Study Abroad
Established in 1968 as a summer studio, the Europe Study Abroad programs are now offered in various lengths and types during the entire year. These programs enable students, during any of the University academic sessions, to earn up to 12 credits studying and traveling in Europe. There are also other study abroad programs within the College of Architecture and Urban Studies based in many other parts of the world.
The study abroad programs offer an educational experience which acquaints students with a variety of cultural settings. Students have the opportunity to make comparative studies of different cultures, as well as to study the relationship of culture to the physical environment, and the history and theory of cities. In addition to extensive travel, all study abroad programs offer a series of lectures and discussions which address these topics in detail.
Students document elements of the physical environment, which range in scale from single objects to the analysis of cities. Further, they explore the interface between buildings and the fabric of the existing city. Through diverse means of documentation, students are able to present their analyses of the habitable, physical environment. From sketches and drawings to computer models, photographs and essays, these studies are guided by the particular interests of each student. Often, architects responsible for designing buildings which have been the subject of study are invited to give lectures and to lead seminars about their work. The programs are organized in such a way that students, through the critical examination and discussion of their own home environments, are encouraged to apply these experiences to their work when they return to the United States.
Being able to effectively formulate environmental factors with which one lives is the goal of the Study Abroad experience. Living and studying in a foreign setting focuses attention on issues taken for granted in familiar surroundings. Students explore, in depth, the relationships among cultures and their settlement patterns. Encounters with new intellectual and cultural frameworks challenge traditional planning and architectural design criteria. Special on-site studies further encourage students to expand their understanding of design’s political, social, and historical contexts.
Study, research, and travel activities enhance global awareness in the College’s various educational programs. To support students for extended travel and studio residency, the Europe Study Abroad programs provide culture and human settlement studies, history/theory courses and language instruction. The Study Abroad programs also host many professionals from who have designed, built, and researched the urban design fabric and architecture being studied. In collaboration with these visitors, lectures, seminars, and site visits enable students to better understand their own approaches to the built environment.
The Europe Study Abroad programs, travel or residency, are for students who wish to examine the assumptions and presuppositions that support the conventions and theories of architecture, urban planning and the allied design professions.
Photo by Marc Gee, Fall 1994
Europe Travel
A study and travel itinerary is prepared specially each academic session, emphasizing various issues in design, urban studies, architecture and allied disciplines in the arts. Each travel program has approximately 9 weeks of organized travel. Students normally add two or more weeks of independent travel before returning to their homes. Courses in Design, History + Theory and Culture Study are offered each semester (check particular offerings and faculty each term).
Each fall semester and each summer, approx. 25-40 undergraduate and graduate architecture and design students participate in the Europe Study Abroad Travel Program.
- Fall Travel 2008 Financial Agreement form
- Study Abroad Liability Agreement form
- Authorization to Release Info Form
Europe Residency
At the Virginia Tech Center for European Studies and Architecture in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, Studio Residency students interact with students from other Virginia Tech programs, sharing extensive library resources, well-equipped lecture rooms, studios, room and board accommodations and extensive private surrounding gardens. This centrally located facility is a valuable resource for short trips into Italy, France, Austria, Germany and the surrounding areas of Switzerland. The studio has access to unique urban and rural, contemporary and historical ways of life and their built environments.
Architects, designers and patrons of international scope are important collaborators to each Europe Studio program. On-site visits of significant projects, interviews with and presentations by well-known professionals, and participation with important international exhibitions of art and culture are indispensable resources provided by each program. Emphasis will continue to focus on human settlement documentation and design opportunities developed through student interests and individual areas of research in architecture and the allied arts. Courses in Design, History/Theory and Culture Study are offered each semester (check particular offerings and faculty each term).
Each fall semester and each spring semester, approximately 15 undergraduate and graduate architecture students are in residence at the Center for European Studies and Architecture.
- Fall Financial Agreement Form
- Study Abroad Liability Agreement form
- Authorization to Release Info Form
- Health Insurance Certificate
International Extern and Exchange
A wide variety of individual programs are arranged through the international extern program, in which qualified students are placed in foreign professional settings.
