International Pescara Summer School 2015

 

12/06/2015

In September 2015, the Dipartimento di Architettura, University G. d'Annunzio of Pescara, will initiate the first edition of the PESCARA SUMMER SCHOOL. Participants will include students of the Dipartimento working in collaboration with other Italian and international students, mostly located in the Adriatic basin.

The Pescara Summer School continues previous partnerships with a number of Italian, Slovenian, Croatian, Albanian and Greek universities. Since 2009, a signed hexagonal agreement between several universities of the Adriatic has led in recent years to the organization of many activities. These have involved research programs, workshops, conferences, and theses in the city of Pescara, Rijeka, Zagreb, Split, Durres and Corinth.

Frame of reference

The specific task of the Pescara Summer School is to address cities and significant disciplinary issues, but above all to address a region vast and diverse, specifically that of the Adriatic.

The Adriatic basin presents conditions and contexts that are comparable to each other that share stories and parallel narratives. Thinking about the Adriatic means thinking not only of the body of the water, but mostly of a real physical place that joins the two sides of the same space and connects different regions, cultures, religions and civilizations.

In the current geo-political condition, some European regions are in fact acquiring a greater value than others and a more significant role from both cultural and political views. This is clearly the case of the Euro Region Adriatic - Ionian which is becoming a key point for a new set of relations between the East and West, between the North and the South, between Europe and the Balkans. A "diagonal" policy exists, as transversal/diagonal is actually the central axis of the Adriatic.  From the heart of Europe, this frame of reference extends to latitudes located to the east of the city of Budapest. This geographical transversality must also become a cultural and political and cultural transversality, that is able to integrate experiences and knowledge that have been developed on both sides of the Adriatic basin. A new concept of transnational identity and a sense of belonging to a new Europe is perhaps taking over at a time when the EU becomes more and more inclusive.

The Adriatic today could aim to become a “gulf” again, but this time a European one.

The spirit of Pescara Summer School is to become a permanent research laboratory on themes related to urban re-generation in the cities bordering the Adriatic region. The Pescara Summer School will address different cities and contexts with the aim to propose design solutions within a limited time frame while working in groups varied in origin and disciplinary interest. This approach will lead to the proposal of alternative and innovative solutions, on the trail of previous experiences but also challenging choices and conditions that have been often consolidated in time.

The Pescara Summer School will address urban and peri-urban areas of different extension, which may contain sub-themes confined in smaller areas. The design will then be a multi scale process that will focus on both the urban and the architectural project.

With the awareness that new soil could not be used for urban developments, it is necessary to address the built environment with different strategies of re-use both for the abandoned sites and for the objects contained in them. The Summer School will address themes related to the definition of strategies of urban re-generation, the redevelopment of public spaces, enhancement of historic centres and of the built heritage and, finally, the redevelopment of urban districts of different nature.

2015 PESCARA SUMMER SCHOOL

The 2015 Pescara The Summer School will address, for this first year, design themes related to the city of Pescara, the same ones that have been highlighted by the City Council through the agreement between the Department and the City. In particular, the work will be related to areas in need of urban, social, and economic regeneration and sites where the city of Pescara aims to establish a new relationship with its river and the Adriatic Sea.

The design areas are the following:

1.       Former Fea Area

2.       Piazza Primo Maggio

3.       North Pinewood Area

4.       Residual Central Rail Land

5.       Former Cement Plant

6.       Area next Ponte della Libertà

7.       Residual Urban Area

8a   Dis-used Industrial Area (former Cogolo)

8b   Dis-used Industrial Areas (Along the Pescara River)

9.    Freight Yard at Porta Nuova

10. Green Corridor

The Summer School will take place both at the headquarters of the Department of Architecture and at the Aurum. There will be different events, including conferences of prestigious guests, visits to special places and events. The student group Woo_mezzomq will join the organization.

The Summer School is open to students registered at the Dipartimento di Architettura of Pescara and students from other Italian and foreign universities. The work will be done by groups that are led by teachers and tutors of the Dipartimento as well as from the invited Universities.

The Summer School will offer 8 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) to students from those Universities that have an Erasmus + agreement with Pescara or other academic agreeements.

ORGANIZATION AND COSTS

The Dipartimento di Architettura invites professors and students from foreign institutions to participate to the 2015 Pescara Summer School. It is expected that each foreign University will send a maximum of 5/6 persons, including professors, tutors and students (i.e. 1 professor and 4/5 students or 1 professor, 1 tutor and 4 students).

As in most academic exchanges, the foreign institution should cover expenses for travelling to their own students and professors. The Dipartimento di Architettura in Pescara will cover hotel expenses to professors and tutors and will accommodate foreign students in houses and apartments with Italian students.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE

Professors and students from foreign institutions are expected to arrive in Pescara in the afternoon of Monday August 31st and leave in the afternoon of Saturday September 12th (total of 12 nights).

 

The Dipartimento di Architettura in Pescara hopes to raise the interest and see the participation of the following Partner Universities.

University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) – Faculty of Architecture

University of Zagreb (Croatia) – Faculty of Architecture

University of Split (Croatia) – Faculty of Architecture

Burch International University, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – Department of Architecture

Polythecnic University of Tirana (Albania), Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning  (FAUP)

Polis University, Tirana (Albania), Faculty of Architecture and Design

University of Patras (Greece) – Faculty of Architecture

As well as other international Universities that have programs in Italy

 

SIDE EVENTS

Lecture Series (during the Summer School)

There will be 3-4 lectures given by distinguished guests both from Italy and abroad, including guest speakers from the Adriatic region. Lectures will be held at the Faculty and/or at the Aurum.

Festa dell’Architettura – (Saturday September 5th)

A party will be organized under the elevated highway (Asse Attrezzato) at the centre of Pescara.

Event organized for all the architectural students, former students of the Dipartimento di Architettura and general public.

Pecha Kucha (Wednesday September 9th)

Presentations at the MATTA (former Slaughter House) by architects in Pescara following the Pecha Kucha model (20 images x 20 seconds)

Exhibition Ad’A Prize (Saturday September 5th)

Exhibition of the entries to the 2015 Ad’A Prize (Premio Architetture dell’Adriatico)

Open Studios (Saturday September 5th and Sunday September 6th)

Open studios of architecture, design, photography, etc. in the central area of Pescara.

Final Exhibition – Saturday September 12th

Exhibition of the work produced by the Summer School at the Aurum. Round table discussion and prize to the 10 most significant projects (one for each area)

 

For more information, please contact

Prof. Lorenzo Pignatti at: l.pignatti@ottonepignatti.it