FOR COURSE, PLEASE CALL ME from 7AM to 5PM any day of the week at:

941 726 1400 (Easter Standard Time)

I do not take more than 5 participants, to be able to answer more questions asked.

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THE DIOCLETIAN PALACE IN  SPLIT, CROATIA (TDPS)​ - 4 LU/HSW - August 14, 2026 from 9am to 1:30 pm

The Diocletian Palace in Split, Croatia, is one of the most valuable sets of Roman Ruins on the Adriatic coast. Built in 4th Century, the palace was built for the retiring emperor. Diocletian  ( Born 284- Abdication305 Died 311 - With various towers and unique designs as well as a mix of villas and castrum architecture, this site is truly a unique architectural splendor. We will discover the design and materials that make this once great structure still an important one, even when partially in ruin.

1 - Discuss the techniques that were used to build such an incredible and luxurious structure. We will compare the materials used and why. We will compare their benefits as well as the negative impacts they may have at the time of construction.

2 - Define the importance of restoration efforts on this and other architectural structures in the town of Split after the political turmoil and wars in Yugoslavia from 1991 and 2001. How modern technology like laser and plasma cutters helped clean stone and metal, getting rid of centuries of weather damage and bad restorations.

3 - Understand how some modern tools can help in erasing marks of bullets on facades, in repairing and preparing the surface to receive coverings that will masks the marks rendering the facade cleaner. and lasting longer. made from lime which generally lasts longer, especially when a building is close to the sea.

4 - Learning why the area was chosen for the palace, based on the geographic position, its climate without extremes, its exposition to the West, We will learn how ancient civilizations decided how to choose an area to build important buildings.

5 - We will discuss 10000 years of the uses of lime and will learn why it would be valid to use it more often because of its healthy properties outside and inside a building, even in extremely humid climates, where it can last longer than any other materials, especially for buildings exposed to the sea.

 

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THE CAPITOL OF TOULOUSE (CAPITOLTLS) 8LU/HSW

Wednesday August 19, 2026 8am to 18:30 (1hr lunch break)

In Toulouse, Southwest France, there is no town hall, but a majestic building called “Capitole”. This beautiful building houses the city hall, the “Capitole National Opera,” and state rooms. The seat of municipal power since its construction, commissioned by the “Capitouls” (city magistrates) in 1190, and transformed and embellished throughout the ages, the “Capitole” displays its majestic neoclassical facade on the unmissable square of the same name. It has been the emblem and the location of municipal power for over eight centuries, nicknamed the “Rose City,” because of the huge number of bricks used on its buildings. We will, in between other subjects related to Sustainable Construction, Environment, and Air Pollution capable of deteriorating facades, investigate how such a building was able to survive eight centuries of wars, religious conflicts, a devastating industrial explosion, and changes in design. Why studying ancient buildings construction and design, when there is so much to learn about new materials and technologies? Perhaps because ancient techniques and materials could bring knowledge about how to build long-lasting buildings, having fewer negative influences on our environment. Restore and reuse is not wasting materials, having less refuse encumbering waste disposal center for centuries.

1 - A short history of bricks which is the oldest construction material that has seen very minor changes in its manufacturing, since its first uses in 7000BC.

2 - How bricks are manufactured Understanding the advantages of bricks: -They are very durable at withstanding weather conditions like winds, rains, and extreme low to high changes in temperature. They require minimal maintenance and can last for centuries. - Bricks are non-combustible and do not contribute to the spread of fire. They have a high level of protection containing fires, which provides time for occupants to evacuate. - They have high thermal mass. They can absorb heat during the day and release it slowly during the night. Many bricks are made with interior channels . While connected to each other, the air caught inside the channels is another insulation added to the bricks. - Their natural insulation helps reduce the costs of heating and cooling systems, bringing energy savings as well as better comfort for building occupants. - The Romans knew how to install bricks diagonally in the design of walls, in conjunction with bricks laid horizontally, which helped sustain earthquakes, since tremors are generally transmitted diagonally. That technic was called “Opus Reticulatum”. - Bricks have superior soundproofing capabilities. Their density and thickness block out external noise, making brick buildings particularly suitable for areas with high levels of noise pollution. - The Capitole building is a good proof why the use of bricks, even considering its higher cost can be valid because of the extremely longevity, another proof being in all the many still standing Roman Era’s building found all over Europe, the Middle east, and Northern Africa. - Bricks are environmentally friendly because they are made from natural clay and require less energy during production compared to materials like steel.

