of robotics and kinematics, becoming the de facto programers and operators. Utilizing our core shop and fabrication facilities, students will be expected to design and build custom end-effectors and tooling for the robots. While the concept of programming may seem imposing, newly developed parametric plugins such as KukaPRC allow direct interface between Rhino/Grasshopper and the robot arms. This interface will be the primary focus of our design work in this seminar.