Rome Study-Architectural Design

Catalog description

Individual or group instruction conducted in Rome, Italy. ARCH 499A Foreign Study - Architectural Design VI (6) The semester abroad design work will focus on the difficult problem of creating new construction in the presence of an historic structure. This is an inevitable problem in the city of Rome where one can hardly avoid confronting historic or monumental buildings. However, as every place is preceded by a history, either natural, political or material, these issues are important outside of this context, the course aims to help students define critical strategies that will serve them beyond their semester abroad.Fifteen weeks is a short time to experience a place as complex and interesting as Rome, Italy. For many students, it may be a chance of a lifetime to live in and study a place as challenging and full of opportunity as this. Students are expected to approach the semester with even more seriousness then they would a semester at home. A semester in this program is not a mere travel experience but an academic exploration of a foreign and historic environment Every activity of this studio is designed to these ends. Therefore, we have selected a very direct and limited building program, a site in the historic center, and exercises that require students to spend time in the field as well as in the studio.