DAE X LINA

A project developed alongside students of the Bachelor and Master Program at DAE in collaboration with emerging architects and external parties. Impactful and relevant projects with a social focus with ministries, municipalities, cultural institutions, and companies.

Collaboration with LINA fellows

Earth Construction

Lina fellow: Nuno Vasconcelos / doing.pt

The workshop focused on urban resources and existing logistics to (re)use earth/soil as media for design and construction. Participants discussed the flows in-out of the city and explored characteristics of the material, mixes and compositions.

Participants learned about the availability of materials in an urban context and the logistics required to access them. They gained an understanding of the basic principles of earth as a material, its components, and how these components interact.

Additionally, they explored the different stages of earth in relation to water and air, and how these factors influenced the use of the material. Finally, participants learned about waste management and material cycles.

The workshop began with a challenge: researching and collecting the necessary materials from the city independently. This was followed by a brief discussion on the availability of these materials in the city and a hands-on exploration of their characteristics. There was a lecture on the constitution and principles of earth, supplemented by the Carazas test to practically apply these principles. The workshop concluded with a discussion on the disposal and reuse of materials, drawing parallels to the broader issue of waste management in society. Participants then transformed the collected materials into adobe bricks for potential future use, followed by a final discussion and conclusion session.

Collaging Realities

Lina fellow: Anna Perugini

The workshop aimed to explore practical research methodologies that foster connections between design, social, and ecological practices. Through the medium of collage, participants were encouraged to analyse, understand, and reimagine the realities linked to design practices.

The workshop equipped participants with critical thinking and hands-on research skills. They learned to analyze and reinterpret the relationships between scale, materiality, and temporality to generate insights and research questions. Additionally, they considered non-human perspectives and ecosystem interactions to develop design narratives that challenge conventional view points and hierarchies.

Participants selected various research topics of their choice. The workshop was structured into four main parts: Collect, Organize, Subvert, and Communicate. The outcomes included a variety of collages, such as images, videos, games, performances, and texts, tailored to the research topics.

Roundtable discussion

Lina fellows: Anna Perugini, Nuno Vasconcelos, Baukreisel

During the roundtable discussion, fellows shared their experiences collaborating with municipalities, cultural institutions, and local companies on their design projects. They emphasized the social impact and relevance of these projects and sought to identify common methods and tools for engaging with these stakeholders. Students in the Bachelor and Master programs at DAE also presented how they currently work with external parties in their respective design projects. The discussions underscored the importance of addressing practical design challenges within a socially conscious framework to ensure that the projects benefit the communities they serve.

Furthermore, fellows discussed the challenges of collaborating with suppliers, craftsmen, and using locally available materials. They addressed issues such as accessing local materials without exploiting cheap labor and managing the supply chain and logistics for hard-to-transport materials like raw earth. Strategies for effectively communicating their work to local audiences and convincing decision- makers, such as politicians, were explored. They also considered how to assess the local impact of their design practices and organize funding across different European countries (Portugal, Italy, Germany, Netherlands).

The roundtable discussion concluded with a dinner that involved all participants.