Chris Sander's internship involved renovation efforts at Vila "Baletna Skola" U Kastel Kambelovcu in Kastela, Croatia, northeast of Split.  The villa, built as a private residence in the early 20th century, has changed owners many times.  The villa's name, "Baletna Skola," comes from its most recent function as a well-known dance school that closed its doors at the onset of the Balkan War in the early 1990s.

Chris had the opportunity to use a variety of skills during his internship:

• taking measurements for final documentation of the existing building
• assembling CAD drawings of the existing building
• producing design drawings for the upcoming renovation.

While the building is being renovated to become a new music school for the city of Kastela, subtle changes to the historic floor plan of the building were required. Still, the final design remains sensitive to the historic design of the building.
    

"The 12th-century apartment in the historic core of the city...could not have been a more comfortable place to live.  The cities I visited on the coast north of Split are beautiful examples of medieval cities....As an architect traveling to these geographically near yet sometimes socially distant places, I have been able to see and absorb different approaches to design and living."