Bobbi Spencer, a 2007 Master of Architecture graduate from the Texas A&M College of Architecture, returned last fall to an architecture academy in Switzerland to continue studies in modern architecture that she began as a senior environmental design student.
Her return to Universita della Svizzera italiana, Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio, Switzerland was made possible by a ThinkSwiss Fellowship, a Swiss government initiative promoting Switzerland as a center for education and culture through exchange programs.
Spencer was prompted her to choose Switzerland as her first semester abroad destination by a growing interest in modern architecture, especially the work of Swiss modernists Mario Botta and Peter Zumthor, nurtured during her undergraduate years at Texas A&M. However, because classes at the Swiss school are taught in Italian, she first had to hire a private instructor for some intensive language instruction.
Spencer said her first semester at the Swiss architecture academy, in the fall of 2006, was extremely enlightening and very challenging. In addition to making a lot of new friends, she took a studio directed by Antonio Citterio, a Milan architect, and studied contemporary architectural theory with Stanislaus von Moos and Elia Zenghelis.
“It was the energy and passion of the place that made me want to return,” Spencer said.
After her first semester in Switzerland, Spencer continued to collaborate with her new friends from the academy, which included mainly Swiss and Italian students, but also students from throughout Europe, as well as Japan and Australia. The students critiqued each other’s work, exchanged ideas on current and future projects and generally encouraged one another.
