Introduction Ball State University's (BSU) College of Architecture and Planning (CAP) has launched its eighteenth bi-yearly international study tour available to students in all three academic departments, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning. This program called "Polyark", initiated over thirty years ago, has evolved over the years from shorter single residential base study abroad formats to its current form as a fifteen-week intense global study tour - now adding the term "World Tour". The program engages both graduate students and undergraduate students from all three CAP disciplines (Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning) in a three-and-a-half month intense, rigorous and immersive study-travel learning environment. Both the graduate and undergraduate participants' course work is woven inextricably into the intense day-by-day itinerary visiting places, spaces, design professionals, buildings, gardens, and vernacular environments - urban, rural, and natural. With the "world" as the classroom and curious minds wrestling with sketchbooks, traditional drawing media, and a collective dedication for 'design' to actuate more sustainable environments - a rich learning environment soars 'on-the-fly'. Daily research, analysis, observing, reacting, recording, reflecting, and design experimentation frame the learning mosaic of the Polyark18/WorldTour4 (P18/WT4) interdisciplinary study-travel team (37 undergraduate students, 3 graduate students, and 2 faculty). Via the P18/WT4 course work web site, 'visitors' to the web site (academics, professionals, students, participant's family members, as well as the extended global family via the world-wide web) will have opportunities to review course work in progress while the interdisciplinary student group is en-route. As adequate en-route Internet connections are available, participating Graduate Assistants will daily upload their and their upper-level undergraduate students' course work assignments/examples in the four courses and journal areas. During the study tour period from early-January until mid-April of 2010, tour participants will be identified only by their initials. Family, friends, and fellow BSU-CAP students and faculty will readily recognize the participants by their initials. When the tour is completed, the Graduate Assistants will facilitate the inclusion of additional coursework and final research papers, along with the complete detailed itinerary, participants' names, and final colloquium essays and final design project images. This web site has been 'simply' designed and constructed to ensure maximum accessibility to family, friends, fellow students, and all visitors who may be accessing this web site from older and slower hardware/software connections and equipment. This P18/WT4 immersive learning team is comprised of two graduate students of Landscape Architecture, one graduate student of Architecture, one upper-level undergraduate Urban Planning student; twenty-five upper-level undergraduate students of Architecture; eleven upper-level undergraduate students of Landscape Architecture, and two faculty co-directors -- one from the CAP Architecture program and one from the CAP Landscape Architecture program (40 students; 2 faculty). The group is committed to a high standard of 'on-the-fly' course work and is eager that any and all visitors utilize the "Comment/Feedback" link found on all students' assignment web-pages to communicate ideas, impressions, and even constructive and positive critique of the course work examples reviewed herein. Disclaimer (Lag Times in Uploading Course Work Assignments): PARTICIPANTS Again, the P18/WT4 group is committed to a high standard of 'on-the-fly' course work and is eager that any and all visitors utilize the "Comment/Feedback" link found on all students' assignment web-pages to communicate ideas, impressions, and even constructive and positive critique of the course work examples reviewed herein. PRE-TOUR RESEARCH
World Tour Archive
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