This makes them ideal sites for the School of Architecture's new international graduate studios.

Courtesy Photo

Joel Fuoss' plan for a neighborhood cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, superimposed over the actual site. Fuoss and 11 other students spent the fall semester in Buenos Aires as part of the School of Architecture's new international graduate studio program; 14 students are currently in Helsinki, Finland.

Last fall, 12 master's candidates inaugurated the semester-long Buenos Aires program, living in apartments around the city and working in a stately, 19th-century French Colonial mansion (also home to the country's premier architectural society). This spring, 14 students enjoy similarly picturesque arrangements, sharing workspace in a renovated warehouse that overlooks Helsinki Harbor.

"We feel that it's extremely important for students to understand how architecture and culture intersect," said Cynthia Weese, dean of the School of Architecture. "Living in another culture can give you a fresh eye with which to look back at your own history and assumptions."

Yet unlike most study abroad opportunities, these studios -- which will be offered in alternating semesters for at least the next two years, joining an ongoing summer program in Barcelona, Spain -- are directly overseen by the School of Architecture, which hires local faculty, outfits workshops and classrooms and helps secure room and board. Tuition and expenses are comparable to a semester in St. Louis and, in some cases, financial aid packages can be adjusted to help defray travel costs.

Adrian Luchini, the Raymond E. Maritz Professor of Architecture and director of global studies, noted that the studios' format -- local professors, four-month stays, curriculum developed by the School of Architecture but tailored to local conditions -- attempts to reconcile what are often seen as conflicting, if powerful, goals: diversity and globalization.

"One of the criticisms of globalization has been a lack of sensitivity toward other cultures and ways of life," said Luchini, a native of Argentina. "Hopefully, we can help our students -- the architects of the 21st century -- learn to be more environmentally conscientious, more accepting of diversities in the world, and better equipped to deal with the complex social and economic conditions they may encounter."

Students take courses in history, technology and urban issues and, as on the Hilltop Campus, focus on a single intensive, semester-long studio project, with Luchini, Weese and other senior faculty attending midterm and final reviews.

"We want to dispel the notion that international study is just some kind of fun trip to exotic locations," Luchini said. "Students are still part of the school and they have to do their work."

Gerardo Caballero and Pablo Rozenwasser, affiliate associate professors of architecture, led the Buenos Aires studio project, based on an existing competition for a neighborhood cultural center. Students toured the site, studied project requirements -- a theater, a generous mix of green space and built environment -- and met with some of the parties involved, including one of the competition judges.

"Architecture has so much to do with people's daily lives," said Joel Fuoss, a master's candidate who participated in the Buenos Aires project. "It's important to immerse yourself in the culture, to learn about how they use and interpret their built environment, and not just to do things the way we always do them in the U.S."

Fuoss recalled that many of the students' early conceptions of the center jostled right up against the street, as if purposefully avoiding American clichˇs about suburban lawns and mall parking lots. Yet in critiques with Argentine architects, the students quickly realized that, "in Buenos Aires, development is already so dense that open space is refreshing -- it gives a building room to breathe."

Fuoss further noted that big, bulky central air-conditioning units -- a given in most new U.S. construction -- are expensive and difficult to maintain in South America. Thus, his final design manages the climate by emphasizing natural ventilation and other energy-efficient, environmentally sensitive strategies.

Environment is also a factor in the Helsinki studio, if for different reasons, noted Peter MacKeith, associate dean and director of graduate admissions, who is spearheading logistics there. He observed that in Nordic countries, "there's simply no need for air conditioning, but there is a strong regard for natural illumination," thanks to the famously short winter days.

An authority on contemporary Finnish architecture, MacKeith has some experience in building graduate studios, having previously directed the International Masters Program in architecture at the Helsinki Institute of Technology. He said that thus far, getting students settled and working has been an almost surprisingly smooth process.

"The largest hurdle was finding housing that's furnished, accessible and corresponds to student rental budgets," MacKeith said.

The Helsinki studio project -- led by distinguished Finnish architect Jouni Kaipia, a former visiting professor on the Hilltop Campus -- focuses on a new public library in the city center. Like the Buenos Aires project, the library is based on an actual competition.

MacKeith pointed out that both studios "emphasize design within a dense urban context, for civic purposes and with a strong sense of society.

"Internationalism is a two-way street," he added. "If students initially feel a little lost or a little overwhelmed, that's probably a good thing. And if they learn to communicate more directly through drawings and models, that's a good thing, too."