3 - Understanding the problems presented by the utilization of bricks in construction: - The installation of bricks demands very skilled workers, which could be compensated for by the durability of bricks. - It also takes a long longer to complete a wall, because of the way bricks must be laid very precisely. The mortar must have a longer time to cure. - Bricks weigh proportionally more than many other materials. Serious consideration has to be put in designing and planning foundations.

4 - Bricks versus Concrete: the strength of concrete is well known, but it is too with bricks. - Concrete provides more possibilities to design complex structures. - Concrete is very vulnerable to moisture and can present more demands for maintenance of repairs of cracks and damage from water. - Concrete production release particulate matter (PM10, PM4, PM2.5, and PM1), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), chlorides and fluorides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO). - Concrete accounts for more than 7% of global carbon emissions and double the amount produced by the global aviation industry.

5 - A conclusion of the Pro & Cons of brick construction.

6 - Learning about doubly triply insulated windows can be designed to replace older ones, that were not sufficiently insulated. - Learning about the gases used in insulated windows: Argon with its low cost; Krypton more expensive but with better proprieties; Xenon the most expensive but the most insulating.

7 - Learning the difficulties of air conditioning a 265 year old monument/city hall/museum /theater, respecting the aesthetic of the state rooms, corridors, theater and exposition rooms.

8 - The existing pink brick building was completed in 1760, next to the remnant of a fortress built around the end of the 16th century. The neoclassical facade, 443 Ft long, presents a central section of three bays that is out of alignment with the two other wings composed of 6 bays. Two end bays on either side are also slight out the line of each wing. It is a beautiful well-balanced building. The inside is spectacular for the décor of the State Rooms, with original classical furniture, and a large collection of paintings and sculptures by artists from the area around the city.

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OTTO WAGNER'S ADVANCED ARCHITECTURE (OWAGNER) 

6 LU/HSW August 21, 2026 from 9am to 5:30 pm (1hr lunch break)

The Viennese architect and designer Otto Wagner was influential on European design movements such as Art Nouveau and Secessionism from the late 19th Century to the first quarter of the 20th. As a professor of architecture at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, he taught students who became influential architects of their time, like Josef Hofmann, Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra. The last two went to work, although briefly, with and for Frank Lloyd Wright in the US, where they stayed and worked to the end of their lives. Both were known for their works’ philosophies toward architecture of economy, simplicity, practicality, with emphasis on the uses of healthy materials, the concepts of maximum natural ventilation, and natural lighting. All learned from their professor Otto Wagner. One of his favorite saying was: “What is impractical can never be beautiful.”

1 -  We will learn about using bricks to built the facades of the building rather than stone, which up to this time was the preferred manner in Vienna. The reason was gain of time The bricks were the coated with slabs of white marble held by coated aluminum bolts, remincissant of the looks of a bank vault.

2 -  We will discuss the materials that were available at the time and why Otto Wagner chose them to complete many of his works. We will look at the different materials and determine the level of health, safety and welfare they afforded the occupants. We will learn what materials offer a healthier indoor environment as well as better air quality to improve the health conditions for the occupants using his buildings, something that Otto Wagner was serious about when designing buildings. He did designed all the furniture for the building. By looking at the design concept .of a chair, one could recognize the rank of an employee.

3 -  We will investigate the structural concept, new for that time, where the interior walls are non-load bearing, and can therefore be re-arranged according to need, a feature that became a staple of in modern office buildings, creating more workable space with the possibility of easy communication between employees, and offering the possibility to change the layout of a floor.

4 - We will learn about the Austrian Postal Saving Bank Teller’s hall, built with a roof of glass covering the full size of the room to allow natural light, which was a novelty in 1906. Natural lighting was both for the welfare of employees and to reduce the cost of electric lighting. At the time light bulbs were producing a light that was not pleasant, therefore not conducive to working spaces where people worked for longer hours This will give us the opportunity to talk about modern lighting and Full Spectrum light bulbs.

5 - We will study the floor of this hall constructed of glass tiles, allowing natural light to reach to the floor below, where the Post Office boxes and mail sorting rooms were located, understanding how important natural lighting is for the health of employees as well as the economy of electricity it produced.

