Julia McGibbon ‘26 is studying Architecture, Liberal Studies (PLS), and Italian at Notre Dame. During the summer of 2024, Julia traveled to the U.K. to closely study history, theory, and practice of traditional architecture. At the University of Cambridge, Julia developed a foundation for addressing urban problems, received guidance from prominent architects and historians, and connected with international students with different educational and cultural backgrounds. In her free time, Julia enjoyed traveling to various regions in the U.K and across Europe. The University of Cambridge, the Ax:son Johnson Centre for the Study of Classical Architecture, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, and the Notre Dame School of Architecture were proud to sponsor Julia’s adventures abroad.
After studying in Siena last summer and Rome this past school year, I became aware of the crucial connection between on-site analysis and the irreplaceable understanding of “place” that it fosters. Thus, the idea of studying alongside renowned classical architects and developing a project to revitalize street design was beyond intriguing. Thanks to a grant from the Nanovic Institute, I was provided the opportunity to attend the Summer School in Classical Architecture at the University of Cambridge in 2024. This five-week program offered by the Ax:son Johnson Centre for the Study of Classical Architecture provided education in the history, theory, and practice of traditional architecture. The program created an immersive studio environment which included measured drawing, hand draftsmanship, and watercoloring rendering. Prominent architects and historians delivered seminars centered on British architecture from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries and also guided students through a studio project which encouraged them to consider sustainable growth. The project itself was creating a theoretical design to address current urban issues on Cambridge’s Regent Street and a smaller scale of building and detail. I was particularly intrigued by the project because I have a strong desire to study the unique character of English architecture and its urban fabric, to meet students with shared interests but varying architectural backgrounds, and to further develop my design process before an intensive fourth academic year. When applying to the five-week program, I anticipated these interests contributing to my thesis, particularly the urban component.
The project absolutely fulfilled these goals and more. While many aspects of my time at Cambridge surprised me, I was most struck by the friendships I made and just how wonderful it was to learn from the other students in the program. My classmates were from all around the world, including India, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Ukraine, Australia, and beyond. Although I had just studied abroad for a year in Rome and was somewhat familiar with learning alongside international students, my classes had all been with Notre Dame students who have similar architectural backgrounds to mine. Thus, the project in Cambridge offered an unique opportunity to form bonds with several students who had never even met an American before. It was particularly fascinating to learn about my peers’ various educational experiences with modern architecture, as Notre Dame’s school focuses on classical architecture. Thanks to these diverse experiential learning opportunities, my classmates and I were able to engage in wide-ranging conversations about everything from beauty to brutalism.
I would advise Nanovic students to push themselves as much as possible to meet other students with a variety of backgrounds while abroad. I learned so much from the students around me while in the program.
The project itself centered on a creative brief, in which we were tasked with designing an urban room for Cambridge students to meet and discuss community issues and the built environment. The project site was along Regent Street, where my studio group addressed issues like lack of commercial activity, wide and traffic-ridden streets, and absence of defined architectural character. After providing solutions for the urban fabric, we worked individually, and I decided to analyze an intersection known as Hyde Park Corner. This intersection’s primary issue was its lack of a formal shape with urban “walls” to contain the space. Thus, I formed the walls of the space by flipping the medieval fabric of mixed-use terracing across the street. Next, I continued the line of the church across the street with a Gothic library to front the newly designed square. The construction of the Gothic library was intended to serve two purposes:
- To preserve the language of the Catholic church at the intersection of Our Lady of the Assumption and the English Martyrs
- To provide the church with a friendly “neighbor.”
At the building and detail scale, the design included an English market cross in order to provide a terminating vista for Regent Street, better contain the space of the square, and formally create the “Cambridge Room,” a discussion and relaxation space. The design of the market cross was also influenced by an original and much smaller cross known as “Dawe’s Cross.” This object was once situated at Hyde Park Corner, and the intersection was therefore renamed “Dawe’s Cross Square” for this reason.
I would especially like to thank the University of Cambridge, the Ax:son Johnson Centre for the Study of Classical Architecture, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, and the Notre Dame School of Architecture, all of whom funded this research and study process.