Astrakhan Architectural and Construction State University and our Méandre architectural studio has completed “Urban Architectural School” workshop in Astrakhan!
 
The workshop’s goal was to create new experimental platform for architectural education and open dialogue with a city; additionally, workshop was intended to provide students with practical experience working with real life materials on a scale of a city.
 
For a long time AACSU activities go beyond student education. Various events are organized, programs are implemented in collaboration with the city administration, conferences are held, teachers come from different cities and countries with open events. University own’s capacity becomes short to allow for ever-growing interests of students and teachers. That’s why we decided that the main theme of the workshop should be to create an open-air extension for the University.
 
The workshop took place in several stages.
At first, we asked students to develop a project for one of the four facilities: Auditorium, Idea Center, Library and Drafting hall. After that we selected best projects, they were fine-tuned for the calculation of the necessary materials and optimized for implementation. At the same time, our teachers team have developed their own design.

Workshop had begun on June 24 with health and safety instructions. In two following weeks, four teams have created a new urban space for the architectural school on the campus, which is now used not only by students and teachers, but also by local residents!