ROMA XL exhibit. Photo by Waterloo Architecture.
This fall, the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture celebrated 40 years of its study abroad program to Rome. The celebration culminated in a school reunion, bringing together some 200 alumni and their families for a program of tours, dinners, and networking events in Rome. The festivities also included an exhibit of sketches by Waterloo Architecture Rome Program graduates, including Alison Brooks, Howard Sutcliffe and Lisa Rapoport, seen alongside photos of their built work.
In 1979, the University of Waterloo School of Architecture launched its Rome program in a dark, cramped studio on Vicolo Savelli, an alleyway near Piazza Navona. The program has since found a permanent home in Trastevere. Over 2,000 Canadian students have spent a term in Rome, learning from the city and its history.
Eric Haldenby surrounded by generations of Waterloo Architecture alumni. Photo by Howard Rideout.
“For forty years, participants in the Rome Program have explored the implications of modern architecture in Rome and have initiated student exchanges, exhibitions, symposia, research and design projects in collaboration with Italian architects and academics,” says the official program for the Italian gathering.
“This forty-year celebration is a reflection on the collective memory and experience of several generations of students, many of whom have joined the ranks of Canada’s most influential architects,&...