April 24, 2018 Sayegh Awarded Dream of Studying Architecture Around the World

Cullen Sayegh, a 4th-year Architecture student, was chosen as the 2018 Aydelott Travel Award recipient for his proposal, “Architecture as Infrastructure: Investigating Spatial Networks.”

Now in its third year, the Aydelott Travel Award was established by the late Alfred Lewis Aydelott, FAIA, and his wife, Hope Galloway Aydelott, to enable students of architecture to engage in firsthand observation and research of any four architecturally significant structures across the world.

Using his $20,000 award, Sayegh will travel to four historical architecture sites: The Trollstigen Visitor Center on the Geiranger-Trollstigen National Tourist Route in Norway; the Ouvrage Hackenberg in Vekring, France; the Humble Administrator’s Garden in the Classical Gardens of Suzhou, China; and the Angkor Wat Temple in Angkor, Cambodia.

Cullen chose these sites to compare their significances within a larger network and contrast the differences in time period, location a cultural intent.

“The four sites were exemplary works of network architecture; buildings that were physically and experientially connected to their surrounding landscape and to existing infrastructural systems,” explains Sayegh. “I am every interested in how architecture acts within these networks, which have broader cultural, political, and economic implications than just a singular building.”

After returning from his current study abroad term in Rome, Cullen plans to depart for Norway on May 30 and return to Knoxville from Cambodia in mid-July.

“I am so thankful for the opportunity to be able to experience the sites in person, in addition to immersing myself in four distinctly different cultures,” states Sayegh. “Some of the sites are places I have wanted to visit since I was a kid. I am very grateful to the Aydelott family for generously providing funds for the research and travel.”

For three years, the Aydelott Travel Award has aimed to challenge architecture students through research, observation and documentation of architectural sites across the globe. By analyzing and communicating their findings, the Aydelott Travel award, according to the program proposal, prepares the recipient for “what he or she will continually be required to do in his or her architectural career.”

Each year, the endowment provides more than $100,000 to four students currently enrolled in professional architecture degree programs at the University of Arkansas; Auburn University; Mississippi State University; and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Students interested in applying for the 2019 Aydelott Travel Award should watch for an informational meeting in November 2018. Deadline for applications is in January 2019.