Designed and Engineered: Tracing London's Past and Present

During this fast-paced spring break, experience the intersection of design and engineering in the vibrant cultural city of London. 

The trip is planned around London’s industry and innovation hubs that altered history and cultures, brought about a democratization of knowledge, and today promise extraordinary possibilities for humanity. Trace the footsteps of past civilizations while embracing the excitement of contemporary culture. 

The trip starts with a theatrical performance in London’s West End, surrounded by the brilliant cacophony of advertising, typography, color, and light that is Piccadilly Circus. Then visit the Design Museum in Kensington with its product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural exhibitions to reflect on the impact of design.

 In contrast, the British Library holds the Magna Carta, an edition of the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1455, and the Lindisfarne Gospels. At the British Museum view the Rosetta Stone, which changed the understanding of the ancient world by unlocking the mysterious Egyptian hieroglyphic script. Walking around London, experience a plowman’s lunch, afternoon tea, the Covent Garden, the Buckingham Palace Changing of the Guards, and the Portobello flea market with time to search through fascinating ephemera. 

We will then travel to the UK countryside to visit Bath, designed by the Romans; the symbolic marvel Stonehenge; Europe’s oldest university in the English-speaking world, Oxford, and its Bodleian Library, one of the oldest libraries in Europe, with a collection of portolan maps created during the 1400s “Age of Exploration.” These three monumental structures evidence ancient knowledge, traditions, mystery, awe, and wonder. The common denominator all these destinations share is ingenuity—the outcome of humans using tools and technologies for design and engineering.