LSU Studies Abroad in Rome

Louisiana State University Landscape Architect students have the opportunity to study abroad this summer in Rome. The program will supply students with a rigorous academic environment that combines field studies, studio design work, and seminars, all based in Rome with supplemental day trips into the surrounding region. Students will have the option to expand their travel to Florence and Barcelona.

The two-part (design studio and seminar), 10-week course taught by LSU faculty will give students the chance to earn 12 credit hours. Courses will be held at The Rome Center one of the oldest palaces in the city: Palazzo Taverna. The building was constructed in 1286, with ownership passing through three families. The main entrance of the studio space opens into a courtyard housing a baroque fountain by Antonio Casoni, built in 1618, and surrounded by the various buildings forming the complex.

Courses include:

Pilgrim Ecologies- The studio will focus on the largest park in Region Lazio, 60 kilometers outside of Rome, Parco Regionale dei Monti Simbruini. The park hosts seven hillside villages (with a population of 15,000) and key portions of a medieval pilgrimage route inside its 74,000 acres. The park is not currently organized to support tourism needs for longer than one-day visits. The studio will explore the infrastructure of the park as a starting point for reengaging the local population, increasing accessibility, and expanding economic development opportunities.

Reading the Italian Landscape- This course will focus on the reading of site conditions through clues left by former environmental and/or constructed traces. The course will be conducted largely through fieldwork and will be supplemented by several trips into the larger region. Students will be asked to form speculations about the evolution, morphology, and history of places through the exploration of a range of media including drawing, photography and film.

Rome: The City and The Gardens - This course will combine field studies in Rome with reading-based discussions and lectures. Students will be asked to describe and analyze, through graphic explorations, the different layers that constitute the city of Rome. They will explore the development and evolution of the historical and contemporary city, and engage the contemporary issues architecture, landscape architecture, and the urban design as specific to the stratification of Rome.

As part of the program fee ($7,000) students will be housed in fully furnished apartments in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome. The first day of class begins on Monday, May 21st and final exams are on Friday, July 27th.