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Architecture in Rome

Architecture students taking photographs.

Cornell in Rome has been an integral part of architectural study at Cornell for nearly three decades, providing on-site study of buildings and urban spaces previously only understood through lectures. Courses are offered to approximately 30 undergraduate students in the fall and spring semesters.

 

Rome, with its complex layers, presents the challenge of visualizing architecture in a city where the intensity of history pervades. Complete immersion in this distinctive milieu presents students with new problems of challenging complexity; through analysis and understanding of historic examples, experience and insight is gained for future design challenges.

 

Design studios — augmented by field trips — focus on design projects in historically charged sites and conditions, while history courses and theory seminars encourage students to engage in analytical thinking, direct study, and cultural interpretation. Italian and European architects and educators join Cornell faculty in teaching the studios, and assist in formulating and contributing to a rich variety of programming.

 

All students enroll in design studio and courses in art history, architectural history and theory, photography, Italian culture and language, studio art, or urban studies.  

 

Architecture Requirements
Fourth-year AAP architecture students in good academic standing who matriculated prior to 2011 and who have completed the requirements of the first three years of the five-year B.Arch. curriculum are eligible to participate. All B.Arch. students who matriculate in 2011 or later will go to Rome in their third year.
 
Students from outside Cornell enrolled in professional architecture degree or landscape architecture programs may apply to the design studio. Exceptional students from four-year architecture programs may also be considered. All outside applicants must submit a portfolio.