LA 593F Landscape Architecture Study Tour Spring 2005: Italian Landscape and Urban Design

Instructor: Jack Ahern 109 Hills North, Office hours by appointment: [email protected] (413)545-6632

Course Learning Objectives:

• To gain an integrated understanding of Italian culture, history and design traditions, including: architecture, city planning, urban design, landscape architecture, and popular culture

• To experience some of the classic and contemporary examples of Italian landscape architecture and urban design.

• To appreciate how the design and use of urban space contributes to cultural identity and reveals cultural preferences.

• To integrate research and travel skills to enhance experiential learning.

Course Requirements and Grading

Attendance and participation in pre-trip seminars 20%

Trip attendance, individual project presentation and daily participation during tour 30%

Sketch Book (Due: March 24) 10%

Individual project First submission (Due: April 4) 15%

Final Individual project (Due: April 18) 25% Required Course Reader A compilation of articles and book excerpts is required reading for the seminars. The reader will be available at Copy Cat Print Shop, N. Pleasant St. Amherst (Across the parking lot from Bertuccis). Ask for Packet #836, LA 593F, Ahern (available by Mon Jan 31).

Sketchbook We will start our sketching exercises during the pre-trip seminars. Each day during the tour, time will be allocated for sketching. All of your sketches will be submitted and graded the week we return (March 24)(Note: grading will be based on effort and improvement, novices relax and enjoy).

Course Project Each student is required to prepare a presentation on a city, , piazza, or garden included in the study tour (project list below). Topics will be assigned prior to the tour. These projects will be posted on the department web site to provide a resource for the department, and for other landscape architecture travelers. It is also intended to give prospective students of the department and of future trips some insights into this course, as well as the particular places we visit.

Students are required to make a 5-10 minute verbal presentation in situ, during the tour. After the tour, projects will be put into web format, using Dreamweaver Software (a Dreamweaver workshop (3/24) and web template will be provided). A draft submission of each project’s web pages is required two weeks after we return from the trip (April 4).

Comments/suggestions will be returned within a week and the final web presentation is due on April 19. This schedule is designed to avoid direct conflict with end of semester studio demands. There will be a significant penalty for late submissions.

The presentations/web sites are to include:

• A concise narrative on the project’s history, significance, and design elements. • Historical plans, sketches, contemporary plans, with captions • Original Sketches (by student), with captions • Contemporary Photographs, with captions • References to key literature on the project • Visitation Information (directions, costs, hours, public transit access, etc) • Web links • Other ideas: up to your imagination

Project List Milan City History Doumo Cathedral and Piazza Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle, Milan Giardini Publici, Milan

Florence City History Pitti Palace: Villa Gamberaia, Settignano Villa Medici, Fiesole

Pope Sixtus 5th Plan for Rome Classical Rome: Roman Forum Palatine and Capitoline Hill Michelangelo’s Campidoglio Piazza Navonna Piazza Obliqua, St Peters Cathedral Piazzza Publico EUR (Moussolini’s New Town at edge of Rome) Villa Borghese Villa D’Este Villa Lante, Vitterbo

Class Schedule

Note: For first two weeks ONLY, seminar classes on Wednesday Night, thereafter on Thursdays

Wednesday Jan 26 • Course introduction, overview, expectations, requirements and grading • Course Projects explained and assigned • Introduction to Italian Geography and History • Italian language lesson #1 • Sketching Exercise

Wednesday Feb 2 • DVD: Politicized Space, and Milan • Urban Planning and Design- Milan • Doumo Cathedral • Canals • Doumo Square and Galleria • Italian language lesson #2 • Sketching Exercise

Wednesday Feb 9 No class this week

Note from here on classes are on Thursday Evenings

Thursday Feb 17 • Florence City History and urban Form • Tuscan Renaissance (Boboli, Gamberaia, Medici • Italian language lesson #3 • Sketching Exercise

Readings: National Geographic Traveler: Florence and 2001 History of Florence and Tuscany p 24-49

Shepherd, John C. and G. A. Jellicoe. 1966. Italian gardens of the Renaissance, London, Tiranti, Architecture of the Garden: Historical Sketch p 11-26

Newton, Norman T. 1971. Design on the Land; the development of landscape architecture Cambridge, Mass., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. The Renaissance in Tuscany p 55-66 Villa Lante and Villino Farnese p 99-107 Later Italian Villas p 114-119 The Piazza in Italy p 132-164

Steenbergen, Clemens M., Wouter Reh. 2003. Architecture and landscape : the design experiment of the great European gardens and landscapes Basel. Birkhäuser. Villa Medici p 33 – 43 The Boboli Gardens p 44-51 Villa Gamberaia p 52- 59

Wharton, Edith. 1904. Italian villas and their gardens. New York, The Century Co. Florentine Villas p 19-57

