Marianne Cadio
For this semester, I had the wonderful opportunity to be able to go to Paris, France for a study abroad semester. I attended l'Ecole Nationale Superieur des Art Decoratifs as an L3 in Interior Architecture. Throughout the semester I had the opportunity to see how architecture and art is conceived and taught in a a french art school, teaching me an enormous amount about how different cultures view the same topics both similarly and differently.
Throughout my classes I was able to explore many interesting topics. While the main studio course had us working on alternatives to typical french suburban housing, we also explored the uncanny in art and architecture, color theory, women in architectural history, public space interventions, figure drawing, concrete structural systems, and plaster as a material, alongside so many other topics!
While I definitely felt like the classes moved at a slower pace than in the US, the various topics were explored with a completely different viewpoint, which was very refreshing.
My classmates were also very open to me and meeting other international students from various countries opened my eyes to how people of similar ages from around the world all can have such various experiences.
Besides school I had the chance to visit Italy for a quick stint to see some classmates and friends I had met in Japan, and I also took the fall break to see architecture from Herzog de Meuron, Le Corbusier, Doshi, and most excitingly, Peter Zumthor in Switzerland. The solo trip was my first time traveling alone for such a long period, and it gave me the chance to focus on seeing what I liked, notably architecture, and walking in nature. Being able to see so many work I had studied, finally in person, was a great way to see for myself the theories I had been taught in school. It helped me fully understand what I was being told and how I can then apply it myself in my own designs.
Thank you!
