What is Resiliency?
Interior Architecture + Design undergraduate program
This course examines the development and impact of resiliency as it relates to a community’s ability to predict, react and adapt to unanticipated factors.  Students gain factual knowledge about the strategies and tools required for implementing resiliency with a focus on historical built environments and business continuity planning.  Students analyze and observe various resilient approaches used across the globe and explore these important cultural and geographical differences through international travel. 

For the spring 2016 semester we are focusing on Boston and Barcelona.  Mount Ida College is located in Newton MA and travel to Barcelona will occur in May 2016.


RESILIENCY:
What is it and why is it important?
noun re·sil·ience \ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s\
: the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens
3:29 PM

4 rounds of gelato, 50+ miles of walking, 20 rounds of tapas, and 8 wonderful ladies = a trip that I will never forget. Going to Barcelon...

4 rounds of gelato, 50+ miles of walking, 20 rounds of tapas, and 8 wonderful ladies = a trip that I will never forget. Going to Barcelona, Spain was an amazing experience that I will cherish forever in my life. It really opened my eyes to an entire different world. It made me realize there's a whole world out there and I should see more of it! I'd have to say my favorite part was seeing buildings and structures made by Gaudi. Parc Guell was my favorite place because of all the beautiful mosaics and broken glass structures. I...

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9:23 AM

The Gothic Quarter is a historic part of Barcelona, as it used to be the Roman settlement. Now consisting of old and new architecture, it i...

The Gothic Quarter is a historic part of Barcelona, as it used to be the Roman settlement. Now consisting of old and new architecture, it is a major tourist attraction.  Because of how the Quarter is set up, there are many squares where tourists and locals can relax and enjoy their surroundings. There is also a plethora of restaurants, bars and shops to choose from, so it's guaranteed that the area is always full of people.  While visiting Barcelona, our group had the opportunity to talk a guided walking tour of the gothic quarter. We viewed the architecture,...

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8:46 AM

8:46 AM

On Thursday we had the pleasure of talking to Llorenç , an industrial engineer from TERSA under the Photovoltaic Pergola. This was built in ...

On Thursday we had the pleasure of talking to Llorenç , an industrial engineer from TERSA under the Photovoltaic Pergola. This was built in 2004 by Elias Torres. Even though Spain is "the country of the sun", they are not as reliant on solar power as expected. He started out with an emotional Spanish story about when individuals first started producing their own solar power it was benefiting them and their neighbors, but they were not able to sell it back and they had to pay a tax to have it. He used the analogy "It's like growing...

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8:35 AM

En route to Barcelona! 5.5 hour plane ride... Going to Barcelona was one of the best decisions I've ever made. This was an amazing ...

En route to Barcelona! 5.5 hour plane ride... Going to Barcelona was one of the best decisions I've ever made. This was an amazing experience that helped me grow as a person and designer. I've always been the type of student that enjoys hands-on learning and benefits from experience rather than lectures and tests (part of the reason I love my major, so hands-on). We visited so many different things and saw so many different types of design, it truly opened my eyes to what I can do with my degree and how much room I still have...

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8:28 AM

Visiting Spain was truly one of the most amazing and life changing experiences of my life in so many different ways. I have been in sch...

Visiting Spain was truly one of the most amazing and life changing experiences of my life in so many different ways. I have been in school for the last 18 years of my life and in that time it has never been something "for me" sitting in a classroom and listening to lectures, writing papers, and reading has never been something that I enjoy; for my entire life I thought that this meant that I didn't enjoy learning. Turns out, I have been learning in all the wrong ways. I learned more during a week in Spain than...

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7:09 AM

Montserrat is a multi-peaked mountain located south of the city of Barcelona in Spain. Tucked inside the mountain is the benedictine a...

Montserrat is a multi-peaked mountain located south of the city of Barcelona in Spain. Tucked inside the mountain is the benedictine abbey and the surrounding town. Because of the beautiful views from the 4,055 ft elevation, the figure-like mesmerizing shaped of the mountain, and the impressive architecture located impossibly just below the summit, Montserrat was Spain's first national park. What is most impressive about the architecture at the summit is that it dates back to the 12th century. The architecture alone is impressive for it's time but then one has to consider the transportation of building tools and materials at such...

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