Lavinia Fici-Pasquina, associate professor, will lead two exhibits this semester that highlight student achievements in the Foreign Studies Program. The Italian Embassy and the AIA District Architectural Center (DAC) in Washington D.C. will each host presentations and display an array of innovative design projects, ranging from Sustainable Inhabitable Bridges; Equitable Halfway Homes; Immigration-Integrating Facilities in Rome; and Portrait Galleries in Malta.
Fici-Pasquina, M.Arch ’99, and a licensed architect in Italy, has leveraged her experience in directing foreign studies and her professional contacts within Europe to restart successful study abroad programs which had been suspended due to the COVID pandemic.
“I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to expose students to different cultures, especially in Europe, which has a deep history in architecture. I focus on teaching them how to incorporate the lessons of the past into contemporary building and design,” Fici-Pasquina stated. “I have witnessed the transformational effects that foreign studies has on the personal, professional and spiritual growth of our students.”
The intersection of different cultures, geographical areas and disciplines -- mixed with new technologies in design, building materials and various media -- will continue to shape the way space is conceived, created, designed, manipulated and experienced. “Allowing students to experience this first-hand and share the product of their work with a wider audience at these prestigious venues is extremely rewarding,” she explained.