2011 SPAIN/PORTUGAL
[May 19-June 14, 2011]
"Figure and Ground on the Iberian Peninsula"
Led by Prof. Greg Snyder
For the past thirty years Spain and Portugal have been at the center of the critical discourse within contemporary architecture. The design culture that exists within these two countries today has been conditioned by a broad array of unique social, historical, political, and cultural factors that have accumulated over time.
Extraordinary quality in design exists at the scale of the building and at the scale of the city. From the Barcelona Olympics to the 1998 Lisbon Expo, to name two instances of several, there has been a particularly effective use of architecture in service of the strategic development of the city and an enriched urban life.
As the cities of the Iberian Peninsula have evolved, the quality of life, as it might be measured by food, art, and life in the streets, has intensified: the significant legacies of both cultures have been enhanced. Architects have a special place in these two cultures.
The course will be organized around the seven cities that will be the focus of study. A set of lectures will bedelivered during the Spring semester focusing on: 1) The City: Urban Development in Barcelona, San Sebastian and Bilbao; 2) Great Buildings and Their Contexts; 3) Funerary Architecture: Tombs, Markers and Cities of the Dead; 4) Food, Art, and the Culture of the Everyday in Spain and Portugal.
These lectures will serve to focus the student's experience during the travel with a specific aim to note and examine the inter-relationship between culture and design at multiple scales.
2011 SWITZERLAND
[May 16-June 9, 2011]
"Precision and Experimentation"
Led by Prof. Thomas Forget
Switzerland is an enigma. Precision and rational construction are the hallmarks of its culture. From watchmaking to architecture and urban planning, the Swiss consider craft and beauty as inseparable qualities.
At the same time, Switzerland is the birthplace of DADA, which epitomized irrationality and chance. Throughout the period between the Wars, Zurich maintained an avant-garde culture that was among the most influential in Europe. This duality in Swiss culture between precision and experimentation frames this summer program.
Today, Switzerland is a leading generator of global architecture-culture, and to make sense of its built environment is to better understand the current generation of architectural builders and thinkers. The obscure early work of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (Le Corbusier) is as relevant to this inquiry as the ubiquitous work of contemporary firms.
A primary influence on all of this work is the ever-present force of nature, which is itself a laboratory that excels in precision and experimentation. The built environment of Switzerland is inconceivable without its stunning natural setting. Nature imposes limits and presents opportunities, and the Swiss engage in a unique dialogue with it.
