This is a vertical studio combining students in their fourth and fifth year of architectural studies. The students may choose from a diverse range of options of study proposed by different faculty members. In general the studio options are grounded in a conceptual basis that invites theoretical and/or programmatic innovation. These studio options may vary from year to year.Section Description:Students wishing to register for this course need to first obtain instructor approval by emailing the instructor (instructor emails are listed with a more detailed program description in portal: cca.edu/abroad). Once a student is approved, registration must be done in person at the Student Records Office on either campus.Open to undergraduate and graduate students, this studio journey begins in Madrid and ends in Valencia, traveling across the Iberian Peninsula visiting Toledo, Segovia, Cuenca, Cordoba, Seville, Granada, and Murcia, following the paths of the Silk Road across Spain, while tracing the influence of almost nine centuries of Eastern culture on Spanish architecture and design. Silk manufacturing and the silk trade began historically and geographically in China, but Spain’s location, as the hub where the land and sea routes of the western end of the European Silk Roads met, transformed its culture and economy through a global network of trade extending to the American continent.We research, observe, and document the diverse ethnic and cultural influences of the Silk Road on the built environment, taking into account the formal, material, cultural, and technological effects along the route. We visit major buildings and sites from the sacred Mosques of Cordova to the Pleasure Palace Alhambra, from Gaudi to Mies, Moneo to Calatrava, J. Nouvel to J. Mayer. The studio project engages public space, landscapes, and events, combining immersive experiences with multi-disciplinary and multi-scalar practices in Modern and Mozarabic architecture, miniature paintings, mosaics, ceramics, glassworks, interior and industrial design.

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