Study Abroad

InterAction Nepal | Design, Development, Global Health
Spring 2023

InterAction Nepal is an immersive, interdisciplinary study abroad program offered with the support of the UW Department of Landscape Architecture, the Department of Global Health . The program will challenge you to delve into contemporary issues surrounding urban development in the Kathmandu Valley and respond to them at a local scale through community-based human centered design and project implementation. You will work with Nepali students and residents of an underserved community to design and build a small-scale project in community infrastructure and evaluate its impacts on human and environmental health. You will also have the opportunity to pursue your own design or research interests through independent study. Program activities include lectures and discussions, language instruction, organizational site visits, field trips within and outside the Kathmandu Valley, community workshops and hands-on design and construction.

Information Sessions:
Tuesday, November 1, 5:30-6:30PM PT
Wednesday,  November 2, 5:30-6:30PM PT
Thursday, November 3, 5:30-6:30PM PT
Tuesday, November 29, 5:30-6:30PM PT

Zoom Link:
https://washington.zoom.us/j/96636848570 [washington.zoom.us]

Program Brochure / Applications:
Please visit the UW Study Abroad application portal here.
Applications Due: December 15th, 2022*

*APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED ON A ROLLING BASIS UNTIL THE PROGRAM IS FULL OR UNTIL DECEMBER 15TH, 2022

Traena, Norway | Summer 2023 A term

6/16-7/16/2023

We will be creating a master plan and implementing some of the features for a new community park that will center more of the community activities at the waters edge. We will work closely with local children and the broader community to hear and respond to their needs, aspirations and desires, seeking their input and exchanging our impressions and ideas in an open and transparent dialogue. We have been asked to create a changing room, possibly a floating platform, play elements, gathering elements shelters from the wind, a firepit and children have drawn many others ideas that will also be considered.

Learning Objectives:

The goal of this studio is to continue building your fundamental skills and thinking as designers, and to strengthening your own design voice, values and processes.

Courses Include:

• LARCH 490 – Design/Build Studio, 6 credits
• LARCH 492 – Landscape Representation, 3 credits

Credits can be applied towards the Urban Ecological Design Minor

Information Sessions:

Tuesday Jan 17th, 12 pm PST
Monday Jan 23, 12 pm PST
Monday Feb 13th, 12 pm PST
Tuesday Feb 28th, 12 pm PST

Zoom Link

Priority Application Deadline: 1/31/2023
Apply Here

Contact Daniel Winterbottom – nina@uw.edu for more detail

Iquitos, Peru | Development and Human and Ecological Health in the Amazon Rainforest | Early Autumn 2023

Iquitos, a city in the Amazon Rainforest, is the fifth largest city in Peru with 0.5 million people. The organically formed urban development has exacerbated poverty levels and social inequity with profound implications to quality of life, health and well-being, and ecological resilience. This program is offered by the Departments of Landscape Architecture and Global Health. The program will immerse students in contemporary interdisciplinary dialogue surrounding intersections between urban design, global health, and ecology in the Amazon ecosystem. Students will study pristine rainforest ecosystems and compare to new periurban nodes and mature urban developments that are coming face-to-face with social, ecological, and health crises at local and global scales. Students will also visit projects and initiatives leading efforts aimed at mitigating these problems and will apply tools to research, document, and assess built and natural environments. This program will include three general areas of study: 1) Social, Cultural and Ecological Context 2) Community Based Participatory Action and Community Intervention 3) Health and Built Environment Impact Research and Intervention Assessment – and will place particular emphasis on the assessment of a built environment intervention and evaluating the impacts on human and environmental health. The program will include lectures and discussions, site visits, field trips, community workshops, and field assessments. Students will examine questions such as: What are the social, political and environmental drivers and implications of rural-urban migration? What are the socio-cultural, spatial and material characteristics of Iquitos’ public spaces and their impacts on health? What are the conditions of life for people and animals in the Peruvian Amazon? How might community based participatory action and community interventions in the built environment serve as agents of positive change?

Link for more detail/application.

Denmark/Sweden+ Greenland | Autumn 2023
Scan Design Interdisciplinary Study Tour and Studio 

Study Tour Dates: September 1-17, 2023
(OPTIONAL) GREENLAND TRIP: AUGUST 26 – SEPT 1

Nancy Rottle

This program is open to graduate students in the College of Built Environments.

INFO SESSIONS: Feb 15 & 22 I 12:00-1:00pm
Location: Gould 312 Fishbowl and on Zoom
Zoom: https://washington.zoom.us/j/7999459656

APPLICATIONS DUE FEB 27
Application available online at: https://sdstudio.be.uw.edu/application/

ABOUT THE STUDIO
Architects, Landscape Architects and Planners in Denmark and Sweden are global leaders in holistic sustainability, marrying the highest standards in environmental concerns and human well-being with a design culture infused at all scales. Copenhagen and Malmo are environments of not only resonant history and culture, but also innovative, people-centered design in streets, parks, neighborhoods, art and architecture which contribute to celebrated urban livability while addressing global issues of social justice, biodiversity and climate responsibility. 