The College has developed several exchange programs with foreign universities. Significant agreements currently exist between Virginia Tech and schools of architecture in Switzerland, Estonia, Finland, Russia, Chile, Japan, Australia, and China.
Other study abroad opportunities at foreign universities are conducted through the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP), which permits direct student exchanges with approximately 70 universities in 30 different countries. Information on ISEP and other foreign educational opportunities can be obtained through the University’s Office of International Research, Education, and Development or the CAUS Dean’s office. In order to earn credit for any required professional course(s) through an exchange program, prior approval of the student’s Program Chair is required.
http://www.educationabroad.vt.edu/
Academic Exchange: Accademia di architettura, Mendrisio, Switzerland
The Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio is widely regarded as one of Europe’s and the world’s foremost schools of architecture. Studios, or ateliers, are taught by renowned architects whose highly developed approaches to architecture range from striking emotional expressivity to classic European urbanism. Lectures and critiques by distinguished visiting architects, a full complement of outstanding courses, and a top-level student body combine to make study at the Accademia an unparalleled
experience.
Cities, Interiors and Product Design in Europe 2008 (previously Industrial Design/Interior Design Summer Travel)
This 4th annual Summer Study Abroad is a 23-day tour of Europe with a special focus on interior design and industrial design. In addition to city tours, the group typically visits design offices, and manufacturing facilities. These tours offer a deeper understanding of the importance of design in the world. Students from all areas of study are welcome. Each year the itinerary is planned to explore new cities and the work of designers with international reputations. The 2008 tour begins is scheduled to begin in Rome and finish in Amsterdam with stops in Croatia, Vienna, Prague, and Berlin.
- IDS/ITDS Financial Agreement form
- Study Abroad Liability Agreement form
- Authorization to Release Info Form
Architecture of Egypt: Summer Program
Every Summer, the College of Architecture and Urban Studies offer its annual Interdisciplinary Summer Education Abroad Program in Egypt. This four week program explores the Architecture, landscape, Art and Culture as students travel from Alexandria to Cairo and Gizah then to Luxor and Aswan then to Siwa Oasis, explore deep cross section of Egypts Built Environment. The program features an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how the built environment and culture may be interpreted in a broad cultural context. All curious participants are welcome.
The travel program builds upon preparatory meetings held during the spring for Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg students. Off-campus students will be assisted in their preparations for study and travel.
Students and faculty will meet in Alexandria to begin an intense and exciting exploration and study of the city, its art and culture, streets, buildings, construction and places. Post-trip arrangements will be made for all participants to mount a fall exhibition. In each city and while traveling between destinations, students and faculty will explore such design issues as the similarities and differences in physical design across places and centuries, the uses of a variety of building materials, climatic influences on design and use of public and private spaces, and the city as a cultural setting.
The trip includes visits to Historical and modern sites, museums and exhibitions as well as meeting design professionals, Professors and craftsmen.
CAUS Interdisciplinary Education Abroad Program, summer 2010
CAUS is offering its annual Interdisciplinary Summer Education Abroad Program in Western Europe. This 36-day program explores the landscape, cities, construction, art and culture as we travel in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. An interdisciplinary approach is used to study how the built environment and culture may be interpreted through ‘close-looking’ in a broad cultural context. City and town development in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland offers opportunities to see how regions are claiming their cultural heritage through contemporary economic development. Local and regional projects in the Netherlands challenge conceptions of building, urban redevelopment, landscape remediation and brownfield development using newer technologies and high expectations for more sustainable development practices as they support a high quality of life and concepts of city living.
Contemporary sites will challenge concepts of urban design and development at all scales. All locations offer numerous opportunities to study and compare art, design, urban planning and design, landscape and architectural sites, and construction methods and materials from the scale of a door knob to the breadth of a region.
Open to rising fourth year landscape architecture and architecture students as well as others interested in the design of built environments. This program is hosted through the landscape architecture program and offered in cooperation with Virginia Commonwealth University.