Thursday Feb 24 • Rome Urban History Understanding cities [DVD]:Rome, impact of an idea, with Edmund Bacon ; a presentation of Urban Land Institute ; produced by Urban Productions ; producer/director, Art Ciocco ; screenwriter, Clow. New York, NY : Insight Media, [1983] • Villa Lante • Villa D’Este (www.villadestetivoli.info/indexe.htm)

Readings:

Mumford, Lewis. 1961. The city in history: its origins, its transformations, and its prospects New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. Megolopolis into Necropolis p 205-242

Elizabeth Barlow Rogers. 2001. Landscape Design : a cultural and architectural history New York : Harry N. Abrams. Roman Urbanism p 79-96 Apotheosis of the Renaissance p 139- 145 Axial Planning on Urban Scale p 149-153

Steenbergen, Clemens M., Wouter Reh. 2003. Architecture and landscape : the design experiment of the great European gardens and landscapes Basel. Birkhäuser. Villa D’Este p 84-91

Wharton, Edith. 1904. Italian villas and their gardens. New York, The Century Co. Villa D’ Este p 139-148

Thursday March 3 • International Programs “Health and Safety” Presentation • Reading Train and Bus schedules and city maps • Roman Mythology • Italian language: Review • Sketching Exercise • Final Logistics

ITALY TRIP ITINERARY

Friday March 11 Depart Hills North 11 AM Arrive JFK Airport around 3 PM Swiss Airlines LX #17 JFK to Geneva 6:30 PM

Sabato March 12 Arrive Geneva 8:15 AM, Depart LX #1616, 9:30 AM Arrive MXP (Malpena) Milan 10:25 AM Train to Milan Center (Caderno?) , Metro to Doumo square, around 1 PM HOTEL SPERONARI, Via Speronari 4 20123 Milano Tel. +39 (0)2 86461125 Fax +39 (0)2 72003178 Milan Walking tour: 2-6PM, Piazza Doumo, Doumo Roof, Galleria Vittorio Emanuel, City Center Evening free Domenica March 13 Milan Canal District, Sforza Castle, Park, Giardini Publici, City Center 5 PM Train to Florence, Arrive Florence about 8 PM Hotel Aldobrandini, Piazza Madonna Degli Aldobrandini 8,Florence tel +39 (0)55 211 866, fax: +39 (0)55 267 6281

Evening free

Lunedi March 14 Florence: Piazza della Signoria, , Boboli Gardens, Piatzalle Michelangelo Hotel Aldobrandini, Florence

Martedi March 15 Florence: Gallery, Accademia del Galleria, Villa Gamberaia Hotel Aldobrandini, Florence

Mercoledi March 16 8 AM Bus pick up at Hotel Aldobrandini Villa Medici, Fiesole Villa Lante,, Bagnaia Arrive in Rome, about 7 PM Hotel Aberdeen, Via Firenze 48, Rome Tel: +39 (0)6 4823920 Fax: +39 (0)6 4821092 [email protected]

Evening walking tour Rome center

Giovedi March 17 Villa D’Este, Tivoli Colliseum, Palatine Hill, Campidoglio Hill Hotel Aberdeen, Rome

Venerdi March 18 Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peters Cathedral and Square Villa Borghese, Piazza Popolo, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain Hotel Aberdeen, Rome Evening Free

Sabato March 19 EUR, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Campo Fiore Later afternoon and Evening free Hotel Aberdeen, Rome

Domenica March 20 Leave Hotel Aberdeen 5:30 AM Train to Fumicino Airport 6:00-6:30 Swiss Air FL, LX #1751 9:10, Arrive Geneva 10:55A LX #22 Geneva-JFK dep 11:55AM arrive JFK 2:55 PM Pick up by Kuczemiski Bus 800 526 8143 Return to Hills North, Amherst around 7 or 7:30 PM

Post Trip Activities and Due Dates

Thursday March 24 Dreamweaver Workshop 7-9 PM, CAD LAB Sketchbook Due

Monday April 4 Preliminary submission of Web Presentation Due Posted on Web Site by 9PM.

Tuesday April 19 Final submission of Web Presentation Due Posted on Web Site by 9PM.

Some Course Logistics and Packing Advice: • MOST IMPORTANT THING!!!! Bring your passport valid until at least September 2005!!!, you cant get on the plane without it!! • Money belt or undershirt wallet (highly skilled pickpockets in Italy) • Course fee covers all hotels, trains, buses, subways, admissions on the trip • Hotel Rooms are shared, 2/3 per room, breakfast included at Florence and Rome hotel (not at Milan hotel) • Bring money for other meals, entertainment, etc. • Credit and debit cards best way to get and spend euro’s • If you have a digital camera, bring a memory card, or flash drive. Instructor will bring a laptop, but we need more than one. • If using a film camera, bring LOTS of film, its $$$$$ in Italy. • Small Sketchbook and pencils, pens • Luggage: Recommended, one small/medium rolling suitcase, and one carry one/backpack (also to use as a daypack) • 2 pairs of comfortable Shoes, we will walk 5-10 miles per day, every day!!! • Raincoat, umbrella (we will be out if it rains) • Clothes for warm or cool weather