SAUD News Release

June 5, 2006
Contact: Cindy Muckey, School of Architecure and Urban Design, (785) 864-3709.

Summer Study in Europe and Latin America

The KU School of Architecture and Urban Design stands out among other schools at the university and among U.S. architecture schools in the emphasis it places on study abroad programs. For many years, undergraduate students have participated in year-long exchange programs that the School has sponsored with Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, the University of Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany, and the University of Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany. KU architecture students also attend the Danish International Studies Program in Copenhagen on a semester-long basis. In addition, during the last two decades, various faculty members within the Architecture Program have established summer study abroad programs in Spannocchia, Siena and Venice, Italy; and in Paris, London, Berlin, and Barcelona. Several of these programs continue to thrive as the demand for foreign study has remained strong among the School’s students.

Four distinct study abroad programs will be sponsored by the School in summer, 2006. These include two ongoing programs as well as a newly modified workshop/tour and a new program in Latin America.

The Emerging Technologies Workshop/Tour

Arjun Bhat (4th -year B.Arch,), Brian Arnold (4th-year B.Arch.) and Diann Mroszczak (4th-year B.Arch) in Paris

This study abroad experience consists of a merging of the School’s traditional summer workshop in Spannocchia, Italy, with the European high-tech tour offered two years ago by Professors Shannon Criss and Nils Gore. Under the direction of Professors Criss and Gore and Professors Ann Huppert and Rob Corser, this newly modified program is designed to familiarize students with both historic and contemporary trends in European design culture, examining developments in terms of craft, technologies and manufacturing processes. In addition to tours of important historic and contemporary buildings, students visit European design schools, research and development facilities, and manufacturers and materials developers.

KU summer Study Abroad students in Prague with Professor Peter Pran stop in front of the Rasin Building, otherwise known as "Fred and Ginger"

The program begins at the Castello di Spannocchia, outside Siena, where students reside while they work on a hands-on construction project. During this first month, they tour several Italian cities including Rome, Siena, Florence, Vicenza, Venice and Como.

Visits to each of these urban centers allows students to observe the ways in which city-supporting technologies have evolved over the centuries. During the second half of the program, the group travels to Basel and Chur, Switzerland; Munich and Berlin, Germany; and Amsterdam, Holland. A part of the program is dedicated to improving drawing skills and to preparing case studies for research.

The Paris Program

This unique and highly successful program was developed in 1993 and has been directed by Professors Philippe Barriere, Richard Farnan and Wojciech Lesnikowski. The program is designed to expose students to contemporary French and European architectural projects that are large in scale and employ advanced technologies. Students work as interns in French architectural offices and they spend a good amount of time touring significant buildings in the Paris region. They also take one trip to another country in Europe to view buildings first-hand. The program is managed by the ACCENT International Agency located in Paris, an organization that manages European study programs for various American universities. KU architecture students stay in Dausmenil Dorms located behind the Bastille Opera House.

The Siena-Berlin Workshop

Professors Peter Pran (left) and Steve Grabow (right) preside over an orientation session for graduate students in Berlin

This program was developed out of the summer program in Siena, Italy, directed by Professors Rene Diaz and Steve Grabow. The Berlin portion was created by Professor Grabow and Adjunct Professor Johanne Nalbach, a prominent Berlin architect. In recent years, Professor Peter Pran has shared teaching duties in Berlin with Professor Grabow. The entire two-month program focuses on “Reading and Writing the City,” with the first half of the summer spent in Siena and the second half in the very twentieth-century metropolis of Berlin. The site of two International Building Exhibitions (1957 and 1987), Berlin has been completely transformed since the tearing down of the famous Wall in 1989 and the

Lincoln Lewis (4th-year B.Arch.) surveys the rooftops of Siena

subsequent reunification of Germany that resulted in the relocation of the national capitol from Bonn to Berlin. Some of the most important recent architectural projects in the world are found within the part of the city that was previously located behind the so-called Iron Curtain. Students spend three weeks touring the city and visiting new architectural sites and construction projects. They also work on urban infill or new building projects associated with the architectural firm of Nalbach + Nalbach, where they use part of the firm’s office space. The program also includes a three-day visit to Prague.

The Latin American Program

This new program, being launched in 2006, is directed by Professor Paola Sanguinetti and is intended to familiarize KU students with the architecture of Latin America. Students will view examples of pre-Columbian, colonial, neo-classical, modern and contemporary architecture in various regions and cities. The 2006 program concentrates on Brazil and Peru, with students staying in Lima and Cusco in Peru and in Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In Peru, students will examine architectural relics of the Inca civilization at the city of Maachu Pichu and at surrounding sites such Ollantaytambo. There will be an excursion to the Sillustani Graves and the Uros floating islands on Lake Titicaca as well as intensive study of the colonial city of Cusco. In Brazil, students will examine the results of rapid growth and urban planning in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Curitiba, one of the best examples of city planning world-wide. They will visit buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa and Lina Bo Bardi and gardens and other landscapes created by Roberto Burle Marx. The site visits and tours will involve considerable sketching, photography, discussions and analytical exercises.

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.

kunews@ku.edu | (785) 864-3256 | 1314 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045