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In the tenth iteration of the Rome Global Seminar, Environmental Design students embarked on a summer field course, exploring the rich culture and historic urban landscapes of both Rome and Syracuse, Italy. The immersive studio challenged students to examine how cultural, behavioral and environmental factors shape the built environment. Through lectures, studio exercises, sketching sessions and exchanges, participants gained hands-on experience in urban site analysis and design. 

Design abroad offers an incredibly rich opportunity to reflect on cultural practices of both one’s home country and those visiting. The lens of one whose is not embedded in a culture of place can sometimes highlight or verbalize qualities that those who live there daily have become so accustomed to that they no longer see. New eyes or fresh eyes can often make acute observations that residents may have become veiled.  

In summer 2024, the Urban Site Analysis and Design Global Seminar, taught by Teaching Professor Marianne Holbert focused its course on both Rome and Sicily.  

In this studio, the new perspectives from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Program in Environmental Design students are informing urban planning decisions in Ortigia Sicily. 

The students began the course with an investigation of markets in Rome to better comprehend the cultural facets of market life in Italy. This thread of cultural exchange through market life carried from both Rome to Sicily. The students began with four weeks in Rome taking Layers of Rome, an architectural history walking course, gaining direct contact with built structures, urban infrastructures and monuments to learn more about the urban evolution of the city. Freehand sketching, drawing and urban analysis were integral to both the studio course and the layer course.  

Students in Holbert’s global seminar began research on their project site in Syracuse, Sicily, which resulted in design proposals for the town of Ortigia. The proposals ranged in disciplines from urban design, planning, architecture, landscape architecture and environmental product design. The design proposals also highlighted elements that local architects are now in discussion with the local municipality for possible realization.  

Location: 
A small island called Ortigia in Italian off the coast of Syracuse in Sicily, Città Vecchia (Old City) of Syracuse. The island has a unique history with the passage between Greeks and was founded by the Corinthians between 734-733 BC. Its position on the Ionian Sea made it strategic for navigation and power. The island is surrounded by the Ionian Sea and its rocky cliffs and beaches. 

There are two small bridges that provide access to the island. Upon arrival one is greeted with mayhem of tourist stations, bicycle tourist stations, a temple and the  

The Ancient Ortigia Market Structure: 
The Ancient Market Building is a historical structure dating from the 1890s and designed to be the market structure. It was designed by Edoardo Troja, an engineer of the Municipal Technical Office. The internal rectangular courtyard has an ornamental fountain in the middle and a portico with 24 arches surrounded by shops. In 2000, the structure was renovated for historical re-use.  

Temple of Apollo: 
The building of the historic market structure is situated across from the ancient Greek Doric structure from 6th Century B.C., the Temple of Apollo, constructed as a prototype for the Parthenon in Greece. 

Proposal Scope(s): 
Project proposals range in size and scope with approaches varying from urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture and/or environmental product design interventions. Proposals could utilize the Antico Mercato building as an adaptive re-use structure for covered market space, or other proposed urban enhancement programs, such as new urban space, landscape, park, enhance circulation and access of the existing market, and engage the street market and connection to the Temple of Apollo. Student designs proposals had the capacity to remove certain existing elements (railings, walls, urban infrastructure etc…) and add to the existing infrastructure to enhance the area. Individuals selected the projects' function and programs, as guided by the site analysis and research. The design project invited cultural sensitivity, imagination and intellect to inform and enhance the area.  

The student design interventions could relate to adaptive re-use of the Ortigia market, a covered market at the end of the nineteenth century, engage an active street market or nearby sea edge. The Ortigia market borders to the east of the archaeological area of ​​the Greek-archaic temple dedicated to Apollo and near the perimeter of the island and the Ionian Sea. The building is currently minimally used by the local community. The market structure contains a large courtyard characterized by a four-sided portico with arches on columns and a basement with a cryptoportico. 

“The architects who reviewed the students' work thought it was incredibly thoughtful. The drawings could really speak.” - Teaching Professor Marianne Holbert