STUDIO TICINO: CREARE NEL CREATO

2011 Cal Poly Summer in Switzerland

Tom di Santo 805.234.1727

tdisanto@calpoly.edu

overview

The summer in Switzerland is an 8-week faculty-led travel studio for the summer term 2011 based in Ticino, the Italian section of Switzerland. All courses will be taught by Tom di Santo with the help of guest critics and workshop facilitators from the region including local artisans from Ticino, architect Enrico Como from Milano, and potentially professors from the University in Mendrisio (where Peter Zumthor, Mario Botta and Valerio Olgiati also teach). On site administration will be coordinated through Enrico Como (Milano) and Oscar Innocenti, stationed in the town of Muggio, Ticino in Southern Switzerland.

itinerary Starting in the summer of 2011, students will embark on a 12-day tour of Switzerland and her neighboring countries (including Eastern France to see Ronchamp, Southern Germany, Lichtenstein and Western Austria). Destinations include the Thermal Baths in Vals, trips to Chur, Zurich, Basel, Bern, Weil-am-Rhein, Bregenz, Luzern, and many villages along the way. We will visit the work of traditional Swiss Architects as well as Peter Zumthor, Herzog et de Meuron, Mario Botto, Valerio Olgiati, Santiago Calatrava, Jean Nouvel, Baumschlage und Eberle, Deiner + Deiner, Le Corbusier, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano, Jean Prouve, Angelil + Graham, Nicolas Grimshaw, Buckminster Fuller, Alvaro Siza and a host of others. On the first of July, students will return to the town of Muggio, on the south side of the Alps, where we will live and work for the remainder of the term. Fridays we will embark on local trips in Southern Switzerland and Northern Italy. The group will decide these locations based on a list of recommendations.

food and lodgings We will have one “ostello” all to ourselves just outside the town of Muggio. We can sleep as many as 24 students, and our atelier will be housed in the same building. We will have our own cook from Monday to Friday (three meals per day - - plus breakfast and a box lunch for Field Trip Fridays). The Chef will cook local dishes (a mélange of French, Italian and German cuisine with a Swiss accent).

Photos of the town of Muggio

coursework

Arch 453 (5 units): Fourth year Design: Project will be a modern intervention into a historical mill outside the town of Muggio to advantage the local culture, context, history, topography and climate in Ticino. Mario Botta lives and works at the base of our valley. Arch 480 (6 units): Special Topics in Architecture: This class will encompass travel, office visits, special events of architectural significance and other endeavors. Arch 480 is a professional elective Arch 400 (2 units): Selected Advanced Topics: This class will incorporate artisan techniques taught with workshops by Tom di Santo and local artists and artisans. The main focus will be on watercolour painting and ceramics, since we will have access to a full-time ceramic studio with kiln(s). Other art techniques may be explored depending on the artists available in the summer 2011, including Metal Sculpture, Resin Sculpture, History/Theory and/or Urbanisme. Italian Language Workshop (optional): Conversational Italian: This class will be designed to help students get by with some of the basic expressions that will help them engage the context in which they are living. It will also help students moving onto Firenze or Roma in Fall with their language skills. It will not be offered for credit.

Photos Top to Bottom: Le Corbusier!s Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, Zumthor!s Therme Vals, Roman Archaeology Museum in Chur and his Kunsthaus in Bregenz.

Costs CE/Cal Poly Tuition: $3,700 Room + Board: $1, 520 Airfare: $1,200 12-day Field Trip: $1,200 Printing + Supplies + Local Transport + Personal Expenses: $350

Total: $7,970

Final costs estimates will be determined in April after we know how many students have confirmed, and after the students decide the extent of the field trips Fridays. The program costs will go up if we are not filled to capacity (24 students). The 12-day Switzerland field trip costs include a budget of $100/day for hostels, food and incidentals plus the rail passes. Students will also need to budget some personal expenses when on Field Trip Fridays (the extent of which will be determined when we decide where we want to go). Tuition is estimated to be $3,700. Airfare is estimated to be $1,200 (based on online research). The tuition includes the program fee which includes local administrative fee in Switzerland, as well as honoraria expenses for the guest critics and workshop facilitators, in addition to costs for emergency insurance, local studio space, and other expenses, etc. These prices are subject to change (higher or lower depending on the exchange rate at time of departure as well). If the student is from a country from which Switzerland will require a Visa, such as China or Columbia, then one should expect to spend up to $300 on document fees.

Photos of Zumthor!s Chapel of San Benedetg in Sumvitg (left) and Renzo Piano!s Beyeler Fondation in Basel (below).