Students Gain Valuable Perspective through London Design Studies Program

By: Amy Huber, Associate Chair & Professor

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A Cohort of 13 interdisciplinary students took part in the Florida State School of Design’s 2026 Design Studies Program in London this summer, kicking off the term with a climb to the top of Christopher Wren’s St Paul’s Cathedral. Starting 528 steps above the city offered the perfect frame for what this month is about: shifting perspectives, reading the built environment closely, and engaging London as a living laboratory of design.

During the course, students moved through an extraordinary range of sites and experiences, from the domestic worlds of Leighton House and Sambourne House to the architectural clarity of Chiswick House, from the V&A and Design Museum, to Greenwich’s Painted Hall, from Clerkenwell Design Week to the radical language of Brutalist architecture. The program extends beyond London, including time in Bath, Brighton, and the botanical landscapes of Kew Gardens. Each visit invites students to consider how design operates across time, culture, and discipline.

From Palladian villas to prehistoric monuments, Week 2 in London immersed Design Studies students in the power of design to shape experience, culture, and memory.

The second week featured visits to Chiswick House, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sir John Soane’s Museum, and Stourhead, where students explored everything from spatial sequencing and natural light to decorative arts, landscape design, and immersive storytelling. Students also experienced Hamilton, analyzing how performance, lighting, and set design work together to create emotional impact.

The week concluded with a trip to Bath and Stonehenge, prompting conversations about urban planning, preservation, ritual landscapes, and the enduring human desire to create meaningful places.

One of the best parts of study abroad is watching students connect ideas across disciplines and recognize that great design is never just about aesthetics—it shapes how we feel, interact, and remember.

Week 3 of our Design Studies program in London continued to immerse students in architectural history, craftsmanship, and cultural exploration. Students began the week at Queen’s House, where they experienced Inigo Jones’ iconic Tulip Stairs firsthand before taking an architectural tour of Old Royal Naval College, including the Painted Hall, Chapel, and historic Skittle Alley. These visits prompted discussions about classical architecture, spatial sequencing, symbolism, and institutional design.

The group also traveled to Brighton, exploring how tourism, leisure, and coastal culture influence the built environment and identity of place.

Later in the week, students visited Red House to study the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement before concluding with visits to Leighton House and Sambourne House, where they examined Victorian interiors, artistic identity, and immersive storytelling through space.

It has been exciting to watch students make connections across movements, time periods, and design philosophies while experiencing these spaces firsthand.

In Week 4 students visited the Design Musuem and special exhibit NIGO from Japane with Love, the Kew Gardens and took a few walking tour to see Brutalism in London.  They wrapped up the class presenting their custom post card collection documenting architecture terms, tones and etc for the spaces and places they visited.

Student Perspectives