August 27, 2020
Landscape architecture faculty responds to study abroad pause with summer studio
![A split image of the design solutions developed by the two teams of landscape architecture students in the summer landscape architecture studio.](https://arts.psu.edu/assets/uploads/news/_860xAUTO_fit_center-center_80_none/larch_20_08_summer-studio.jpg)
As a department, we saw a problem and developed a creative solution that benefited the students and our alumni [at TBG], and hopefully opened a pathway to future studios like this." – Stephen MainzerElliott Doerle, managing principal of the TBG Austin office, said, “We were incredibly impressed with the students’ abilities to be active listeners to the feedback/design recommendations that we, ‘the client’ shared in the design review sessions. As a result, the progression and improvement of the design work from one meeting to the next was truly remarkable. In the end, the students really pushed the creative boundaries of the project and provided very interesting, innovative and thoughtful design solutions.” Landscape architecture student Brooklyn Haugh expressed how much she learned from this online alternative, even if it meant missing out on the study abroad program. “I enjoyed the studio. I feel like I learned a lot about the profession – such as budgeting hours, scope of work, the request for proposal process, professionalism, working with a firm, etc. – that I wouldn’t have learned studying abroad,” Haugh said. “Although I didn’t have the experience of studying abroad, the alternative studio was more than worthwhile, especially as a graduating student entering the workforce.” According to Haugh, doing a virtual studio versus an in-person one was a lot more convenient when meeting with team members and organizing work. Therefore, she felt like the studio itself was a very successful one. “The partnership with TBG was a great one. We took their feedback seriously and tried to mold our designs to their expectations, the same way a firm would work with a client,” Haugh said. “It also became a great opportunity to network, since we are all upper year students and will be looking for jobs within the next year.” Figurelli mentioned that he especially enjoyed the studio and team he ended up working with because he hadn’t collaboratively worked on any other studio design project during his time at Penn State. “The studio was unique in format – in the virtual team format we were essentially on our own as ‘employees’ in our little imaginary firms and we would report to the ‘clients’ every week. It provided a glimpse into the professional workplace which not many other studios provided in the same way,” Figurelli said. “The content was important in that we practiced writing proposal responses, the scope of work and other aspects such as managing timesheets and budgets. Although the ones for this class were educational, the practice was realistic to a professional work environment. “The type of work and the experience of working in a team was more aligned with what I will be doing post-graduation, and that is not something I would have gotten out of studying abroad.”
![A split image of the design solutions developed by the two teams of landscape architecture students in the summer landscape architecture studio.](https://arts.psu.edu/assets/uploads/news/_680xAUTO_fit_center-center_80_none/larch_20_08_summer-studio.jpg)
![A screenshot of the virtual pin-up space students in the virtual studio used to mimic the pin-up walls in Stuckeman Family Building](https://arts.psu.edu/assets/uploads/news/_680xAUTO_fit_center-center_80_none/larch_2008_summerstudio_pinup.jpg)
![Black and white side-by-side portraits of Gavin Figurelli and Brooklyn Haugh.](https://arts.psu.edu/assets/uploads/news/_680xAUTO_fit_center-center_80_none/larch_2008_summerstudio-figurelli-haugh.jpg)
Schools and Departments:
Department of Landscape Architecture, Stuckeman School
Unit Outreach:
Offices:
Alumni
Degrees:
Bachelor of Landscape Architecture