Architecture School Honors MOCA Director

The director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Richard Koshalek, has been chosen to receive the 1996 Parkinson Spirit of Urbanism Award by the USC School of Architecture and its Architectural Guild.

Koshalek is being honored for his leadership in the creation of MOCA as an urban cultural center and his commitment to architecture and the arts. He will accept the award at a special program March 5 at MOCA at California Plaza in downtown Los Angeles.

MOCA’s director since 1982, Koshalek worked with architect Frank Gehry on the design of MOCA’s Temporary Contemporary, which opened in November of 1983, and with architect Arata Isozaki on MOCA at California Plaza, which opened in 1986.

“Richard Koshalek has established, through MOCA, a rare vision within American museums by including architecture in the arts” said Robert Timme, dean of the USC School of Architecture.

The Parkinson Award is named for architects John and Donald B. Parkinson, whose early 20th century projects, including the Los Angeles Coliseum, Union Station and Bullocks Wilshire, were influential in defining urbanism in the City of Los Angeles.

The March 5 program will help raise funds to establish the Richard Koshalek-MOCA Internship for students at the architecture school. Reservations are required.

Information: (213) 740-6680.