Research Team


Background and expectations:

PERSONAL BACKGROUND:

I like understanding physics. I talk about geometry a lot. I am known for my attention to the smallest details. For the past six years, I have worked in customer service for a company that has supported my pursuit of education since 2005. I spend my spare time mostly tinkering with machines; currently that outlet is bicycles.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:

I spent two and a half years at Cap College preceding my acceptance into the SIAT program in October 2007. There, I studied a wide variety of subjects, focusing mostly on Art History, English, and Philosophy - with a side of Environmental Science - ending up with an Associate of Arts. The time spent at Cap really helped me with thought organization and communication. I enjoyed my time there, working with good instructors and meeting people along the way.

WHY DID YOU APPLY FOR ITALIADESIGN?

To see and experience interior and exterior space. One of my favourite areas of study is church architecture of the Italian Renaissance. To be able to go to these places and feel them is a great experience. When I describe a Brunelleschi interior as a forest of columns, I can now say that I've walked through that forest and felt the effects that it has on a person.

As a writer, I looked forward to continuing the type of work that I had started in the Art History department at Cap College. The prospect of helping develop the legacy project from that angle was something I felt I was well-suited for. I had a lot of encouragement from Josephine Jungic, long-time instructor at Cap specializing in Italian Renaissance.

Experiences In-field:

WHAT DID YOU LEARN:

  • About cities?

    Having a bike in all three cities allowed me to experience them from a similar viewpoint from which I go about my daily life in Vancouver. Learning the flow of traffic, getting lost in cities that were designed before grid systems were prevalent, seeing Italy from the streets.

    A city is a built environment on its natural topography. Space experience is inherent in our natural environments, but not necessarily something that we pay attention to. This exists on both the large scale of a city and its surroundings, or on the smaller, more understandable scale of the urban square. The Italians mastered this built space well before North America was even inhabited.

    In order to better complete my mental model of the cities we visited, I sought out the high points of cities whenever I could. In Rome, this meant riding my bike to the edges of the city, high above the banks of the Tiber, as well as constructed points such as Michelangelo's dome on St. Peter's Basilica.

    In Dolciano, the front porch provided an expansive view of the surrounding countryside. Sitting under that archway, finding time for myself to drink a coffee and take in the space, the natural shape of Tuscany further reinforced this idea of space experience. We had the chance to visit many of the Tuscan hilltowns, and their unique feel dependent on the time in which they were built up.

    When we arrived in Florence, I made a point of finding that same time to myself. The Arno Valley carves its way through the same Tuscan countryside, but in this case the Renaissance city is the archaeological record of space creation. Spaces such as Brunelleschi's Ospedale degli Innocenti and, only a block away, his most amazing feat of engineering, the cupola of Florence's cathedral, are around every corner.

    Milan turned out to be a difficult place to seek out this type of experience. The flatlands of Italy's north are the hub of industry, and even riding in every direction would not provide the opportunity to create a mental model by aerial view. The only opportunity I found was the top of the city's cathedral, an amazing experience in itself, but what revealed itself to me was the fact that Milan is a city which stretches on and on with no end in sight. The feeling of claustrophobia, the Medieval center of the city and its six-pointed streets, even with extensive riding did not make sense to me in the twelve days we spent there.

    What have I learned about cities? That you should not take for granted the virtues of the land you're accustomed to. Being thrown into a foreign land, even one that you've spent a lot of time studying, will make you realize this.

  • About living away from home?

    Living away from home is an eye-opening experience. I don't live with my parents, so I was expecting less of a shock than some of the other group members, even though I'd never spent more than a couple weeks away from Vancouver. I quickly realized that all of the systems I have in place at home are more significant than I thought. Things like shopping for cheap food, knowing the best places to go, etc are things that we take for granted. Of course, this also means there's an adventure around every corner. The challenges inherent in relocating oneself are something that I am now aware of, and I have a greater respect for people who have done so.

FAVOURITE MOMENTS OR INTERACTIONS:

  • In daily life?

    While I was unable at first to ascertain what people were yelling at me about in Italian, I quickly figured out that my big red beard was a source of entertainment for them. Before leaving, it had been my intention to go as long as I could without cutting my beard in summer in Italy. I made it the entire time without cutting anything, and had many interesting conversations which started with the word "barba".

  • With the group?

    As the only regular cyclist in the group, I was very excited when everyone was in for a bike ride down the Appian Way to the Park of the Aqueducts. I lead group rides at home, but the chance to do this in Rome was completely unexpected. I scouted a route that took us from the bike rental place at the north side of Rome, through the city safely, and out through the south-west. We had an amazing picnic of all of the things people had found and enjoyed so far in Rome, and an entire day off work just enjoying each others' company. This breakthrough experience got everyone excited about bikes, to the point that having them in Florence became a point of "transcendence" for a lot of people.

