This last fall I took the opportunity to go on a interdisciplinary study tour to Chicago, Illinois. It last 5 full days not including the travel and gave us the opportunity to study buildings as groups and present to one another at the actual site. On our first full day we started off leaving our downtown hotel, the Red Roof Inn, and walked to Trump tower to discuss the first days buildings. We then proceeded to learn from each student about there buildings. Some of the ones I found most interesting that day were the Harold Washington Library and City Target. I loved the owls as a sign of knowledge on top of the library and the intricate patterning on the exterior of the Target.
After that "Loop" we took a train to visit the Illinois Institute of Technology. The next day we had the opportunity to learn from different discipline teachers, so I started my day with the Landscape Architect teacher. She led us on a walk through Chicago looking at the undeveloped areas. We got to walk along the beach and then moved further towards the Lincoln Park Zoo. On the way we saw this interesting arch that had all the students intrigued (top right). After lunch the Interior Designers went with their teacher to explore the Merchandise Mart, visiting Herman Miller, Design Tex(bottom left) and Dream Home, as well as the Green Spot.
At the end of that day the faculty had an evening cruise along the river and out onto the lake planned, so experiencing that with my friends and colleagues was really fun.
The next day we started at the Farnsworth house, learning the stories of their flooding and how it came about. Then in the afternoon we had our last student group present around Millennium Park. My group had researched the Jay Pritzker Pavilion (bottom left), so I had the opportunity to teacher fellow people about that structures story. But I also loved hearing about Crown Fountain (bottom right) and how it shoots water out at people in certain segments of its programming.
The last full "school" day we were taken on a tour of Frank Lloyd Wrights Home and Studio (left). Then just after lunch we took our group picture in front of the infamous Bean or "Cloud Gate" and ended the day exploring the Art Institute of Chicago which had some amazing pieces of art I later learned in the semester in my Modern Art-19th century course.
The final day in Chicago was a free day for the students and I wandered through the Shedd Aquarium with a friend. Overall it was a wonderful experience and we came back with new friends in multiple different disciplines.
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