Undergraduate Students Travel to Italy for Studio Abroad

Under the instruction and guidance of professors Umberto Berardi and June Komisar, undergraduate DAS students are spending the next few weeks in Bari, Italy, as part of their design studio abroad. 

The fourth year option studio, which brings Toronto Metropolitan University students to the classrooms of the Politecnico di Bari (Polytechnic University of Bari), is centered on affordable housing, and asks students to consider and design housing for immigrant families in Bari. 

After landing in Rome in late May, the students then relocated to Bari, a port city located on the Adriatic Sea. The southern city, known for its historic buildings, and now, modern additions, will be the host city for DAS students this month. While Bari will act as their primary home for the next few weeks, the option studio expands beyond the city. 

Field trips scheduled for the studio include excursions to Trani, Monopoli, Lecce, and more surrounding towns. There is also a trip scheduled for Venice. 

With guided tours from local experts, including architecture professors and academics in their respective cities, the studio abroad provides students with not only a hands-on experience, but an international perspective as well.

To orient their projects, students are encouraged to visit surrounding areas, listen and respond to seminars on social housing in Apulia, all while exchanging ideas with local architecture students from the Department of Architecture, Construction and Design at the Politecnico di Bari. 

The studio abroad in Italy is one of many international opportunities offered at the Department of Architectural Science. Students interested in the studio abroad program may also be interested in other global learning programs offered by the department.  

Images courtesy of Dr. Umberto Berardi and Dr. June Komisar