ARCHITECTURE FOR PEACE - Summer School 2023! applications now OPEN!
(Image: Students of the Global Free Unit Sarajevo Classroom and MArch Studio Resilient Futures (Sheffield School of Architecture) weaving on a 2-person loom across the fence of the inter-entity boundary line between Sarajevo and East Sarajevo. Photo credit: Vernes Causevic)
Architecture for Peace summer school 2023!
Help build Sustainable Peace in a divided Europe - Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, summer 2023.
Supported by: Umeå School of Architecture (UMA), Sweden.
Lead by: Architects and researchers Vernes Causevic and Lucy Dinnen Directors of Project V Architecture, lead tutors of Global Free Unit B&H Classroom, MArch tutors at University of Sheffield School of Architecture).
In collaboration with: Architect, urbanist and educator Prof. Robert Mull (Lead of Global Free Unit, Visiting Professor at UMA and Professor of Architecture and Design at the University of Brighton. Director at Publica).
Student work will be reviewed by various international and local experts from the Global Free Unit network.
Partner: Most Mira (B&H-UK peacebuilding Charity).
Other collaborators: Kharkiv School of Architecture (Ukraine).
Continuing on from the successful Architecture for Peace summer school 2022 in Prijedor, Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&H), led by Projekt V Arhitektura, peace-building Charity Most Mira and the Global Free Unit (GFU), and the GFU Resilient Futures Autumn Workshop 2022 in Sarajevo, we invite you to join the GFU Sarajevo Classroom this summer 2023 to investigate the architecture of the inter-entity boundary line (IEBL) between communities in Sarajevo and East Sarajevo, which remain politically divided since the 1990’s Bosnian War, and to design small-scale architectural interventions that facilitate peace-building.
This Summer Course will involve a 1-week field visit to Sarajevo in July 2023. Students will learn experimental mapping techniques to investigate and record the spatial urban and architectural conditions of the IEBL in Sarajevo, and its development over 28 years since the Dayton Peace Agreement (1995). Students will work resourcefully and collaboratively to co-design a series of small-scale public architectural structures along the IEBL as a framework for reconciliation to rebuild social and ecological relationships in the divided communities. Your projects will initiate conversations with local NGO’s and partners for developing this work into Live Peace-building Projects to be further developed and potentially built in summer 2024.
This summer course will be delivered with local partners, including prizewinning UK-Bosnian architects Projekt V Arhitektura and peace-building Charity Most Mira, and in collaboration with Kharkiv School of Architecture, Ukraine. The workshop will include a visit to the international award-winning rammed earth Most Mira Peace Centre in Prijedor, designed by Projekt V Arhitektura, planned for construction in 2023.
International students will work closely with B&H students from across the political divide, as well as with students from Ukraine and other conflict and post-conflict places. Student work will be reviewed by international and local experts from the GFU network, which will include leaders of the Kharkiv School of Architecture (Ukraine). This workshop will build on the shared dialogue at the ‘Architecture on Stage: In The Fog of War’ Architecture Foundation event at the Barbican Centre curated by Robert Mull in Autumn 2021, drawing upon the experiences of Sarajevo, Beirut and Belfast to support Kharkiv to find pathways through and beyond the war.
This course will be part of the Global Free Unit B&H Classroom, building on ten successful Most Mira architecture workshops running since 2014, as well as past and current UMA and GFU programmes in Bosnia, Greece, Colombia and Turkey.
Practical information: Students will be hosted by Project V Architecture and will need to cover their own travel and accommodation costs in affordable accommodation.
Skills you will gain on the course
Architecture for Peace is a practice-based research project led by architect Vernes Causevic, in collaboration with architect Lucy Dinnen (co-founders & co-directors of Project V Architecture). This was initiated as part of the studio’s role as lead architects of the Most Mira Peace Centre project in Prijedor (winner of International Holcim European Silver Award for Sustainable Construction), the associated participatory educational workshop programme developed with the peacebuilding Charity Most Mira. This is also a part of the studio’s teaching of March Studio Resilient Futures at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture, learning from siege-time and post-war Sarajevo to explore visions for more sustainable and resilient futures.
This summer course will give students unique access to working in the divided city of Sarajevo and on ‘live’ peacebuilding research. Students will work resourcefully and collaboratively, and learn experimental mapping, drawing and modelling techniques to investigate borders, available resources, programmatic and spatial needs and opportunities for architectural interventions in the divided communities of Sarajevo and East Sarajevo. Based on this research, we will collaboratively design a series of small-scale architectural interventions along the Inter-Entity Border Line between Sarajevo and East Sarajevo.
