The Office of Cultural Heritage at the State Department invited the Spring 2020 Option Studio DSN S 546 Preservation and Cultural Heritage Portugal: International Perspectives and Design Issues to research, document, interpret, and disseminate information on Casa Carlucci, the official residence of the Ambassador of the United States to Portugal. Professors Dr. Diane Al Shihabi (ID) and Dr. Mikesch Muecke (ARCH) developed the course and organized a study abroad to Lisbon from February 8-16. They traveled with twenty-one students and were welcomed by Ambassador George Glass at the American Embassy.

The team spent eight days researching Casa Carlucci, Portuguese history, and diplomacy through shared cultural heritage. The project included analyses of an 18th-C. Baroque Chapel and a Baroque Manor House on the American Embassy grounds, and visits to multiple museums, historic sites, and cities. In Sintra students explored a mediaeval Moorish castle and two nineteenth-century palaces.

This is Al Shihabi’s and Muecke’s fourth studio collaboration with the Office of Cultural Heritage, a division of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) at the State Department. OBO highlighted the Casa Carlucci project and the professors’ previous studio collaborations with the State Department on their website and on LinkedIn. The professors and students greatly appreciated the opportunity and look forward to sharing the results of their collaboration with the public at their final review at the end of the semester.