This summer, Pratt students are traveling the world to engage with international cultures and global perspectives in their disciplines. Pratt’s news page is featuring these experiences in a series of dispatches from around the world.
Pratt Institute students in architecture, art history, and other design fields explored Italy over four weeks this summer, studying multimedia visualization techniques through the country’s art and architecture. While spending time in Italy surveying its visual culture is a longstanding part of an arts education, this experience shifted that perspective to new technology. The “Recombinant Rome” program was led by Visiting Associate Professor of Undergraduate Architecture Mark Rakatansky and co-instructor Lorenzo Vigotti. It was open to graduate and upper-division undergraduate students from across a range of disciplines.
Examining ancient and contemporary expression in Rome, Milan, Mantua, and Venice, the students used cutting-edge digital visualization like 2D-imaging and 3D-modeling to experiment with new approaches to perception and communication. Each participant selected a building or environment and analyzed its design along with its cultural and societal meaning through these innovative techniques. From the 16th-century circular Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio in Rome to the handcrafted red roofs of Venice, they were immersed in the rich artistic and architectural legacy of Italy and discovered fresh pathways of critical investigation into this influential heritage.
Students in Venice (photo by Lorenzo Vigotti)
Students at Pietro Lombardi’s Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice (photo by Lorenzo Vigotti)
Students at Giulio Romano’s Palazzo Te in Mantua (photo by Lorenzo Vigotti)
Read additional Dispatch articles: Pratt Summer Abroad: Dispatch From Venice; Pratt Summer Abroad: Dispatch From Tokyo & Kyoto, Pratt Summer Abroad: Dispatch from Tokyo; Pratt Summer Abroad: Dispatch from Tokyo II; and Pratt Summer Abroad: Dispatch from Copenhagen.
Images (all photos by Lorenzo Vigotti): Students at Donato Bramante’s Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio in Rome; Students at Sant’Andrea al Quirinale in Rome; Students in Venice; Students at Pietro Lombardi’s Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice; Students at Giulio Romano’s Palazzo Te in Mantua