During the summer between my third and fourth years, I studied in Vicenza, Italy and the surrounding Veneto Region for five weeks. The focus of the program was on architectural sketching. Each day we travelled to a different city, neighborhood, or building and sketched. This sketch was the final fifteen minute sketch done in a series of three from the same spot on the grounds of Palladio's Villa Rotunda.


This sketch was done in what was designed as the attic space of the Palazzo del Te. The space has been converted into a gallery, and the juxtaposition of the steel structure of the gallery walkway and displays with the wood trusses of the roof was an intriguing composition to sketch.

This is a one in a series of sketches of the multitude of piazzas that we spent time in throughout our travels. Many of the sketches focused on the public/private relationship in the piazzas of Italy, as shown through the focus on the fenestration and arcade of the Castello in Mantova.

This sketch was done in the morning light in the Giusti Gardens. After weeks of sketching urban hardscapes, the transition to the softer lines of the gardens was a welcome change. This sketch highlighted the progression from the urban edge in the background through the formal gardens in the middleground to the more organic gardens in the foreground.