Architecture study abroad student designs displayed at Italian embassy

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The work of current and former Penn State architecture students who have taken part in the study abroad program at the Pantheon Institute in Rome went on display yesterday at the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C. The exhibit features the designs, models and projects of U.S. architecture students who are (or were) enrolled in programs that are members of the Association of American College and University Programs in Italy (AACUPI). Penn State’s partnership with the Pantheon Institute through the Department of Architecture’s study abroad program is one of the longest-standing AACUPI programs in Rome, which is why Penn State was selected to take part in the exhibition. The Penn State students’ work within the exhibit is that of fourth-year students enrolled in the core courses of Architectural/Urban Design Studio, Architectural Analysis and Roman Cartography as Imago Urbis. All of the projects within the exhibition, which has the theme “Building Within the Dimension of History,” were produced while the students were studying in Italy. This allows embassy and AACUPI visitors the unique opportunity to evaluate the effect that the students’ immersion into Italian architecture and culture had on their designs. The AACUPI is interested in determining the extent to which U.S. architecture students’ work has been influenced by their experiences with Italian culture and the artistic, archaeological and architectural aspects of the country. This exhibit is the second edition of the Back from Italy exhibition, the first was held in May 2017. Due to the positive response to the first event, the Italian Cultural Institute and the Office of Cultural Affairs for the Embassy of Italy proposed this second initiative.