We will explore architecture and design as a holistic tool for peacebuilding and reconciliation, considering how architectural can be a framework to enable the re-building of social and ecological relationships. Your projects will contribute directly to the circular economies and social and environmental sustainability of the divided communities they serve.
The outcome will be a series of projects that will initiate conversations with local NGO’s and partners for developing this work into Live Peace-building Projects to be further developed and potentially built in summer 2024.
Key Dates of the Summer Course
June 12th - June 16th 1-week Online Introduction, lectures and research
Collaborative online working (part-time)
July 21st - July 30th 1-week field visit and workshop in Sarajevo
Led by summer course tutors (full-time)
August 1st - August 12th 2-weeks Online collaborative working and presentations
Collaborative online working and presentations (part-time)
Summer Course Lead Tutors
VERNES CAUSEVIC
Architect, researcher and peace-builder. He was born in Sarajevo, B&H. He graduated from the Free Unit at London Metropolitan University with an internationally awarded self-initiated sustainable return project in B&H. He is founder director of Project V Architecture (B&H & UK). He has lead a number international award-winning projects and research in B&H, focusing on social cohesion, community engagement and environmental sustainability in the post-war B&H context, including the Most Mira Peace Centre project in Prijedor, B&H. He is co-lead tutor of Global Free Unit B&H Classroom and co-tutor of MArch Studio Resilient Futures at University of Sheffield School of Architecture.
LUCY DINNEN
Architect and educator, graduated from London Metropolitan University with Distinction and Portfolio Prize. Founder and director at Project V Architecture (B&H & UK). Her experience covers a range of education and cultural projects in the UK & B&H, most notably the multi award winning Here East, London, and V&A East in the former Olympic Park. Lucy is lead MArch Design Tutor of Studio Resilient Futures at University of Sheffield School of Architecture, co-lead tutor of Global Free Unit B&H Classroom, Visiting Lecturer at the School of Architecture & Cities at University of Westminster and has previously taught at The Cass School of Architecture and IBU Sarajevo. She is Oral Examiner on the RIBA Part III Professional Practice course at University of Westminster and Birmingham City University.
PROF. ROBERT MULL
Architect, educator and urbanist, was educated at the Bartlett and the Architectural Association, and was until 2016, Director of Architecture and Dean of the Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design in London. He has taught widely in the UK and internationally and held visiting professorships in Vienna and Innsbruck. Robert is Professor of Architecture and Design at University of Brighton (UK) and Visiting Professor at Umeå School of Architecture (Sweden), where he is developing the Global Free Unit with a number of international partners. Robert is Director of Quality and Innovation at Publica, London. He is a member of the Most Mira Peace Centre capital committee and provides academic support for the development of the Architecture for Peace educational programme.
Applications:
Selection among the applicants is based on submitted work samples - portfolio (pdf. max 10MB) and motivation letter.
For EU and non-EU citizens applying through Umea University:
More details about the summer course can be found on the Umea School of Architecture web link
More application details can be found on this link
Please note:
Successful candidates, who are EU citizens who apply through the Umea University system by 15th March 2023 will not need to pay tuition fees.
There will be a limited number of independent subsidised places for Bosnia & Herzegovina citizens and other non-EU citizens, who need to apply directly via info@projectv-arch.com
Please contact us directly on info@projectv-arch.com if you have any questions or require further information.
Practical information:
Students will work in the field and in a studio environment during the 1-week field-visit to Sarajevo, and be hosted by Projekt V Arhitektura, and will need to cover their own travel and accommodation costs in affordable accommodation.
Applications deadline for EU and non-EU citizens applying through Umea University: 15th March 2023 @ 23:59 CET.
Application deadline for Bosnia & Herzegovina citizens and other non-EU citizens applying for an independent subsidised place directly to info@projectv-arch.com: 31st March 2023 @ 23:59 CET.
Portfolio:
Your portfolio should contain a selection of projects that display and communicate your capabilities and skills in architecture. It should show your working process, how you develop your ideas, as well as your ability to reflect critically about your work and its social, political and ethical dimensions. Include a short description of the context in which each work has been produced (e.g. assignment, requirements, prerequisites, etc.).
Your portfolio must be submitted digitally as one (1) document in PDF.
The file size of your portfolio may not exceed 10Mb.
Indicate if the work has been produced independently or in collaboration.
Make sure to strictly follow the application requirements set out by Umea University.
Motivation Letter:
You should submit a motivation letter where you state why you want to enrol in the course. The text should be maximum 400 words. Specify why you want to participate in the chosen workshops and in which order and how it is relevant for you and your development. The number of places in each workshop is limited. The motivation letter can be included in the beginning of your portfolio or submitted as a separate document.