Program Description The program will use the rich heritage of London’s built environment to introduce students to the changing elements of architectural design and the evolution of urban space from medieval times to modernity. During a series of guided tours to different districts, students will have the chance to examine the historical record and material culture of commercial, governmental and residential buildings, churches, monuments, theaters, museums, railways stations, parks, squares, and bridges.
The FOOTSTEPS in LONDON program is designed to take advantage of the urban environment of greater London in the hands-on teaching of Architecture, Urban Design, History and Ethnography. Most of the teaching occurs on site in different urban settings and museums around the city. We conduct numerous guided tours in various districts, including visits to historic commercial, governmental and residential developments, churches, monuments, parks, bridges, several internationally significant museums and a few theater performances. The ethnographic course examines London as a “global city” by guiding students through the study of several of London’s celebrated ethnic neighborhoods as another way of understanding the relationships between spatial environments, communities and culture. We will also make a day trip to Oxford to contrast its more homogeneous traditional urban environment with the evolving and modernizing spaces of Greater London.
Program Eligibility
2.5 GPA for undergraduates, 3.0 for graduate students
Program Dates May 22 - June 6, 2010.
Location(s) The trip includes 21 nights at the Thistle Kensington Gardens Hotel on Hyde Park with great breakfasts included (www.thistlehotels.com/kensingtongardens ). Also included are trips to the Theatre, the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, Kew Gardens, the Victoria & Albert Museum, St. Paul’s, the Tower of London and the John Soane House Museum. Among the many excursions will be visits to the historic Portobello and Camden Markets, a day to the lovely historic town of Oxford and visits to the Observatory, the Naval Museum and the Queen’s House in nearby Greenwich.
Courses Offered ARCH 2401 – Appreciation of Architecture
ANTH 2051 – Introduction to World Ethnography
Expected Program Costs Program cost will be $2,400, excluding tuition and airfare. Breakfast is included in the hotel plan and there are many eating establishments of all types throughout the neighborhood. Students should budget approximately $1,500 for food during the stay in London.
The program cost includes bus and subway passes for the entire time we are in London. Airfares are not included and students are expected to make these arrangements themselves. They should budget $800 - $900 for flights. We will meet them at, and return to, Gatwick Airport with a hired coach as a part of the program budget. The train ride to Oxford is covered, as well.
Airfare and tuition are not included in the cost of the program.
Itinerary (Tentative)
Before departure there will be two meetings to establish working groups for Week One student projects on London’s districts and their peoples: The City, the East End, Soho, the West End, Whitehall, and the Docklands.
May 22 – depart Baton Rouge
May 23 – arrive London
June 6 – Return to Baton Rouge
