Programs Abroad - Graduate School of Architecture

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The School of Architecture encourages study abroad. Programs in China, Greece, India, Italy, and Spain; in addition, a variety of international embedded travel opportunities are available based on faculty initiatives through courses and design studios in the fall and spring semesters. To study abroad, students must be in good academic standing. Furthermore, to earn degree credits, students must have a cumulative UVA GPA of no less than 3.0 at the time of application or at the end of the term prior to the commencement of study abroad program or course. These standards apply to UVA study programs and to study abroad programs under the auspices of other institutions or organizations.

The programs administered by the School of Architecture are competitive; priority is given to applicants who have demonstrated academic excellence as reflected in a higher GPA. Applicants to semester and exchange programs are required to have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00.

For additional information on a School of Architecture education abroad programs, contact the Director of Advising+ Academic Support and Associate Dean of Academics.

Summer Program in Vicenza, Italy

The program is open to all students in the School of Architecture. Students receive six credits through the International Studies Office. Extensive field trips to explore the art, architecture, and urbanism of the Veneto region are an essential part of the program. A faculty member of the School of Architecture leads the program. Knowledge of Italian language and cultural customs and traditions is recommended, but not required.

Summer Program in China

The UVA program in China introduces students to Chinese art, architecture, urbanism, and culture. The program includes study trips to sites in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. The program is open to all students in the School of Architecture. Students receive six credits through the International Studies Office. A faculty member of the School of Architecture, as well as local experts, lead the program.

One of the greatest global challenges of the twenty-first century is Chinese urbanization. Cities change; Chinese cities, through their scale and speed of developments, are at a historically unique moment of distinctive change. This change is producing global consequences. UVA Architecture China Program takes on the challenge to research into the emerging conditions of Chinese cities as they forge unprecedented realities in two of China’s most dynamic city-regions, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta.

The program will guide students in the methods of urban research, and visit locations of historical significance, sites of important buildings, and offices of influential architects. Students will work together with professors and students from South China University in Guangzhou on urban research to gain knowledge and insight, and attend talks by leading experts and practitioners in China in architectural design, urban planning, landscape architecture, and history. The research results will be reviewed in Guangzhou in June, and exhibited in Charlottesville in the winter.

Summer Program in Greece

Students will learn about human-environmental transformations in ancient and contemporary settlements in Greece from the traditional vantage point of sailing, with a focus on understanding past and contemporary sustainable strategies (e.g., urban density, architectural typologies, rainwater collection + storage, passive design, natural materials, transportation). Additionally, students will gain significant intercultural experiences through structured visits and informal interactions with Greek locals, while monitoring their own direct water, waste and energy impact on the environment while sailing.

J-Term Program in India

Students will learn about human-environmental transformations from historical to contemporary settlements in India, with a focus on understanding both past and contemporary sustainable strategies (eg. urban density, architectural types, rainwater collection + storage, passive design, natural materials). Additionally, students will gain significant intercultural experiences through structured visits and interactions with host country nationals. In particular, the program with collaborate will faculty and students from Jindal Global University.

J-Term Program in Madrid, Spain

This course provides firsthand, direct knowledge of the Modern Architecture International Panorama through an intensive program of on-site visits in Madrid, Castille, and Andalusia, a cultural territory composed of a mix of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim elements that, with the later addition of profound American contributions, produced the first global civilization of the modern world.

The course complements the knowledge of architectural masterpieces and architectural precedents studied at the School of Architecture, combining site visits, lectures, and meetings with architects.

Fall Program Barcelona, Spain

The School of Architecture offers a full semester program in Barcelona. The Barcelona semester abroad program is a fall option for Graduate students in any program in the school, subject to advisor and director approval. The program includes courses in studio design, urban and architectural history and 20th Century design practices. Courses are taught by UVA faculty in collaboration with faculty in local universities.

Extended Embedded Travel Program Venice, Italy

The Venice Program offers a unique collaborative experience: the study of a centuries-old relationship between dwelling, the land, and in this case, the water. Being immersed in the daily rituals of a foreign culture and in material, spatial constructs takes an unparalleled hold on the imagination. In a one-semester, fifteen-credit curriculum, the students retrace the urbanization of Venice and the Veneto, attend lectures and visit exemplars of the development of Venetian art and architecture, conduct independent research and participate in a design studio. The Venice program’s focus on strategies for resilience in dynamic settings is grounded in an understanding of landscape processes, the multiple histories embodied in the cities, buildings, and art, and the cultural structures that enable communal life. The complexities of building and rebuilding a city in a preposterous landscape emerge again as contemporary challenges operate at nested scales of daily life, material constructs, and landscape systems.

The School of Architecture has a longstanding connection to Venice and the Veneto, initiated by the late Professor Mario di Valmarana over 40 years ago. As a commitment to Mario’s legacy, the school has continued the program through the generosity of alumni who have funded numerous student scholarships and the Mario di Valmarana Professorship. The semester-length program in Venice builds upon this deep tradition to offer the students of the School of Architecture the opportunity for immersion in the rich art, architecture, and landscape of the unfathomable cultural life of Venice.

The program is open to fourth-year undergraduates and final year graduate students of all of the disciplines of the School of Architecture. Following three weeks of structuring a research focus and initiating urban analysis in Charlottesville, the students embark on a six-week residence in Venice from mid-September to the end of October. Upon their return, students apply lessons from Venice in an immersive design studio or independent study.