FAVOURITE PLACE OR SPACE:

The back window of the Rome apartment at sunrise. Living in such tight quarters - eight of us sharing a single bathroom - I often found myself in a tranquil moment before anyone else was awake. Preparing my Bialetti, eating cereal, sometimes listening to music; a routine I brought from home. Except this was in a dark, cool kitchen with high ceilings, open shutters, chirping birds, and a rising Roman sun illuminating the sky.

Every morning a man walks down this alley, dressed in a suit, feverishly rehearsing his thoughts and carrying a single flower. But I had yet to pick up enough of the language to decipher any of what he was saying; he is merely a character in the changing of the light. As the sky changes gradient from bright orange to blue, traffic in the alley picks up. The mechanic across the way begins working. Another day begins in the Eternal City.

MY TRANSCENDENT MOMENT open link

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STUDYING ABROAD AND STUDYING AT HOME:

One significant difference is the history embedded in everything in Italy. Having studied Italian Classical and Renaissance Art History even before applying for the field school, there were many works I was looking forward to seeing "live". The impact that these things have on you can be even greater once they're right in front of your eyes. Having been there, I can guarantee there is no way to appreciate Fra Angelico's San Marco Annunciation but from the bottom of the stairs leading up to it.

AN UNEXPECTED CHALLENGE THAT YOU OVERCAME DURING THE FIELD SCHOOL:

While the site was very interesting to me, our frisbee game at Circo Massimo on day two in Italy showed a completely different side to me: allergies. At home I have developed allergies to some plants over the past five years, but not to the point that I've needed to take medication. Coming home from Circo Massimo sneezing, I was immediately thrown into a challenging state. The rest of the group had a lot of fun playing in the Circo for the next two weeks, but I was hesitant. In our interviews in Rome, it was all I could do to prevent myself from sneezing; the standard amount was about six in a row. These allergies became less intense the farther north we traveled, and I made out for the most part without antihistamines.

CAN YOU COMMENT ON THE VALUE OF THE FULL SEMESTER OF CONTEXTUAL, CULTURAL, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES PRIOR TO IN-FIELD WORK?

  • About language?

    Saying that I was able to engage in a philosophical discussion with one of the great thinkers of Italian design in the past 50 years is probably enough proof that Italian 100 was a worthwhile venture. It was very helpful in terms of being able to construct sentences and learn the Italian grammar. I did, however, find that speaking Italian in the real world was much more challenging than in class. The range of different conversations you have in daily life is surprising, and it took a few weeks to become comfortable with these daily interactions. By the end of the trip, I was speaking Italian quite well, and getting compliments from people there about the accuracy of my grammar. So I can say that the pre-trip work was definitely valuable, as it provided an accurate foundation on which the everyday conversations could build.

  • About Italian history?

    Having already studied Italian Art History, the 391 course was one of the most enjoyable semesters of my education. Along with my giant art book, I became a great resource for the rest of the group in the spring semester. I love talking about art and architecture, and understanding the connections between different scenes, both regional and temporal.

    Working with some of SIAT's best on these topics was an amazing opportunity, and no doubt proved valuable in-field. Art History research is one my passions, and having the chance to work with design students, combining this research with visual design, turned out very well. What we created was essentially a research paper every week, augmented by hand-picked images and put together with good design.

    With a minimum of four pre-trip presentations per week, a reader could become lost in just the 391 work for days.

CAN YOU COMMENT ON THE LEGACY PROJECT OF THE ITALIADESIGN FIELD SCHOOL?

I came into this project knowing its history and status as a "rite of passage" in the SIAT world. Before the spring course, I had already gained a decent understanding of the project and its goals through looking at past work and discussing with Russell and past ItaliaDesign students.

During the spring course, we went even deeper in familiarizing ourselves with the details of previous ItaliaDesign work and how we could move it forward. Part of our challenge is to make this information tangible to the different audiences that read the site, and to lay a good foundation for future groups. It's still overwhelming. The amount of information is huge! The legacy of this project runs deep.

I think we've set up Gruppo Sei with a solid foundation. The 391 work was really great and, knowing how much Quattro's work helped us, I think that's a huge start. Our work in-field with the Rome and Tuscany projects definitely pushed those ideas forward as well. As long as there are passionate students, this project will continue to be a valuable asset to SIAT.

Reflecting:

WHAT IMPACT HAS THE FIELD SCHOOL HAD ON YOU?

Understanding the underlying connections between things has always been at the foundation of my quest for knowledge. ItaliaDesign has pushed my knowledge of a particular subject very far in a very short amount of time. Not only have I stepped into the world of SIAT and worked with some smart and talented people, I have also had the experience of learning outside of my normal context. While my educational future is still up in the air, I feel as though the field school has pushed me to another level of academic potential.