6 - We will look in the many systems he included to bring clean air from the outside, while taking soiled air back out, by using many elements which look decorative more than technical. This was one of the things that made this Bank Building ahead of his time. Otto Wagner was very concerned about the long life of his buildings, considering that they needed to be remodeled inside, if necessary, rather than demolished and replaced by another one. The Austrian Saving Bank Building is still in use today.

​PS: ONE GREAT WAY TO STUDY THIS COURSE AND THE FOLLOWING ONE, WOULD BE TO GO ON THE TOUR TO VIENNA NOVEMBER 11 TO 20, 2026.  We will study Otto Wagner but also Gustav Klimt, Joseph Hoffman, Adolf Loos, Koloman Moser and many others who created a new architecture, a new vision for the arts, and new forms for furniture. To relax and enjoy Vienna, we will go to the Christmas Markets that are all over the city. THIS WILL ALSO APPLY TO COURSES THAT WILL BE PRESENTED ONLY IN VINNA

LOOK AT IT BY CLICKING ON:  Vienna

 

 VIENNESE WORKSHOP & THE BEGINNING OF MODERN ARCHITECURE (WIENERWERKS) 

6 LU/HSW August 25, 2026 from 9am to 17:30 pm (1hr lunch break)

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The Vienna Secession was an art movement formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian painters, sculptors, and architects. Unlike other movements, there was not one style that united the work of all architects and artists part of the movement. Their Secession building in Vienna, designed by architect Joseph Maria Olbrich, considered as the icon of the movement, has a phrase placed above its doors "Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst ihre Freiheit." ("To every age its art. To every art its freedom.") The meaning was that architecture as well as art should reflect the time they were living in and not the past; that architecture and art should be free of conventional rules. They invited foreign architects and other artistic movements like Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Impressionists. Some of its members separated from that movement in 1903 to create the Wiener Werkstätte, or Vienna Workshop established in 1903 by the painter Koloman Moser and by the architect Josef Hoffmann. This became a production community of visual artists bringing together architects, artists and designers working in architecture, ceramics, fashion, silver, furniture and the graphic arts. They are regarded as pioneers of modern architecture and design.

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1 - We will discuss the concept that was slowly developed called the Gesamtkunstwerk (total artwork), considering that architecture should be a Total Art Work, encompassing every bit of the art world in order to create buildings, whether housing or commercial, that would reflects the time of their construction, but almost most importantly, buildings that would please and uplift their occupants. An idea that is very much part of the Green Movement today, realizing that buildings well designed will make users healthier, happier and more inclined at maintaining their surroundings.

2 - We will investigate the details of the design and construction of the Stoclet Palace in Brussels by Hoffman, Moser, and Klimt in 1905 for Adolf Stoclet a Belgian banker and art collector. This family house became the epitome of the Total Art Concept, that will be the main philosophy behind the creation of the Bauhaus School in Weimar in 1919 by Walter Gropius. The Stoclet Palace was years ahead of its time in bringing new shapes like Cubism before Cubism was created in 1907 by Picasso and Braque. Its design influence on the next architectural movement, Art Deco, cannot be neglected, introducing not only the shapes but also the ornamentation, the materials and the colors.

3 - Understanding how the idea of Total Art Work, will appear in the architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, Le Corbusier, and contemporary architects like Renzo Piano, Jeanne Gang, Zara Hadid, Rem Koolhas, or Gio Ponti, who considered that architecture should not be only concerned with the design of the outside structure, but also be the a supervisor or common denominator of everything going into that structure, from colors schemes to art works to furniture, appliances, all the way to the door knobs.

4 - Realizing that the Total Artwork philosophy was also to plan for buildings that could sustain the test of time without having to be remodeled or destroyed within a short life span, a ideas we include now in the Green Movement, the Life Cycle, and the LEED concept.

5 - Examining their early works, how it progressed to from classical influence, toward streamlining the structures as well as the decor.

6 - Dissecting the Sanatorium Purkersdorf, which was designed by Josef Hoffmann in 1906, with a maximum amount of natural lighting and natural ventilation, to create an environment that would be clean and comfortable for the patients who were treated there, a concept in line with the Green Movement and LEED.

7 - Understanding how a bit of minimalism in the decor, and the shape of the building was to bring visual simplicity to help the patients relax and not being aggressed by a too ornate décor, and creating a building understanding the clients’ uses and needs, while planning for the future by creating a structure that would last for centuries, bringing ahead of our time the ideas of the Life Cycle, another tenet of the Green Movement and LEED.