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 84 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
8.3.2027 - 7.5.2027
3 days/weekJune 2027 - September 2027
€ 9700 + VAT*
In person€ 3200 + VAT
Online8
3 with 90% coverage, 5 with 50% coverageTeaching 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 a solution for contemporary challengesSocial Housing
Housing emergency at a global scaleSuburbs
“First World” emergencyUniversal design
Architectural principles for people with disabilitiesThe integrated humanitarian project
Socially relevant interventions between culture, economy and architectureUrban 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 approachSite Visits
WASP Research Lab (Massa Lombarda)
The intervention of G124 by Renzo Piano in Modena
Dynamo Camp
Special lectures and critiques
Beauty as a principle of justice
Paper and emergencies
X=? A conversation about Elemental method
Form follows Love
España Library: culture and beauty in Medellín, Colombia
Social housing in Acuña, Mexico
School in Kiberia - mimesis and discontinuity
Volontariat Home for Homeless Children: architectural quality of a humanitarian project
Learning from the Land
Design workshop
Anupama Kundoo / Anupama Kundoo Architects
The workshop will provide a practical opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired throughout the other teaching modules, challenging students with the design of a boarding school in Kotagiri, within the Nilgiri landscape of southern India. Under the tutorship of Anupama Kundoo, participants will be invited to consider the school not simply as a place for learning, but as a space for living and collective life, capable of establishing deep relationships with the territory and the communities that inhabit it.
The project will emerge from the particular socio-cultural condition of the Nilgiris, where traditional knowledge, agricultural practices, biodiversity and the use of local resources form interdependent parts of the same system. Architecture will be called upon to interpret this complexity through an approach sensitive to climatic conditions, available resources and local building cultures, investigating how spaces for education can contribute to the transmission of knowledge without separating it from the context in which it originates.
The boarding school will thus become an opportunity to explore a model in which learning, everyday life and a relationship with the landscape can coexist. Through materials, construction techniques and spatial organization, students will be asked to imagine an architecture capable of accommodating a community over time and of making the school a place of knowledge, sharing and belonging.
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 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. This is awarded with a 90% coverage of the tuition fee to the top 3 candidates for each course, and a 50% coverage to those ranked from 4th to 8th place, according to the evaluation of the Selection Committee. Therefore, it is not necessary to make specific actions to apply for a scholarship. The scholarship does not cover the administration fee (73,20€) that has 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
Rules of the course in English
Brochure del Corso
Regole del corso in italiano
Download the 2025-2026 internships report
Find out all the statistics and placement methodology for the last year of courses: more than 26% of the students entered Pritzker studios.