Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Camilo Cerro
As most design pedagogies focus on typological, tectonic, compositional, and technological studies there is an experiential teaching component that has the potential to bring them all together having also the strongest repercussion on the development of an ethical, independent mind; that is travel. The capacity to function with other cultures, learn independence and adaptability, experience a building by walking into it instead of looking at photos, and designing for a different set of rules other than the ones the students is accustomed to, are all some of the outcomes of participating in a study abroad program. Understanding the value of travel, our college started a study abroad program two years ago. Currently preparing for our third semester in Barcelona, we have been assessing what has worked and what has not so we can adapt and evolve to keep the program fresh and relevant. This paper will cover our pedagogy and process, the type of classes we taught and the reasons behind them but more than anything, the way it has changed the participating students when compared to those who have not participated in a program of this type. The semester was divided into four courses: ARC394-Places and Culture, was designed to function as a walking tour of the city of Barcelona, where the students learned on the go by visiting sites following a chronological history of the city that took place throughout the semester. ARC494-Contemporary Architecture Practice, took place in both the classroom and by visiting contemporary architecture sites. The course was taught by EMBT (Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue) as an opportunity for the students to learn the design thinking and process behind the main project of a working architectural firm as they take an idea from sketch to construction. ARC581-Contemporary Spanish Architecture, offered the student the opportunity to visit: Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Bilbao, Madrid, Figueres and Olot on walking tours covering the history of these locations from an architectural and design perspective from antiquity to modernity. And finally, ARC501-401, a vertical design studio where the student was able to bring all the classes together to design a project in the city of Barcelona, putting to the test, how their experiences influenced their designs. All of these courses where designed to work together creating an interdependent system that allowed the participants to learn through experiencing architecture and design, while being able to implement that newly learned design knowledge into site and cultural specific design projects.
https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.Teach.2019.63
Volume Editors
Richard Blythe & Johan De Walsche
ISBN
978-1-944214-23-4