We will explore these multi-layered, deeply complex and elegantly designed environments during a 2+ week study tour in September, traveling primarily by bicycle for guided tours of inspiring urban design, landscape and architecture projects, especially those that exemplify climate, biodiversity and circularity values. 

We’ll visit accomplished design offices to learn how projects are envisioned and accomplished; experience diverse, vibrant neighborhoods and world-class bicycle systems; and enjoy Scandinavian food, art, museums and festivals. Our home base will be Copenhagen, which is the 2023 UNESCO World Capitol for Architecture, featuring events and exhibits such as “Copenhagen in Common,” celebrating the city’s strong tradition of community values and citizen involvement in architecture. Through sketching, photography and media exercises, you will practice tools for perceiving and understanding the urban environment, and document inspiring precedents for your future studio work.

 Questions? please email: sdstudio@uw.edu

Rome | Autumn 2023
Speculative Histories Imagined Futures

September 27-December 6

Ken Yocom
Associate Professor and Chair, Landscape Architecture

Catherine De Almeida
Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture

This program is open to undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Built Environments.

Program Description
To design for our futures, we must learn from our histories. Set in Rome, Italy, a city that contains a rich tapestry of human and more-than-human histories and environments, this program builds on historical and contemporary foundations to explore speculative urban histories and imagined public futures of the city and its surroundings. Taught by landscape architecture and urban planning scholars in collaboration with local architectural historians (TBD) the program will be based in what is widely considered to be the finest facility operated by an American university in Rome. At its doorstep are incomparable urban landscapes in one of Europe’s most fascinating cities. In addition, this program will explore the urban form and landscapes of other Italian cities, and villa gardens as a laboratory for understanding the magnificent and unique contribution to landscape and urban design and urbanism made by Italian designers in the development of western culture. The program will explore the role of the city and region of Rome through the lens of speculative urban histories in relation to society,
infrastructure, and water.

Process
With a focus on the infrastructures of water in relationship to the processes and patterns of urban development through time, students will consider how a city the size and scale of Rome will address both climate and cultural change in the 21st century. Focusing on the Tiber River and the watershed through which it drains, investigations will frame scales of landscape and site exploring their influence and relationships. Historic narratives of the Italian built environment will begin in Rome and link to Italy and Western Europe. Investigations of representations of the city- its landscape and built environment will build on these foundations. Field trips outside of Rome expand the student’s understanding of Italy and of Rome’s role as its cultural and political center. Lectures and discussion sessions address the geography, history, urban design, and architecture of Rome and Italy. Students also receive instruction in Italian language. The design studio
gives students an opportunity to develop and synthesize their understanding of the Roman context through the development of an in-depth design proposal.

Information Sessions [12-1pm; GLD 312 (Fishbowl)]:
Friday, January 20
Monday, January 30

Please get in touch with Ken or Catherine if you have any questions: kyocom@uw.edu; cdealmei@uw.edu

Paris | Autumn 2023
CHID Paris: Art, Literature, and the Avant-Garde in the City of Light

October 1 – December 1

CHID Paris Program Brochure

When Baron Haussmann reconstructed Paris into the “City of Light” (1852-1870), he produced an urban space that came to represent the Western world’s break with tradition and the emergence of modernity. Modernism, the characteristic style of cutting-edge art and literature in the first half of the 20th century, was born there, which is why avant-garde artists and writers from all over the world would flock to Paris until the beginning of WWII. CHID Paris offers students a unique opportunity to study the emergence of modernity within its original cultural, architectural and historical context. Taken together, the three courses offered by the program trace the interrelationships between Paris and the development of new representational forms such as photography and film, and the impact of modernity on arts such as painting, the novel, poetry and the theater.

Paris contains an unparalleled wealth of modernist and proto-modernist art and an essential part of the program will be visits to museums and sites were we will see the actual paintings, sculptures and artifacts that we will be studying : the Musée du Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Gustave Moreau, the Musée Rodin, the Musée Marmottan, the Centre Pompidou, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Halle Saint-Pierre, Jean Tinguely’s « Le Cyclop », etc. This will enable us to get a sense of the whole sweep of the development of modern art from Impressionism through the various movements of the 20th century.

Classes take place at the American Church in Paris, in the very heart of Paris. Students stay with English-speaking families in Paris for the entire duration of the program. Excursions, city walks and research days will be scheduled during the week, leaving ample free time to explore the city and other sites in Europe during weekends.

The program will run October 2 – December 3, 2022 in Paris, France. Remote, on-line class activities will be held through December 11, 2022, to wrap up the program.

Chiba University, Japan

The College of Built Environments has an ongoing exchange relationship with Faculty of Horticulture at Chiba University in Japan. Reach out to the advisers for more information.

