PAO.6 SUMMERSCHOOLS DONE!

Finally, the two PAO summerschools 2010 are done! Finished by the end of September, altogether 32 participants from 10 countries had joined the 6th edition of the highly experimental (and sometimes adventurous) PAO workshops. Ambitious as never before, the PAO camps took place in two locations rather distant from each other: in l´Aquila (Italy) and Potoc (Romania). Eventually, PAO´s core team had traveled 6.500km within 4 weeks, crossing 10 different countries on the way.

Not surprising, the site of l´Aquila´s post-earthquake settlement Bagno posed thoroughly different conditions than Romanian hillside village Potoc. Whereas in l´Aquila the work and communication with the local community turned out to be the main challenge, PAO Potoc endeavoured in low-fi building techniques and rehabilitation works of the existing old schoolhouse.

The l´Aquila session brought about a number of "design-to-build" micro-architectures. The projects which included a Mini-Library for children, a Panorama Pavilion, a Children´s Adventure Path and an Exhibition Showbox, were executed in PAO´s typical high-speed manner. Accompanying lectures at l´Aquila university and fieldtrips to such eminent places as the Villa Hadriana "fertilised" the hands-on project work.

The Potoc session in turn resulted in a splendid studio-space that got implemented in the old school house. This place is to function in near future as a cultural center for the village and the region. From now, it provides a reliable homebase for all upcoming PAO events.

The reports about this year´s PAO session will be published as books in Spring 2011. Further events and intermediary workshops are scheduled for the near future; respective informations will be distributed via PAO´s website and this blog. - Many thanks to all participants and supporters of PAO.6 who made possible this extraordinary event and creative experience!

UPDATED PROGRAMME FOR L´AQUILA SESSION

In week 1 we will set out from S. Stefano village to a number of DAY TRIPS. Placed inbetween the travel days will be DESIGN STUDIO sessions in different places. Week 2 will be focussed on our projects at the CONSTRUCTION SITE at Bagno. For the evening a LECTURE PROGRAMME is sketched which will introduce the city of l´Aquila, the place and its history, as well as architectural clues for our own projects. Lectureres will be professors and practitioners from from l´Aquila and other places.



One special feature got succesfully be arranged last week: local construction company MOFACO GmbH will transport a small EXHIBITION CONTAINER to l´Aquila. This type of container had been utilised already during the PAO.3 und PAO.4 Sessions. The advantage: we will have a tiny exhibition space from the very beginning (which we do not have to conceive and set up over the course of a few days). Here it should be possible to constantly communicate to the Bagno-community "that something is going on". The container can be altogether changed and modified. Therefore re-thinking the design and exhibition concepts for this container might be one steady task throughout the workshop.

REGISTRATIONS FOR PAO l´AQUILA FINISHED

NOTIFICATION

August 7, 2010 - Please notice, that due to maximum number of participants, registrations for the PAO session in l´Aquila are finished by today, and will not be proceeded furthermore. Registrations for the 2nd session in Potoc / Romania, however, are still possible. For requests or details, please contact the organisers paoproject@gmail.com

ACCOMODATION IN L`AQUILA

Finally the places of accomodation for the l´Aquila session got decided and booked. We are happy to have this settled, as accomodation is still a problematic issue in l´Aquila due to earthquake damages (there are almost no hostels or hotels available in town). - For the two weeks of the workshop there will two different locations, corresponding the overall workshop programme.

WEEK 1
Week 1 is mainly about getting around l´Aquila on daytrips. For this time we will stay in S. Stefano di Sessanio, a fortified village high-up in the mountains approx. 20km from l´Aquila. The place is highly exceptional in terms of architecture, landscape, and atmosphere. We will stay on the Gran Sasso Camping Site (tel. 334 900 2230) which is right beside the village. As participants are expected to arrive perhaps earlier, reservations were made from 28th until September 4th. Participants ought to bring sleeping bags, and if possible, tents. Otherwise tents can be provided which must be shared by two persons. However, if someone owns a tent already, and wants to have more legspace, privacy, and flexibility, then bringing a private tent is a good option.



Name: Gran Sasso Camping
Booked for: Aug 28 - Sept 4
Adress: Camping Gran Sasso, Località Collicello, S.Stefano di Sessanio (AQ)
Mail: info@campinggransasso.it
Web: www.campinggransasso.it
Tel: 334 900 2230



WEEK 2
Week 2 will be dedicated to project work on the Bagno-site. Therefore we will move to a Bed & Breakfast "On the Road" in the village Paganica, close to Bagno and the center of l´Aquila. The hostel consists of bedrooms-containers (4-5 persons) with showers, and a small restaurant. Due to its "highway"-style, this place is less atmospheric than S. Stefano, but certainly more practical in terms of accomodation, eating, and reaching Bagno site. Final overnight stay will be Saturday 11th to Sunday 12th.



