The design was implemented by students of the Wroclaw University of Technology and the Delft University of Technology in Netherlands from 3rd August. The primary aim of participants was to design and build a basic living unit to be used by a family or individual persons. It could be a single structure or a complex of rooms, but it had to provide minimum living conditions to inhabitants.
The participants in the course had to face an extremely demanding problem. They had to design objects that would be easy to transport while being as functional as possible and useful for inhabitants.
‘Such workshops are an excellent opportunity to learn something for real. The students had to work everything out by themselves - to devise a concept of the shelter and then to design and build it. This is not all – they will test the structure by spending the night there. This will be the best test – particularly, for instance, during a rain. Then it will turn out whether their design is really safe and functional,’ said Jerzy Łątka, a doctoral student at the Wroclaw University of Technology, the originator and one of the managers of the Summer School of Architecture.
Jerzy Łątka added that the course would be also an opportunity to point out and discuss today's problems – not only those concerning refugees, but also other emergency situations in which people lose their homes overnight, including warfare and all kinds of disasters.
The school will function till 20th August. The ready designs will be shown at the hall at ul. Kowalska; in October, they will be transported to the campus of the Wroclaw University of Technology. The workshop was held under the patronage of the European Capital of Culture Wroclaw 2016.
The course will be summarised in a special report that will be presented at various conferences – probably at the first upcoming conference in Tokyo.
