Architecture as a tool for education

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

Self-office (Laura Solsona and Eduard Fernandez)

Workshop Participatory housing - Brno, Bohunice at the Faculty of Architecture in Brno, 13–18 March 2023

Self-office took part in the week-long international workshop on participatory housing for the Brno district of Bohunice, organized at the Faculty of Architecture in Brno together with several other universities (Faculty of Architecture, University of Sarajevo; Faculty for Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, University of Banja Luka; Faculty of Technical Sciences, Department of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Novi Sad; Faculty of Architecture, University of Montenegro). The workshop was a unique international collaboration between five universities, the Barcelona Self-Office Studio, VIPER Gallery and the LINA Platform.

Participatory housing means a wide range and degree of active involvement of residents in the preparation, use and management of housing. The aim of the workshop was to create a residential complex in the spirit of participation. The main theme of collaborative working was reflected not only in the designs themselves, but also in the group work in the design process. 42 students, 10 teachers took part in the workshop.

During a week-long workshop, the students designed new and fresh forms of housing in the Bohunice area of Brno. The results were exhibited at the MINI Gallery at the Faculty of Architecture as an installation of architectural models, sketches and collages, which presented new housing concepts for the 21st century (exhibition 18 March – 7 April 2023).

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.

Damiano Cerrone

Workshop AI for Participatory Planning at the Faculty of Arts and Architecture at the Technical University of Liberec, 25–26 April 2023

Damiano Cerrone is an urbanist, researcher and educator, originally from Rome, now working in Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia. He is a cofounder of SPIN Unit, an urban research and innovation practice; and an interdisciplinary cooperative UrbanistAI, a participatory design platform to reimagine the future of our cities. His practice focuses on urban research and policy design for the public sector. Cerrone is also affiliated with and teaches at several academic institutions in Finland and abroad.

Faculty of Arts and Architecture at the Technical University of Liberec is a dynamic faculty of smaller size that joins forms of technical and experimental education, tutors and professionals from the Faculty of Architecture in Liberec: Helena Hlávková, Zdena Zedníčková, Radek Kolařík.

Damiano Cerrone of SPIN Unit created for our collaboration a workshop on a highly discussed topic. Organized together with the Department of Urban Planning of the Faculty of Arts and Architecture in Liberec, the workshop explored the use of UrbanistAI, a generative AI platform for participatory urban planning, brainstorming, and co-design.

Participants learned about the general notions of generative AI, how to use generative AI models, explored its potential applications in urban planning and design and were introduced to the concept of prompt engineering. The workshop, attended by 14 students, culminated in the selection of an area in the city of Liberec, which was redesigned using UrbanistAI. This case studies and examples of generative AI in action, including how it has been used in architecture and urban planning, resulted in a series of reimagined and redesign public spaces in Liberec. Next to the workshop (26 April 2023), Damiano Cerrone also delivered a lecture about his work (25 April 2023).