Name: On the Roadsite B&B
Adress: Paganica AQ, SR 17
Mail: beb.ontheroad@virgilio.it
Tel: 340 - 2511911
Fax: 0862 - 89381
Booked for: Sept 5 - Sept 12

PROGRAMME UPDATE PAO.6 IN POTOC

Whereas the rehabilitation and transformation of the Potoc school is at the core of the Experimental Architecture Summercamp in Romania, PAO is touching ground this year: Under the guidance of a professional expert we will experiment with earth building techniques (clay/adobe construction). This technique seems especially appropriate as Potoc village is practically set upon a hill of clay.

The Earth building workshop is one item within a program of diverse activities (lectures & discussions, practice & workshop, craft & art). Envisioned is a range of practical architectural interventions which focus on the refurbishment of work-spaces inside the school, as well as on the rehabilitation of the immediate environment of the school (walls, gates, well etc.) Imagine a vital school where people get inspired and grow their mind.

PROJECT SITE FOR PAO-L´AQUILA

BAGNO On a visit to l´Aquila last week, the project site for the PAO.6 Summercamp in l´Aquila could be finally decided. After discussing with representatives of the local government and l´Aquila University, the new settlement of Bagno turned out to be the place.

INSTANT VILLAGE Bagno is one of a dozen new-built settlements in the outskirts of l´Aquila. After the earthquake in 2009, approx. 600 people from 4 destroyed villages were resettled to this "instant village". Whereas people - who have lived during the last year in tents - have houses again, the new settlement (which consists of only 7 long rowhouses) is still lacking social infrastructures. Even though there is a clear need for an architectural enhancement of the environment (e.g. by a community center, a market place, parks and playground, meeting places for elderly and children, sports ground, landscaping etc.), the central task remains: How to establish a normal community life again?

DIY PROTOTYPING The PAO Session in l´Aquila will propose design and development schemes how the existing settlement can be architecturally improved with low budgets but high concepts. Participants will produce simple prototypes for DIY construction using the available technologies, skills, and materials. Here, local people shall be involved in order to trigger maximum social effect. The Bagno Project may present a model how l´Aquila´s post-earthquake settlements can be further developed into vital and sustaining neighbourhoods.

PAO.5 BOOK IS OUT! "MAKING TIME: MEMES OF POTOC"

After ten months of intense editing work, the new PAO Book is out! The massive near 600-pages volume with the promising title "MAKING TIME: MEMES OF POTOC" not only introduces the people, places and projects of the 6th PAO Summerschool in Potoc / Romania (2009), but puts forward a new method for how architectural and artistic work becomes a tool for cultural knowledge and understanding. The book presents how collective creativity can unearth so-called "Memes", that is: the generic ideas inherent in a specific place. Eventually, the PAO works on the "Memes of Potoc" revealed an idea that has become a secret to modern man: How to make time.

The book can be ordered directly at paoproject@gmail.com or ordered via local booksellers. ISBN 978-3-941298-65-1. Content: 594 pages, with more than 400 b/w images. Size: 150 x 100 mm. Price: € 14,90

PAO.6 PROGRAMME FOR L`AQUILA

The city of l´Aquila, the capital of the Abruzzo Region and a place of cultural heritage of first order, got heavily demolished in a major earthquake in April 2009. After one year of evacuation, rescue work, and restoration, a major need for the city of l´Aquila are „Places for Socialising“. The earthquake had not only destroyed the physical structures of public living and housing, but before all social ones. Whereas the deficit of physical structures could be more or less resolved after one year, the need for social integration remains still acute. The government has build a number of new public housing areas in the vicinity of the city in order to a give a home to the dislocated – but more difficult is perhaps the „reconstruction“ of functioning social structures.

A simple yet effective small architecture for cultural events and socialising among young people – “Hot Spots” and “Cool Places” – shall be created. Whereas the first week of the workshop is for “idea making” by travelling across the scenic Abruzzo area and the cities and villages of the region, the second week is dedicated to actually building this mini-architecture. The most promising and realistic place for project work is the new location of l´Aquila University´s Engineering faculty (former CD factory) is. There is a clear demand for social places and services
for students and faculty. At the university, places for work and meeting are available for the studio and lectures sessions. – Further locations that invite meaningful intervention are the several villages around l´Aquila which had suffered by he earthquake as well.

PAO.6 PROGRAMME FOR POTOC

The central idea for the future of the old school building in Potoc is the set-up of a creative institution: Casă de creație –a cultural center for the Cheile Nerei Region.
Looking at the school as it was, a certain tendency for the future can be figured out, a chance for the building itself: to become a place of learning, filled with an artistic and crafty spirit, a place of inspiration, meditation and togetherness. Imagine a school again, but one that not only teaches formal academic knowledge, but genuinely develops and growths the mind of the people.
The future concepts for the school building should not ignore the people of Potoc and their interests. Starting from the idea of an „Experimental Creative Laboraty“ specific functions can be entitled. One of them is setting up a Builders Workshop.

In Potoc, like in any other village, there is and always will be public construction work, reparing the church roof, building a festival stage, repairing bridges etc. There will be always be building works to be done and there would be always be a team of builders. This included the idea of a local artisian workshop, including an atelier and a material storage, a machine room and a showroom featuring valuable traditions and practices.
A stepwise rehabilitation of the old and derelict building is provided: every year one or more rooms to be professionally refurbished. The PAO session 2010 in Potoc aims that purpose: the first steps will be made. With all care and patience, one step by another can be taken in order to steadily develop a functioning and vital complex. The extension of the old school building is not to be spectacular architecture. Before all it should enable people to work here and to get inspired.

