Brief
Pandemic, economic crisis, migration, and climate change: every area - from the periphery of our metropolis to the most remote tropical village - can now be defined as an “emergency context”. The United Nations - already before the pandemic cycle - estimated that the fragmentation of conflicts, combined with the effects of the economic and ecological crisis, was generating a humanitarian emergency greater than that caused by the Second World War.
In this context, the architect plays a fundamental role, because architecture responds to man’s primary needs. Finding shelter, receiving education, living healthy are rights that require “containers” in the first place, and architecture - great architecture - would be hardly a thing if limited to contexts of well-being; since man is at the center of architecture, and man, in any context, in any condition, deserves dignity and beauty.
This is why the course in Architecture for Humanity was born, to train designers who know how to compose meaningful architecture even in the most complex contexts, to bring quality where you have always designing by playing down, beauty where you are used to not seeing it. Trained to think in terms of objectives, budgets and understanding of anthropological phenomena, designers will thus acquire a method spendable in any context, capable of optimizing resources and design inputs to give rise, under any conditions, to educated and refined architectural phenomena.
Through the study of the global scenario and the comparison with the experience of some of the most authoritative voices in the field (from the UN to representatives of the government of territories in emergency) the designers will focus on the technical and compositional strategies to be adopted in the humanitarian, social and emergency field, during 78 hours of lessons, 32 hours of workshop and numerous contributions by renowned professionals. At the end of the course, YACademy Placement office will guarantee each student a proposal for an internship/collaboration within the partner studios.
Course info
15 In person
5 Online
Bologna
17.3.2025 - 23.5.2025
3 days/weekJune 2025 - September 2025
€ 2,900 + VAT
Online€ 9,700 + VAT
In person3
Full coverage of the enrollment fee for the most outstanding candidatesTeaching modules & Workshops
Climate change
Effects and consequences of climate changeExtreme architecture
Architecture in adverse natural environmentsCase History
Successful examples of humanitarian architecturesHumanitarian associations
Architecture and private initiativeTradition is innovation
Vernacular architecture as solution for contemporary challengesSocial Housing
Housing emergency at a global scaleUrban resilience
Infrastructure, urban spaces and communities. The 360° approach of New YorkInternational scenario
Conflicts, migrations and climate change: the global framework of emergency architectureHumanitarian technologies
Low-tech as a principle of social equityLow budget design
Informal architecture and participatory approachSuburbs
“First World” emergencyUniversal design
Architectural principles for people with disabilitiesSite Visits
WASP Research Lab (Massa Lombarda)
The intervention of G124 by Renzo Piano in Modena
Dynamo Camp
Special lectures and critiques
Volontariat Home for Homeless Children: Architectural quality of a humanitarian project
Social housing in Acuña, Mexico
España Library: culture and beauty in Medellín, Colombia
Beauty as a principle of justice
Jardines Centrales de Jojutla
Post-catastrophy planning:the eartquake in Istanbul
Montessori school for Maasai
Paper and emergencies
X=? A conversation about elemental method
Beyond buildings: architecture as a tool for social change
Garrisons of peace
Design workshop
Giancarlo Mazzanti / El Equipo Mazzanti
The workshop will provide an opportunity for practical synthesis through which to test all the notions that will be made available from the other educational modules, ensuring strategic responses with respect to a real architectural project. The workshop is conducted in collaboration with El Equipo Mazzanti, the studio founded by Giancarlo Mazzanti, who was the protagonist designer of the processes of architectural and social improvement in Colombia. The workshop will deal with the design of ETCRs (Territorial Spaces for Training and Reintegration): 24 newly built centers oriented toward the social reintegration of communities of former warriors belonging to the FARC - the armed revolution groups born in the 1960s in Colombia as a result of poverty and deep inequalities in the distribution of agricultural land. The centers will have as their mission the rehabilitation of ex-combatants and their families - some of whom have lived for decades in hiding inside the Colombian jungle - supporting them in the transition from their warrior past to their present as citizens. Over 50 years of war have left deep wounds in both groups which constitute the present Colombian social fabric. The mission of the ETCRs will then be not only the reintegration of ex-warriors in employment and training programs, but, more broadly, the activation of a path of national reconciliation, in the name of legality and harmony. Through the workshop, architects will thus have the opportunity to confront an incomparably sensitive and highly topical issue, rooted in Colombian history and culture, in order to reflect on architecture's ability to activate virtuous processes, capable of supporting the victims of historical and social processes of great complexity.
Construction workshop
Construction is a fundamental step in architecture. For this reason, YACademy offers its students the opportunity to participate in the process of producing their own ideas. Thus, the students will gain practical experience on construction sites and, above all, the authorship of projects built for excellent commissions, destined for a major media echo and capable of defining a turning point in their professional career.
Placement
At the end of teaching modules and workshop, YACademy’s Placement office will guarantee every student an internship or collaboration proposal in one of our partner studios.
Teachers
Admission
Requirements
Students or graduates in Architecture/Design can apply to the course. The commission, based on the assessment of the application, may admit students with different qualifications.
Registration
To apply, it is necessary to register online and submit a Curriculum Vitae, a Portfolio, and a Motivational Letter. Moreover, it is necessary to pay the administration fee (60€ + VAT). The best 20 candidates will be admitted to the course according to the rules.
The administration fee payment does not bind the student to purchase the course.
Scholarship
By applying for the course, the students automatically become eligible to obtain a scholarship: one will be granted to each of the best 3 applicants for each course, consistently with the Selection Committee's evaluation. Therefore, it is not necessary to make specific actions to apply for a scholarship. The scholarship covers the entire enrollment fee - regardless of the type of attendance chosen -, but does not cover the administration fee (73,20€) that have to be paid in order to complete the application process successfully.
Timeline
Complying with deadlines is a fundamental requirement to take part in the course. All students are encouraged to pay the utmost attention to the timeline and to complete each phase in advance.
Applications opening
Applications deadline
Publication of the provisional ranking
Beginning of second-round admissions
Enrollment fee payment deadline for students admitted according to the provisional ranking
Publication of the official ranking (including second-round admitted students)
Lessons start
Download
Make sure you have downloaded the course brochure, from which you will be able to obtain any information about YACademy, as well as every single detail on how to access and enrol in the courses.
Course Brochure
English
Brochure Corso
Italiano
Partners
To each one of them, many thanks from YACademy staff and students.