Architecture Students Build Experience with Prestigious Venice Co-op

Architecture students Sean Cottengim and Jordan Parrott are currently on co-op, working in Venice, Italy, preparing for the architecture world's most prestigious event: the Venice Architectural Biennale.

University of Cincinnati architecture students Sean Cottengim and Jordan Parrott are both at work this summer - through UC's nationally ranked cooperative education program - in Venice, Italy.
Jordan Parrott
Jordan Parrott in Venice.


What's more, they are helping to prepare for the most prestigious of exhibits in the field of architecture, the Venice Architectural Biennale - an exhibit of the world's cutting-edge designs that is held from Sept. 4 thru Nov. 23.

The students from the university's nationally ranked architecture program, part of UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, are on site in Venice preparing for the biennale. They function as a liaison between biennale director, Aaron Betsky, and staff, while also assisting with project installations and more.

Said Cottengim, 25, of Edgewood, Ky., "The best part of this co-op is living outside the United States, which is amazing and challenging in its own right. This is also the rare opportunity to see how events like this come together, not only in an organizational sense, but what kinds of decisions need to be made. You soon realize that no detail can be overlooked when trying to organize dozens of participants and the subsequent hundreds of others involved in various projects."

Parrott, 30, of Miami, Fla., agreed, "Anywhere an architect's eye can be helpful, we are there. From helping graphics firms realize projects, to helping physically lift installations during assembly, to helping architects make decisions about their installations, and working with the lighting team here to complete how the installations will be ultimately experienced."

The students arrived in Venice on May 4 and will return to school in mid-September. The opportunity is provided to them thanks to UC's required cooperative education quarters. Co-op is where students alternate quarters in school with quarters of paid, professional work related directly to their majors. UC is the global founder of the practice of co-op, first starting the program in 1906. Students in architecture and other design and planning professions routinely graduate with about 18 months of paid, professional experience on their resumes.

Sean Cottengim
Sean Cottengim stands beside one of Venice's canals.
In terms of the influence of this co-op on his future goals, Cottengim said he is enjoying his close connection to ground-breaking architecture that has been accepted in the biennale for exhibit. Assisting with these exhibits has reassured him that he had, indeed, chosen the right profession for him and that architecture "is what I care about doing."


Parrott echoed those thoughts, "This experience has also helped me to understand the scale at which I believe architecture operates best and that has allowed me to refine my personal direction in my architectural career."

And as for his personal life, Parrott adds, "I've learned that, sometimes, it's best to keep your life simple. Venetians have an amazing way of maintaining a very simple life, and they relish those few things they find very important. This can hold true for both the work environment, your personal life, architectural designs and more."

Exhibiting work at the biennale will be practitioners from around the world, including Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the U.S. and more. Among the renowned individual architects who will exhibit work are

  • Frank Gehry
  • Zaha Hadid
  • Matthew Ritchie
  • David Rockwell

Curating the exhibit is Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum and guest teacher in UC's top-ranked architecture program.