THE ARCHITECTURE EXPERIENCE

Europe

The Architecture Experience – Europe takes the participants on a 15 journey spanning France, Spain, and Italy, where they get to see architecture ranging from Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque to the Art-Deco, Modernism and Futurism movements. Participants will get to visit sites showcasing different architectural styles. This will help in understanding the incorporation of aesthetics and form along with the function, context and surroundings of each site, ranging from Gaudi to Zaha Hadid.

sagrada familia barcelona

Sagrada Familia by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona

Image on top – Trevi Fountain, Rome

15

days

20

participants

4

cities

What is The Architecture Experience - Europe?

The best approach to growing as an architect is to learn from experiencing and observing. The Architecture Experience aims to do just that. Participants get to observe contextualising architecture, through site visits and interactions with local architects, and document the learning in a themed narrative for later referencing. The Experience will be a fifteen day long curated educational tour for up to twenty participants, across 4 cities in Spain and Italy.

These visits will focus on observing and learning about the importance of contextualising architecture, the history of different architectural styles and techniques, importance of design, its influence on architecture around the world, sustainability and other aspects which draw scores of visitors to European architecture. The visits will foster a deep understanding of city planning, old architecture and its conversion to new, mobility-driven infrastructure while working on a documentation project across different themes.

Itinerary

In the 15 days, participants will get to work on their own project in sync with their work, or their subjects in college. These projects will be relevant for different Indian landscapes (be it urban or rural), with inspiration taken from places visited during this Experience.

Casa Mila by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona

Paris

Lille

Barcelona

Rome

Days 14 and 15 are free for the participants to explore Rome.

Cultural visits are not part of the itinerary but are recommended areas to shop and explore the city.

Upcoming batches

How Much Does It Cost?

INR 287,000 /$3,500

The price includes flights ex-Mumbai, India (taxes extra). The price without flights is $3000. Please contact us if you are a NASA India student, for discounted pricing.

What does the cost include?

Domain Expert Guidance

Course Material

flights

hotels

local & airport transfers

breakfast & dinner

visas

entry fees

Our Partners

People

Rachita Bhonsle

MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology

Curator & Tour leader - The Architecture Experience

Testimonials

The trip allowed me a very holistic experience of the cities, which is a first for me despite having been on quite a few “study” trips. It encompassed everything from contemporary and historically relevant site visits to vibrant day and night markets, offering insights into various aspects beyond architecture- food, culture, history, and so on. To our surprise and joy, the lively local New Year celebrations added a dynamic dimension, revealing various facets of the city's essence. It was encouraging to see studios and practices using sustainability and adaptive reuse as forefront agendas in a relatable urban context. I enjoyed seeing the variety in the typologies and languages of architecture within the same city. Would definitely want to explore more into the observations and learnings from Vietnam. Having been a small group, there were a lot of spontaneous discussions encouraged and initiated by Atul Sir, that made me look a few more steps beyond just the surface and helped me catch onto certain aspects in a much more simplified way. He was really a great mentor to have on this trip!
Ayushi Madan
4th Year, Wadiyar Centre For Architecture, Mysore
(Participant - Vietnam, February 2024)
I loved the Bawa site visits(especially Lunuganga) and meeting with Palinda. The fact that we could closely experience Bawa's works would definitely add to our designs and projects. All the important spots were thoughtfully covered and personal attention was given everywhere. Guidance from Rachita, on not only the project but also on architecture as a field, was really helpful. She is amazing and is an excellent mentor. She answered all our questions patiently and is a very sweet and friendly person. Overall planning and organizing of the tour was amazing. We were allowed to explore on our own and make changes to the itinerary if required, which gave us more exposure. Lastly, it was an extremely fun trip where we enjoyed 24x7 and made unforgettable memories. Kudos to Ankit and The Happy Llamas!
Chirag Betgeri
2nd Year, MMCOA, Pune
(Participant - Sri Lanka, October 2023)
10 out of 10! The Galleries we visited were really innovative with excellent technology and the neighbourhood with its unique character and vibrancy.I loved the lecture with Ar. Neo Sei Hwa. It gave me an insight into the evolution of Singapore as a city as well as the master's programme and practice opportunities there. Having learnt a lot about Singapore’s energy-efficient buildings, organised human settlement patterns, comfortable climate and rich culture in the previous semesters of our UG, it was really insightful to be able to see and experience them in person. Ar. Rachita was an excellent guide and mentor and guided us perfectly throughout the trip so that we didn’t miss out on the major architecture-rich hotspots, every typology ranging from heritage to contemporary structures, as well as the major tourist attractions in Singapore. Overall it was an amazing experience with lots of learning and fun that got me so attached to Singapore’s culture, architecture, diversity and improvised automation.
Rithika Ragunath
4th year, CARE school of Architecture, Trichy
(Participant - Singapore, February 2024)

Sustainable Development Goals

All our Experiences are aimed at implementing and solving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. Goal no. 17 ‘Partnerships for the Goals’ is key to our Experiences, since we work with a global team of experts to be able to add value to the learning of the participants. The Architecture Experience Europe focuses on 3 of the Goals primarily.

sustainable development goal 9

Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation​

– Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being.

sustainable development goal 11

Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable​

– By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing

– By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement

– By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters

sustainable development goal 12

Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

– By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources

– Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production

FAQs

–  Students and fresh graduates from architecture colleges and related fields

–  Young professionals from architecture, design and related fields who want to explore Contextualising architecture in Europe (France, Spain, and Italy)

Young architects could benefit exponentially from observing architecture ranging from the Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque to the Art-Deco, Modernism and Futurism movements, and getting to understand more about contextualising architecture. Understanding how the sites in Europe utilise existing infrastructure for new purposes, be it cafes or hotels or museums. How the planning in the cities visited is mobility driven. Learnings from this trip can be applied to the participants’ methodologies when working on sites/projects back home.

Yes! This Experience will take up to 20 participants. These participants will be split into smaller teams to execute projects which are designed to give added value to their ongoing projects (school or live)

The Architecture Experience is designed with the intent of enhancing architectural understanding. To this end, a short project is included as part of the experience. The participants will explore methods of observation and documentation while focusing on ideologies of Contextualising Architecture.

This Experience will focus on observing and learning about the importance of site sensitivity, different architectural techniques – active and passive, importance of material selection and other aspects vital to sustainable architecture, which are important tenets of contemporary and new age architecture, be it urban or non urban.

Yes! From a logistics point of view, this price includes the cost of accommodation, flights, visas, breakfast and dinner, local and airport transfers, and entry fees where applicable.

A building can only be understood by moving around and through it, and by experiencing the modulation, and feel the spaces one moves through - from outside into verandah, then rooms, passages, courtyards. Architecture cannot be totally explained but must be experienced."

Geoffrey Bawa

Contact Us

Maxxi Museum by Zaha Hadid, Rome

If you’d like to know more about The Architecture Experience – Europe, please fill out this form, and one of us llamas will get back to you shortly.