Architects and urban planners of the 21st century have the potential and responsibility to promote sustainable design as well as a sustainable use of the built environment. Instead of sealing off more natural areas with new buildings, they can preserve already built structures, adapt them to changing uses or even dismantle them to make room for other living beings. It is not only the activity of building itself that should become more sustainable, but also the use that is made possible by it, so that, for example, the use of bicycles for local transportation becomes not only a more sustainable, but also a more convenient alternative to that of the car.
Preparing future architects for these changed tasks requires a different course of study. The aim of an EU-funded Erasmus+ project initiated by the University of Liechtenstein and implemented in cooperation with Hasselt University (BE), the Bergen School of Architecture (NO) and the Royal Danish Academy (DK) was to analyze, test and further develop new teaching formats. Under the title "Social and Environmental Impact Academy for Architects", a five-day workshop was held at each of the four partner institutions between May 2022 and June 2023. The key findings of the project were presented at the "UIA World Congress of Architects" following the fourth workshop in Copenhagen.
Although the individual workshops were characterized by the research focus and teaching formats of the respective university, they were closely related to each other through the unifying framework of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDGs). In the workshops, 20 architecture students - five from each university - worked on a site-specific topic under the guidance of a team of teachers and researchers and in exchange with local partners. Cornelia Faisst (university lecturer, LSA) and Daniel Haselsberger (scientific researcher and doctoral candidate, LSA) were responsible for the overall management of the project and supervised all workshops.
Further information on the individual workshops and the key insights can be found at: uni.li/seiaa
Liechtenstein School of Architecture, 26.10.2023