Unpacked: The ‘go bags’ that defined a semester in Switzerland
A photo essay highlights the sketchbooks, tools, and personal items that architecture students relied on while they studied at the Steger Center for International Scholarship.
Before they begin sketching buildings across Europe, students in the Architecture Semester Residency Program start their experience by assembling something far more modest: a “go bag" — a compact set of drawing tools and daily essentials used during field studies and independent travel.
By the end of the semester, the contents tell the story of students' fieldwork, habits, and discoveries more vividly than any itinerary.
During their time at the Steger Center for International Scholarship in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, students from the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design are encouraged to carry their go bags. While there is a list of recommended supplies, the bags quickly become individualized as students respond to new environments, assignments, and the realities of working on the move.
“Our go bags provided us with the tools to ‘see,'” said architecture major Alex Wolf. “A camera captures a specific frame that is curated by the photographer. The sketchbook is an analytical tool that allows a traveler to understand even what they cannot see. The items in our go bags allow us to experience the places we are in on a deeper level than a tourist that simply observes.”
This photo essay highlights go bags assembled and photographed for an exhibit by Wolf and Rielle Abellera, both fifth-year students who studied abroad last spring. Guided by Associate Professor of Practice Kevin Jones, the images help tell the story of how students spent the semester refining how they observe, sketch, and travel as architects.
The carefully arranged compositions use a knolled approach, a method of laying items out in a precise grid, to highlight the materials students relied on: sketchbooks, pens, markers, colored pencils, small tool kits, and personal items that accumulated over months of travel.
Some contents reflect adaptation, like replacing a lost pencil pouch or discovering locally made crayons that became favorite tools. Others show individual habits, from collecting museum pamphlets to stashing snacks picked up at corner stores.
As a new cohort of Hokies depart for the Steger Center this spring, these images offer a concise record of how previous students developed their own working methods and tools while learning to see the built environment with greater intention and care — a continuity that reflects more than 30 years of architecture study abroad in Switzerland.
