Introduction

When the end of the semester comes, I am always fascinated at seeing Architecture and Interior Design students, busy in preparing their studios’ final presentations. The energy and enthusiasm they put in their work is well documented in this little booklet which collects the most inspiring students’ projects of the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters. This publication series, which was started by prof. Paola Giaconia in Spring 2013, in the course of the years will provide important documentation of the activity of Kent State University Florence Program in Architecture and in Interior Design.

The studio projects were quite challenging for our students, all sites being possessing some very special qualities: the area around the Torrino di Santa Rosa in the San Frediano neighborhood and Piazza dei Ciompi for the Architecture studios; the new Exit to the Uffizi and Palazzo Spini Feroni for the Interior Design studios.

As director of the school, I am also very intrigued seeing students’ explorations and design proposals for our city. Their restless explorations result in lively discussions on the occasion of midterm and final reviews.

I especially commend the students whose projects are featured in these pages. They all demonstrated high commitment to their work. I am sure that absorbing the vitality of Florence’s art and culture during this semester has been especially beneficial for them all.

Finally, I congratulate their professors (prof. Filippo Caprioglio, prof. Alberto Francini, prof. Paola Giaconia, prof. Andrea Ponsi, prof. Fabio Barluzzi and prof. Federico Grazzini), whose intellectual and artistic abilities I am very aware of. I know well what each of them had to offer to our younger generation of designers. A special note goes to Professor Paola Giaconia, whose work as coordinator for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University Florence is invaluable.

Thank you all for your intense work!

This booklet collects the studio projects awarded in the “Most Inspiring Students’ Project” competition that launched in the Fall 2019 and in the Spring 2020 semesters.

This is a recognition that, as coordinator for the Architecture and Interior Design program at Kent State University Florence, I deem especially important. First of all because it constantly documents the growth and evolution of our didactic program. Secondly, because it enhances a dialogue among students and challenges them individually, while also reminding them of the experiences and abilities of their own colleagues.

In particular, the competition was open to all students enrolled in the Architecture and Interior Design studios at Kent State University, Florence Program. It celebrated emerging student talent by awarding the top student work.

We evaluated a very varied array of design proposals (on four different sites - the area around the Torrino di Santa Rosa in the San Frediano neighborhood, Piazza dei Ciompi, the Uffizi and Palazzo Spini Feroni - and with different design programs - a community center and a park, a piazza and a playground, a museum for the visual arts) which represent, overall, a testimony of the academic activity in the two semesters.

A jury composed by Kent State University Florence design studio faculty (professors Filippo Caprioglio, Alberto Francini, Paola Giaconia, Andrea Ponsi) and faculty from Kent State University CAED (professors Ivan Bernal and Jon Yoder in Fall 2019; professors Ivan Bernal, Charles Graves, Mark Mistur, David Thal, Jon Yoder and William Willoughby in Spring 2020) selected the winners.

The top projects were selected based on:

• quality of the project;

• effectiveness of its presentation.

10 merit awards were issued to these Architecture students:

• Dymon Beckum

• Reece Berry

• Elizabeth Burkhart

• Peter Copetas

• Chloe Froning

• Dylan Herrmann-Holt

• Rachel Kidd

• Jack Mc Michael

• David Merchant

• Alix Wilson

4 merit awards were issued to these Interior Design students:

• Rachel Gesin

• Elizabeth Koenig

• Madelyn Orcutt

• Amanda Steiner

And 1 merit award was issued to this Architectural Studies student:

• Jean Paul Soto-Torrado

Commencement ceremonies were held at the Teatro della Compagnia in Florence, on the occasion of the end-of-semester school celebration, in Fall 2019; and in a virtual celebration in Spring 2020.

Winners were given a certificate and were awarded with the publication of their project in this booklet. Also, the winning entries were displayed at the end-of-semester school reception.

As a series, these booklets represent a comprehensive trajectory of the school’s design work and pedagogical identity developed at Kent State University, Florence program. They reflect the students’ educational experience during their semester abroad and together they aspire to gauge the progress the school has made in the course of the years.