ScanDesign Programs

Supported by the ScanDesign Foundation, the College of Built Environments offers a series of programs that directly involve architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design students in the work of Gehl Architects, an internationally renowned leader in environmentally sensitive design, and use both Copenhagen and Seattle as sites for learning. These programs give students the opportunity to see and study examples of Denmark’s innovative approach to sustainability firsthand and then give them an opportunity to apply what they have learned in Seattle.

To find out more, visit: http://scandesign.be.uw.edu/

Valle Scholarship and Exchange

Unparalleled in the United States, the Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program has a dual mission: (1) To promote and fund the exchange of graduate students between the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington and programs in the Nordic countries. (2) To support outstanding graduate students in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Built Environments.

To find out more, visit http://www.engr.washington.edu/valle/

Perugia, Italy | Autumn 2022

In this Fall 2022 studio, we will be designing, and constructing, a sensory garden that responds to autistic users and their care provider and family needs.  This class will focus on an in-depth exploration and investigation through design for therapy, community support and ecological health.  The project is in collaboration with the AURAP foundation at the casale Forabosco that is a community initiated and supported organization for those coping with autism and their families.Students will participate in several field trips including Florence, Rome, Sienna and Naples.

Traena, Norway | Summer 2022 A term

Working with the community of Traena, we will develop ideas to design and build a collection of elements including gathering space/outdoor classroom, outdoor kitchen, furniture, seating and other enhancements for a community garden/gathering space associated with the local elementary school and that will be a venue for the music festival and other community events. Using an exploratory building method, we will implement part or all of the design. One focus will be an exploration of how place is defined by culture and how this design can both respect local history and explore the future of Traena’s unique heritage, traditions and sustainability. Students will participate in field trips to Oslo and Trondheim.

Learning Objectives:

The overarching goal of this studio is to continue building your fundamental skills and thinking as designers, and to continue finding your own design voice, values and process.  More specifically, this course is designed to help:

• Develop the basic skills of community participatory design
• Develop competencies in collaborative team work, leadership and team organization
• Exposure to and development of basic skills of site design, construction documentation, and building implementation
• Develop basic competencies in hand drawing
• Explore several drawing medias

Courses Include:

• LARCH 498/598 – Design/Build Studio, 6 credits
• LARCH 411/412 – Landscape Representation, 3 credits

New Zealand | Post-Earthquake Resilience Design for Christchurch | Winter 2020

A Winter 2020 design studio will be offered in Christchurch, New Zealand, with accompanying urban design study tours to Wellington and Auckland led by Professor Nancy Rottle and Architect Paul Olson. The curriculum also incorporates place-based media studies and independent study investigations.  Please attend the information session on Wednesday, May 15, for a glimpse of this past winter’s NZ experience and to hear about plans for winter 2020!

InterAction Nepal | Design, Development, Global Health | Autumn 2019

InterAction Nepal is an immersive, interdisciplinary study abroad program offered with the support of the UW Department of Landscape Architecture, the JSIS South Asia Center Nepal Studies Initiative, the Department of Global Health and Traction | Nepal. The program will challenge you to delve into contemporary issues surrounding urban development in the Kathmandu Valley and respond to them at a local scale through community-based human centered design, project implementation and assessment. You will work with local students and residents of an underserved community to design and build a small-scale intervention in community infrastructure and evaluate project impacts on human and environmental health. You will also have the opportunity to pursue your own research interests through independent study. Program activities include lectures and discussions, organizational site visits, field trips within and outside the Kathmandu Valley, community meetings/workshops and hands-on design/fabrication/construction.

For details, visit the program’s study abroad page.

Iquitos, Peru | Development and Human and Ecological Health in the Amazon Rainforest | Early Autumn 2019

Students will spend 2 weeks in the Amazon Rainforest and 2 weeks in the City of Iquitos, Peru to learn from landscape architects, ecologists and health professionals about the impact urbanization has on health and ecosystems in this region using interdisciplinary approaches. Students will also have the opportunity to engage with the InterACTION Labs program, a partnership between UW and Peruvian researchers and designers and an informal floating slum community in Iquitos.

For details, visit the program’s study abroad page.

Osaka & Tokyo, Japan | Asian Urbanism Exploration Seminar |Early Autumn 2019

For details, visit the program’s study abroad page.

Sweden |Design/Build Dals Langed Sweden – Public Sculpture/Community Identity | Summer 2019

In this design-build program, we will collaborate to create a landmark sculptural observation tower as a feature that provides an identity and wayfinding mechanism for the community of Dals Langed. The Dals Langed environment is one of renowned natural beauty and is rural in character, with extensive lakes, canals and woodlands. It is heavily populated by refugees from Syria. The students will learn about issues of immigration, displacement and assimilation and the perspectives of the refugees and host Swedish populations. In addition, we will visit Stockholm, the largest city in Sweden with wonderful historic buildings, contemporary squares and plazas and world class museums, and Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden to tour the historic fabric, visit the re-known craft museums and sections of the city under-going urban revitalization.

For details, visit the program’s study abroad page.