Building on the great success of it’s innaugural 2022 semester, the 2024 UNL Interior Design Program at the AIA Rome Center will immerse students for 15 weeks in Rome’s rich cultural and design environment. UNL students will study alongside Architecture and Interior Design students from the University of Oklahoma in this AIA hosted program.
Program Description
The UNL Interior Design program at AIA offers serious students the chance to live and study in the heart of Italy’s capital for 15 weeks. All courses and activities involve focused, active, hands-on learning that investigate contemporary solutions to modern, real-world problems in an inspiring, historical setting. In this program you will visit many of Italy’s extraordinary sites and meet experts in many design related fields. You will experience authentic local culture guided by the personal attention of instructors and staff. Program tuition includes field trips and admission to many cultural sites across Italy.
The program is open to 3rd and 4th year interior design students, who will enroll in three Rome-based courses for 11 semester credits. The 15 week program includes field trips across Italy and nine days of break for independent travel. All instruction is provided by local professionals, and students will study Italian language with a native speaker.
Rome: Old & New, Big & Small
Rome and Italy offer unlimited design lessons drawn from thousands of years of human creativity and the inspiration of exquisite built and natural environments. In Rome students can explore exciting design problems set in the heart of the historic city and its modern suburbs, and other unique settings around Italy will provide inspiration and context to students’ design solutions. In Rome you will live in and learn from almost 3,000 years of urban, architectural, landscape and interior design ranging from the works of the ancients and the masters of the Renaissance to the contemporary designs of Richard Meier, Renzo Piano, Massimiliano Fuksas and Zaha Hadid.
Faculty
Beatrice Bruscoli Ph.D.
Beatrice received her BArch from the Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, one of Europe’s oldest and largest universities. She earned an MArch from Ohio State University, and her Ph.D from the Università degli Studi di Genova. She has taught at and directed American architecture programs in Italy for decades and her architectural projects and research have been published and exhibited in many national and international venues. She co-taught a remote Cap Stone Interior Design studio for UNL students in the Spring of 2021 and the UNL Rome Program Design course in 2022 and 2023.
Scott Schlimgen, MArch
Scott is an architect with an MArch II degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a BArch from the University of Arkansas. He founded Academic Initiatives Abroad and the AIA Rome Center in 2009. He has taught architecture for various American universities and has been teaching and running US study abroad programs in Italy since 1990. He co-taught a remote Cap Stone Interior Design studio for UNL students in the Spring of 2021 and the UNL Rome Program Methods course in 2022.
Claudia Cremasco, MA
Claudia is AIA’s Coordinator of Language Instruction and an award-winning language teacher with a Laurea in Literature from Rome’s La Sapienza University. Since 1988, she has taught and coordinated Italian language instruction at many universities in Italy and the USA, including Harvard University, Cal Poly State University, the University of Oklahoma and Northeaster University. She taught the UNL Rome Program’s Italian course in 2022.
Program highlights:
15 Weeks in Italy
The program runs a full semester, from mid-Jan. to the end of April.
Field Trips
A minimum of two major field trips and additional day-trips are included in tuition. Participants will travel on high-speed rail, stay in comfortable hotels, and sample regional cuisine as we travel.
Cultural Visits
Each week you will visit museums, archeological and other cultural sites in Rome, and many more on field trips. All entrance fees to program visits are covered by tuition.
Earn UNL Credit
All courses earn direct UNL credit.
Creative Design Studios
Build your skills and your portfolio through creative solutions to real world problems. Serious and thorough design studios emphasize all media from hand drawing to digital modeling and graphic design.
Beautiful Urban Facilities
You will work in fully equipped facilities located in an elegant historic palace in the very heart of Rome.
Convenient Housing
The program provides comfortable housing within walking distance of the facilities.
Italian Language Class
You will learn Italian language and culture in a natural and fun way with an engaging native language professor.
Professional Contacts
You’ll meet and learn from local experts, guest critics and other professionals.
Special Activities
Extracurricular activities include multi-course group dinners, Italian films, cooking lessons, and more. Student life in Rome includes all a big city can offer, from live music and soccer games to shopping, lively streets and relaxing parks.
Courses
3rd year students
- IDES 311-Interior Design Studio IV/Rome (5 credits)
- IDES 491-Introduction to Italian Culture and Language. (3 credits)
- IDES 491 Cultural and Contextual Design Methods Course (3 credits PE)
- IDES 318-Pro Practice Online/Web-Conferencing Section offered by UNL ID Faculty (3 credits)
4th year students
- IDES 411-Interior Design Studio V/Rome (5 credits)
- IDES 491-Introduction to Italian Culture, Language, Design (3 credits)
- IDES 491-Cultural and Contextual Design Methods Course (3 credits PE)
- IDES 455 Environmental Behavior and Social Factors Online from UNL – OPTIONAL-
Rome-based Courses
IDES 311/411 – Interior Design Studio IV or V/ Rome
This vertical studio will focus on historic sites addressing cultural issues and community activation in the 21st century.(5 credits-Rome Program) Instructor Beatrice Bruscoli, Ph.D..
IDES 491 – Introduction to Italian Culture and Language
The course uses diverse cultural media to help students understand and interact with the culture around them. The course can count as a Professional History Elective or an Open Elective. (3 credits-Rome Program) Instructor: Claudia Cremasco
IDES 491 – Cultural and Contextual Design Methods
This course provides students with historical, analytical, and theoretical frameworks to understand the relationships between culture, place, and space. The course can count as a Professional Elective, or an Open Elective. (3 credits- Rome Program) Instructor: Scott Schlimgen.
IDES 318 Professional Practice (online)
3rd year ID students will take a remote version of this course to prepare for IDES 375 Professional Internship.
Travel
You will leave the classroom, and Rome, to investigate course themes in the field on at least three inspiring study trips. Trips may include:
North Trip
Discover the vibrant atmosphere of Milan, the Italian capital of contemporary design and Verona, an inspiring blend of ancient ruins, medieval castles and modern urban, architectural and interior design. A trip to Venice may be included or easily accessible as independent travel.
South Trip
Visit the dynamic city of Naples, one of Europe’s great cultural capitals, and explore the streets, houses, baths and monuments of ancient Herculaneum and or Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Tivoli Day Trip
This day-trip will take you to the nearby town of Tivoli, to visit the city-sized ruins of Hadrian’s Villa, the grand Villa D’Este, whose gardens and fountains define Renaissance landscape design and Richard Meier’s striking contemporary Jubilee Church.
Professional Management and Student Support
AIA staff ensure the program runs smoothly and help students get settled in their new home in Italy.
- Student Services
- Orientation sessions and materials
- Immigration assistance Visa and Permesso
- Online services
- Housing assistance
Requirements
The UNL Architecture Program in Rome is open to third-year Interior Design students.
