Beside its main educational programs, De-a Arhitectura has a portfolio of complementary programs that take place punctually in certain areas or at certain times during the year. Here’s a brief overview.
Educational Programs for High School Students
Urban Up! Built Environment for High School Students
We were delighted that in 2017 we succeeded to diversify our portfolio with another age group (that of high school students) through a national program, “Urban Up! Built Environment for High School Students”, implemented under the umbrella of the Together with Lidl for a better future program.
Irina Filip, our colleague from Constanta, attended in January 2018 the International Symposium “Public Responsibility in Education”, where she presented by means of two essays her experience, opinions and impressions of the workshops which were carried out in the “Urban Up!” project, aiming to bring to the forefront the architecture field, as a science and art that is based on technical rules and aesthetic concepts, part of everything that surrounds us.
Irina underlined the purpose of the free interactive workshops which were set out to contribute to enhancing the teenagers’ general cultural baggage in order to educate them in the spirit of the common principles of architecture and built environment.
Details in Romanian, here.
The City and Professions of the Built Environment
We’ve repeated the experience in November 2018 in Bucharest, through yet another series of free workshops dedicated to high school students as part of a new project, “The city and professions of the built environment”, implemented in partnership with the Bucharest City Hall through the Center for Educational and Sports Projects (PROEDUS) and the University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu” (UAUIM) in Bucharest.
High school students from over 20 Romanian high schools, from the 9th, 10th and 11th grades, took part in a series of 16 urban planning and built environment workshops, under the guidance of professionals in the field (architects and city planners).
Details in Romanian here, here and here.
De-a arhitectura in My Room
“De-a arhitectura in my room” (“Playing architecture in my room”) is a project dedicated to children in grades 4-8, initiated by De-a Arhitectura Association in 2017 with the support of our partners Siniat Romania and Duraziv. Through this project, we aim to provide children with a practical Guide filled with information and inspiration to help them refurbish their room. Through specially designed teaching material, children (with the parents’ approval) had the opportunity to step into a new world, that of architecture and interior design.
In 2018, the second edition of the project took place, which involved the free distribution of the “De-a arhitectura in my room” book, thanks to Holcim Romania’s support, to all the children enrolled in the “De-a arhitectura in my city” and “De-a arhitectura in my school” courses in the 2017-2018 school year. The book comprises a summary of the information found in the online “De-a arhitectura in my room” guide, as well as the worksheets necessary for the realization of the room’s design project.
The second edition of the contest was launched. Details in Romanian, here.
In July, the first prize winner of the contest was selected. Details here.
In October, at OK Center in Bucharest, De-a Arhitectura organized a workshop-contest with the help of our partner AFI Cotroceni, where children from the 4th to the 8th grades from all over the country were invited to take part and make a proposal for their room’s renovation. To take part in the contest, at the end of the workshop, the children were supposed to submit a short video of their project.
At the workshop the participants worked in parent-child teams and used as a resource and inspiration for their home project the “De-a arhitectura in my room” guide developed by our team in the previous edition of the competition. Details, here.
In November, the second and third place winners were announced. Details here.
De-a arhitectura in the Village
In February, De-a Arhitectura Sibiu kicked off the workshops “De-a arhitectura in the village” (“Playing architecture in the village”) for which the team ran at the 2017 Sibiu International Marathon, the biggest philanthropic sports event in Romania, dedicated to raising funds for causes from the local community and organized by the Sibiu Community Foundation.
The local project, proposed by the Sibiu Branch of the association, emerged from a desire to protect and preserve the architecture specific to the villages in the county: “The villages in Sibiu County have always been appreciated for their authenticity, history, ethnology and the unique architecture of their houses. In recent years, many of the houses have been restored or expanded inappropriately (replacing wooden carpentry windows with PVC carpentry, ceramic tile roofs with metal tiles, added lofts destroying the proportions of houses, skylights not specific to the local architecture, destroying the haylofts specific to the Saxon assemblies through replacement of wood with brick, etc.). At the same time, new constructions have appeared that do not integrate into the specific architecture and the result is the destruction of the village’s image, the memory and the specificity of the place.
Through the architecture education proposed to children, the heirs of traditional values and techniques, we want to save the rural architectural heritage and encourage them to appreciate and protect it.”
More about the project, here.
Safe Pupils
October 30th, 2018, marked three years since the tragedy that took place in a club in Bucharest. Known as the “Colectiv nightclub fire”, the disaster ended in 64 people being killed and 146 injured due to safety regulations that seem to have been ignored.
In November 2015, a part of our volunteer architects wanted to channel their feelings triggered by the tragedy into something concrete and beneficial, thus the “Safe Pupils” project was initiated. The material that resulted was an educational kit containing a set of cards, each dedicated to a notion, with explanations, icons and resources (see a link, invite a firefighter/architect/medical professional, etc.) + guidance for exploration/analysis of school spaces from a safety viewpoint.
This time we set out to reach the schools through parents (those with technical background and training – engineers, architects, city planners, interior designers), who will be challenged to wear the coat of volunteering and help shape the same communities in which their own children progress.
The material was developed for children 11 to 14 years old and the production of the kit in 2016 was possible with the support of the Romanian Order of Architects (OAR), Bucharest Branch, using the resources obtained at the 2016 Bucharest Swimathon and with the support of our sponsors: Siniat, Danfoss, KNX Association, Scat Sistem and Simbio.
In September 2018 we reopened the registration for he course for 50 classes that wished to take part in the project. Between February 1st and April 30th of this year, the program will be implemented nationwide.
Details here.