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 very little 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.

The Course

The course in Architecture for Humanity was born to train designers who know how to compose meaningful architectures even in the most complex contexts, to bring quality where you have always designed to the bottom, beauty where you are used to not seeing it.

Accustomed to designing in terms of objectives, budget, and understanding of anthropological phenomena, the designers will –instead– acquire a method that can be used in any context, capable of optimizing resources and design stimuli to produce, in any condition, a refined architectural phenomenon.

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 76 hours of lessons, 32 hours of workshop and numerous interventions 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. Apply Now!

Special Lectures

• ANUPAMA KUNDOO | ANUPAMA KUNDOO ARCHITECTS: Volontariat Home for Homeless Children: Architectural quality of a humanitarian project. 
• TATIANA BILBAO | TATIANA BILBAO ESTUDIO: Low-income houses: living in Acuña, Mexico.
• GIANCARLO MAZZANTI | EL EQUIPO MAZZANTI: España Library: culture and beauty in Medellín – Colombia.
• NICOLA SCARANARO | FOSTER + PARTNERS: Ethics and social responsibility: architecture according to Foster + Partners.
• JEAN PAUL UZABAKIRIHO | MASS DESIGN: Justice & Beauty: experiences from Rwanda.
• SHIGERU BAN | SHIGERU BAN ARCHITECTS: Research in material: paper shelter Haiti.
• RAUL PANTALEO | TAM ASSOCIATI: Beauty as a principle of justice.
• MARIAM KAMARA | ATELIER MASŌMI: Architecture as an instrument of the common good.
• DIANA LOPEZ CARAMAZANA: Transposition of community objectives into government agendas.
• GIUSEPPE GRANT | ORIZZONTALE ARCHITETTURA: Self-construction and new models of social architecture.
• MARIO CUCINELLA | MCARCHITECTS: Vernacular architecture and innovation: the tradition of places as a source of inspiration.
• DIÉBÉDO FRANCIS KÉRÉ | KÉRÉ ARCHITECTURE: Bridging the Gap: self-building in Burkina Faso.

Workshop

Topic: DESIGN OF HOMELESS SHELTERS AND COMFORT STATIONS IN NEW YORK
Tutor: Giulio Rigoni | BIG BJARKE INGELS GROUP

Description: The workshop will represent the occasion of practical synthesis to test all the notions available through the other teaching modules, ensuring strategic answers with respect to a real architectonic design. In collaboration with the Department of Territorial Planning of New York City, the course will focus on the topic of “comfort station” and of “homeless shelters”, garrisons that can guarantee various fundamental services to the weaker section of society in one of the most iconic cities in the west. Thanks to the workshop, students will have the opportunity to deal with a current topic but unconventional, which seeks solutions to real problems in a well-being context, but at the same time sign of enormous complexities and social inequalities. In the dialogue with the New York Department of City Planning, students will have the occasion to have a design holistic experience, which will integrate theoretical and practical aspects of social and natural sciences, with also design, engineering, and planning concepts in the urban context. The workshop is oriented to prototype the best lab results, it will define a multi-disciplinary method aimed at the inclusion of citizens, in order to create a more liveable New York, open to everyone and full of life.