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!