Design Your Own Grand Tour: Learn Like an Architect

Introduction

I kept reading that people with a liberal arts degree are more creative. I also heard the claim in a career context. Some employers, people said, would rather hire liberal arts graduates than business graduates.

The research I found does not go that far, but it points the same way. In 2025, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) surveyed 1,030 executives and hiring managers. Its report found strong alignment between the outcomes of a liberal education and the skills employers see as essential for entry-level jobs and for advancement.

I have a BComm and an MBA, so I wanted to find out for myself. My answer was a non-degree liberal arts education, a form of self-directed learning I designed on my own.

One course from that experiment still shapes how I think. It was the History of Architecture. It led me to two ideas I return to again and again. The first is the Grand Tour. The second is how architects generate great ideas.

This post brings both ideas together. At the end, you will find a template to design your own Grand Tour.

My Non-Degree Liberal Arts Education

During my BComm and MBA, I had little flexibility. Electives existed, but core subjects filled most of my schedule. My liberal arts education was different.

I went to Open Culture, a website that lists free online courses from universities. I chose subjects that interested me. Nobody told me what to take.

I treated it like a job. Monday to Friday, I “attended” class first thing in the morning, so it got done. Because I studied five days a week instead of two, I finished courses faster than I expected.

It was an adventure, and I enjoyed it. But I chose courses based on interest alone. That choice had a cost, and I will come back to it later.

What the History of Architecture Taught Me

Professor Jacqueline Gargus of the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University taught the course. I expected it to be about how to construct a building. My plan was to take those lessons and apply them to building a product or service.

I forgot about design. In architecture, design matters even more than construction.

After six lectures, I felt overwhelmed by all the information. So I stepped back and asked why I was taking the course. I focused on the big ideas, not the small details.

The course became manageable. When I reframed it this way, I saw a clear link between architecture and generating great ideas.

Here is what stood out. The greatest architects know the history of their profession. They study the work of the masters who came before them, in their own country and around the world. Then they blend those styles and evolve them into something new.

Art and architecture also move together. When techniques in art change, techniques in architecture often change in similar ways.

The Grand Tour Rounded Out an Education

The course also introduced me to the Grand Tour. Richard Lassels, an English Catholic priest, coined the term in 1670 in his book The Voyage of Italy. The practice began about a century earlier and reached its peak in the 18th century (Britannica).

The Grand Tour was a long trip through Europe, mostly France and Italy. Wealthy young men from northern Europe, especially England, took it to complete their education. Some young women went too.

Many traveled for months, and some stayed on the road for years. A typical route started at Dover. Travelers crossed the English Channel to Calais and went on to Paris.

From Paris, they crossed the Alps or sailed to Italy. Turin, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples were the major stops. There they studied Roman ruins and Renaissance and Baroque architecture.

Three details stand out to me.

• Travelers carried letters of introduction. These opened doors to private art collections.
• A tutor or knowledgeable guide often went with them.
• They drew and took notes on what they saw, and brought home books, art, and other souvenirs.

For aspiring architects, the Grand Tour was also a networking strategy. They met wealthy patrons on the road, and those patrons later gave them commissions. That was one of the key ways they built their careers.

My Open Culture courses were my own Grand Tour. I traveled through subjects instead of countries.

Imitate, Don't Copy

You have likely heard that imitation is flattery. Professor Gargus drew a  line between copying and imitating.

Here is how I understand it. Copying is stealing. Imitating means you study a work, understand the principle that drives it, then make it your own.

You add to it, take away from it, or both. The result belongs to you.

This distinction matters even more today. AI tools make copying fast and easy. Imitation still takes thought, because you have to understand why something works before you can make something new from it.

That is also why studying the masters matters. When you know the history of your field, you know which ideas worked and which failed. You also know which ideas were ahead of their time and may work now. That knowledge gives you a competitive edge.

Six Architectural Techniques for Generating Great Ideas

Here are six techniques I took from the course. Pick one or two and test them on a project this week.

1. Look everywhere. Study the work of great people in your field around the world, not only in your own country.
2. Combine opposites. Take an idea, find its opposite, then blend the two into something new.
3. Take it apart. Break an idea into its parts. Remove some parts, add others, and put it back together in a new way.
4. Go against the trend. Ask what would happen if you did the opposite of what is popular.
5. Remake history. Take two or more old ideas and rebuild them with new technology.
6. Build a system. Gather several good ideas and organize them into one larger idea.

Information or knowledge is not power. But how you use them can be powerful. To get value from these techniques, apply them.

What I Would Do Differently

If I did this again, I would be more strategic. I would pick courses around a goal I want to achieve.

My first round of courses followed my curiosity. That was fun, and it opened my mind. But curiosity alone does not always move your career forward.

I see the same pattern in my reading. The first time I read 30 books in 30 days, a book a day for a month, I read whatever I wanted. It never even occurred to me I could choose books to help me reach a goal.

Curiosity led both experiments. Strategy was missing from both.

Next time, I would start with three questions.

• What goal do I want to reach this year?
• Which of my products or services do I want to build or improve?
• What skills would help me take my career further?

Then I would choose courses and books that answer those questions. If I wanted to improve one of my products, I would take courses that feed it. Each course would have a job to do.

The Grand Tourists understood this. Their trip had a purpose. It prepared them for the life and career they wanted next.

Template: Design Your Own Grand Tour

Use this template to plan your own Grand Tour. Pick the parts that apply to you and skip the rest.

1. Your destination. What goal do you want to reach in the next 6 to 12 months?
2. Your itinerary. Which courses, books, and lectures will get you there? List three to five.
3. Your masters. Whose work will you study? Choose people in your field and at least one person outside it.
4. Your guides. Who can mentor you or answer questions as you learn?
5. Your letters of introduction. Who can introduce you to people you want to meet? Who will you ask for an informational interview?
6. Your sketchbook. How will you take notes? Decide where you will capture ideas and when you will review them.
7. Your souvenirs. What will you bring home? Name one product, service, skill, or project this tour will improve.
8. Your schedule. When will you study? I studied first thing in the morning, five days a week. Choose a time you can protect.

Final Thoughts

I set out to test whether a liberal arts education makes people more creative. I cannot prove that for everyone. The History of Architecture course pushed me out of my comfort zone and changed how I generate ideas.

There is some research behind the idea, too. Richard A. Detweiler interviewed over 1,000 college graduates aged 25 to 65 for his book The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs. He found a liberal arts education has a lasting impact on success, leadership, learning, and fulfillment.

His data also showed that the context of learning, such as contact with faculty and other students, mattered more than the content studied. That matches what the Grand Tourists knew. Guides, tutors, and introductions mattered as much as the sights.

You do not need a sabbatical or a trip to Europe. With self-directed learning, you can design your own Grand Tour from home. Start with a goal, choose your courses, find your guides, and bring something useful back.

Sources

• Britannica, grand tour
• Penguin Random House, The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs by Richard A. Detweiler
• Original post, Learning from history, taking the Grand Tour
• Original post, Generating Great Ideas: What We Can Learn from Architecture

• AAC&U, New National Survey Finds Strong Employer Confidence in Higher Education (December 2025)