Architecture as a tool for education _ Test drive in Brno
This year, VI PER Gallery collaborated with several architecture schools in the Czech Republic – two events took place in Brno (Faculty of Architecture, Brno University of Technology), one in Liberec (Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Technical University in Liberec) and one in Prague (Studio Architecture II, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design).
Together with the representatives of the universities or their departments we have selected the following LINA fellows/project: self-office (Barcelona), SO? (Istanbul), Damiano Cerrone/SPIN Unit (Helsinki and Tallinn), Bernadette Kreis and Max Utech (Vienna). Each of the fellows represented a different approach to architecture and topics.
The participants and Fellows in the Architecture as a Tool for Education project came from diverse backgrounds, including students and professionals from various countries and cultural contexts. The LINA Fellows represented different approaches to architecture and topics, and the collaboration with different schools of architecture provided opportunities to work with students from different universities.
The key themes of the project included participatory housing, neglected spaces, generative AI, and the future of architecture. The project aimed to explore how architecture can be used as a tool for education and collaboration, and how it can be used to address current and future challenges in the field. The project also focused on developing the skills of the LINA Fellows in presenting their projects and making them useful for collaboration with architecture students, as well as on guiding and leading workshops and events for students.
Collaboration with LINA Fellows
SO? (Sevince Bayrak and Oral Goktas)
Workshop Rethink the Courtyard / Test drive in Brno, 21–23 April 2023
SO? (Sevince Bayrak and Oral Goktas) is an architecture studio based in Istanbul, Turkey. Sevince is an Assistant Professor at MEF University, Oral runs a graduate design studio there. In 2023 Sevince and Oral are the curators of the Pavilion of Türkiye in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2023.
Faculty of Architecture at the Brno University of Technology is the second largest Faculty of Architecture in Czech Republic after Prague, tutors and professionals from the Faculty of Architecture in Brno: Szymon Rozwalka, Jaroslav Sedlák, Adéla Šoborová. The workshop was organized in cooperation with the Faculty of Architecture - Brno University of Technology, VI PER Gallery, LINA Platform and architecture studio SO? The topic was the neglected courtyard of the faculty and its potential for future use.
The workshop was divided into several parts: a kick-off online discussion with tutors and students (13 April 2023), a public lecture by Sevince Bayrak and Oral Goktas (20 April 2023) at Faculty of Architecture, Brno University of Technology and three days workshop (21–23 April 2023) at Faculty. The workshop will be followed by a summer school, where
some of the designs will be realized.
Using SO?’s own projects and theory – the Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin, which suggests questioning our ossified perceptions of beauty and functionality – how to newly developed abandoned areas, the aim of the workshop was to find a new perspective and ideas of looking at the faculty courtyard and to propose first interventions within this space. The main questions proposed by the architects were: How to combine the small needs of today with the challenges of the future? How to solve individual fragments of space, individual functional demands with today‘s and upcoming conditions of architectural discourse?
Through artificial intelligence and a critical perspective on the technology, 12 students – together with five tutors (SO? and three members of the Faculty - Szymon Rozwalka, Jaroslav Sedlák, Adéla Šoborová) created 360 transformations of the courtyard. The collage of possible solutions showed the different atmospheres of the common meeting place of the students of the Faculty of Architecture of Brno University of Technology.
The projects were exhibited at the Faculty. The opening with discussion took place on Thursday 27 April 2023 at 2 pm in the corridor in front of the faculty library.
