Author: Dean Zakrzewski | Major: Landscape Architecture| Semester: Summer 2024
Sketching the historic gardens of the 16th century Villa Lante
This summer I studied abroad at the University of Arkansas Rome Center within the Landscape Architecture Program. The Rome Center offers a direct route of emersion into one of the most storied cities in the world. From the language, art, food, architecture, villas, and of course, the garden and pizzas, Rome offered the perfect destination for my study abroad experience. Living through antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and on, Rome provides a unique lens into the history and growth of human-oriented spaces. Historic sites like Saint Peters Square, the Roman Forum, and the many landmark piazzas form the perfect outdoor classrooms to learn and gauge human interaction with form and space. Over the course of ten weeks during the 2024 Summer term, I immersed myself within the Eternal City gaining a deeper understanding its urban fabric and analyzed the ancient mecca through the eyes of twenty-first-century sustainable design.
During the Summer 2024 term, I was enrolled in several classes that aided and expanded my understanding of urban civic space. One course I was enrolled in focused directly on the documentation and analysis of urban conditions through sketches and diagrammatic studies. Throughout the term, we all kept detailed sketchbooks of places we visited whether they be historic piazzas like Piazza di San Pietro or newer urban developments like the EUR District. In addition to this course was another completely devoted to the theoretical understanding of design. During this course, we analyzed the historical understanding of urban space, and the theories applied to their creation. During our fourth week abroad, we traveled from Rome to Tuscany and this trip acted as a major extension of these two courses as we used Tuscan city planning and garden design as a direct comparison to that of Rome. This fourth week in Tuscany is one of my most fond memories of the program. The third and largest class I was enrolled in was a traditional studio course in which we developed design proposals of new and existing entrances to a historic city park of Rome called Villa Ada. During this course, we developed our proposals using USA grading systems for sustainability and it allowed us to get closer to and understand the culture of everyday Roman citizens.
During the semester abroad I was able to squeeze in a handful of other side trips but the two most notable were to Florence and Greece. At the end of the fourth week of the semester, we were given the chance to end our travel week either in Florence or back home in Rome. Me and my girlfriend Abbi decided that we would stay back and explore Florence on our own. During the weekend in Florence, we explored some of the shops and markets, went shopping near Piazza di Signora, ate more pizza, and of course saw the sculpture of David at the Academia. I enjoyed this side trip as it was a wonderful way to end a beautiful week in Tuscany and slow down from the constant movement of Rome. Then be. Then between the fifth and sixth weeks, we were given another break and my girlfriend and I decided to spend it further abroad and venture to Greece. In Greece we spent time in Athens atop the Acropolis, in the ancient Agora, exploring the Plaka neighborhood, and visiting many wonderful museums. In addition to Athens, we also visited the Mediterranean Island of Milos and spent time there exploring the small hamlets of the island and their many wonderful beaches. These personal side trips are where I find many of my fondest memories of my abroad experience coming from and I encourage anyone studying abroad to get out at take the time to explore their surroundings at any chance they get.