On October 23rd, as he does almost every year, Mark Aeschliman made the short trip from TASIS to Riva San Vitale with his students to visit the Baptistry of San Giovanni, a 5th Century stone building, the oldest in Switzerland.

In his Architecture class and in his IB Visual Arts course, the students have studied the octagonal structure and have constructed models from card stock. Working from images and drawings of the baptistry, they create and reproduce in color and texture the stone exterior of the building. The visit to Riva San Vitale affords the opportunity to see the actual site and to study first hand the details of the stone exterior as well as the important features of the interior, from the stone baptismal font to the wall painting remnants that date to the12th Century.

Later in November, Mr. Aeschliman will take his students to Basel and to the Vitra Design Campus where they can see firsthand the architecture and design work of many of the 20th and some of the 21st century’s leading creative minds, from Charles and Ray Eames to Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid among many others, whose work is shown in the form of buildings on site and furniture in the design museum.

Visit this link read more about Riva San Vitale and to view a 360º panorama of the Riva San Vitale Baptistery.