PAO SUMMERCAMPS 2010 IN ITALY AND ROMANIA

Finally, dates and appointments for the PAO 2010 summercamps got fixed! Ambitious ones, as this year´s "Design to build"-sessions will be held in two fascinating places: in the city of l´Aquila (Italy), and in the village of Potoc (Romania).



PLACE 1: L´AQUILA The city of l´Aquila is a fantastic, beautiful place high up in the alpine Abruzzo Mountains, 100 km from Rome. After a major earthquake in 2009, there are still many tasks waiting for creative intervention: New "Hot Spots" for the demolished city center, and "Cool Places" for students and young people. In the fantastic medieval city of l´Aquila, however, concerns of Cultural Heritage will be play an eminent role. The summerschool will be organised in cooperation with the University of l´Aquila and it´s students.


PLACE 2: POTOC The village of Potoc is a remote, quiet settlement close to the city of Timisoara in Southwestern Romania. In 2009, a PAO camp was held there already which prepared an ambitious follow-up project for this year: the re-fitting of the old village school-building into a "House of Creativity". In cooperation with the villagers and local artists, a new scheme for a sustainable culture institution is to be conceived - and put to reality.


DATES The two-week session in l´Aquila goes from August 30th-September 10th; the two-week session in Potoc from September 13th-September 24th. Interested participants can join both workshops in sequence.

PARTICIPANTS The workshop adresses students, prospective students, and professionals of architecture, arts, and culture studies alike. The workshop programme includes lectures, design studios, field trips, and a visit to the Venice Architecture Biennale. Prospective international participants will come from Italy, Spain, Romania, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Egypt and Japan.


INFORMATION / REGISTRATION For further information or registration email to paoproject@gmail.com or see the website http://www.pao-project.org/ Don´t hesitate to inquire! See you in l´Aquila and / or Potoc!

PREPARATORY WORKSHOP IN L´AQUILA

From March 15th through 20th, a PAO group travelled to the city of l´Aquila, Italy for a preparatory workshop. L´Aquila will be the place for the next PAO summerschool (PAO.6). In order to check out the current situation on-site, a brief academic session was held at the university of l´Aquila. The session included two lecture presentations, a speed-design workshop with students, and various visits to potential sites for the upcoming summercamp. Also a poster exhibition of last year´s workshop in Potoc (Romania) was presented at the university.





Despite the Abruzzo Region, of which l´Aquila is the capital city, is of enormous beauty, the city itself and surrounding villages still suffer much from last years earthquake. Many facilities and infrastructures are still not working. The university itself has moved into a former CD-Factory.
Here, however, the students´ interest and feedback to PAO was very positive, many of them look forward to a fascinating "Design to build"-summerschool in August/September. The speed-design sessions resulted in beautiful yet simple and realistic ideas which appear possible to be constructed.




From now, exact time, location, and programm are to be decided and be informed via this blog. In any case: put a reminder to your schedule book - PAO l´Aquila is to come soon.

MICROMUSEUM COMPLETED WITH CHILDREN PLAYGROUND

Good things take time! After building the Schwabhausen "MicroMuseum" during the PAO.4 session in 2008, the center reconstruction of Schwabhausen village got finally "completed". That is: by the end of 2009, an large children playground was build - right in front of the "Micromuseum", right beside the "Hermitage Box".



By this, the original concept for village center (dating back to 2008) turned real. When the MicroMuseum was conceived together with the mayor and the villagers of Schwabhausen, the basic idea was to revitalise the devastated yet eminent place with three coordinated projects: 1) the reconstruction of the former kindergarden villa into a house for elderly people (2008-2009), building a village MicroMuseum (2008), and installing a new children playground inbetween (now done).

After finishing the works for pavements and gardening in Spring 2010, the whole area will be opened to the public. The MicroMuseum is supposed to regularly feature exhibitions and shows connected to the village, its people, history and environment.

PAO @ ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL / TIMISOARA

A focus-show of the PAO.5 Architecture Summercamp openened the annual Architecture Festival of Timişoara. The vernissage took place on Dec 10th, 2009 in the exhibition hall of the Department of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Timişoara.

After opening the exhibition by the festival organizers, Michael Wieczorek introduced the PAO idea and the workshop activities which took place 2009 in Potoc. Twenty large-size posters presented an overview of the projects and activities of the summer school. An object-installation of artist Manole Olteanu from Timişoara defined the center of the show.

Besides a remarkable number of local architects and guests from all over the country, the students and teachers of the Architectural Department especially took interest in the exhibition which will be on show until the end of January 2010.

The festival „Anuală Timişoreană de Arhitektură 2009“ presents every year a variety of architectural events at various locations throughout the city. Part of the program is the Annual Architecture Award by the Chamber of Architects. Further information under http://www.anualadearhitectura.ro/.