travel
EASA: Kinda Floating and the assembly
collaborative artistic and architectural exploration
European Architecture Student Assembly
European Architecture Student Assembly
In 2024, I was a workshop tutor in European Architecture Student Assembly (EASA) with a theme Shanzhai, taking place in Benidorm, Spain. Tutoring a workshop and being a part of EASA is done on a volunteering basis, it is not a paid tutoring, therefore it opens artistic and creative endeavours, becoming a playground for young architects, artists and designers.
Together with Anna Shishkina, we came up with the workshops where the importance lies in the process rather than planning, with the intention to design a floating construction. It was developed without a predefined visual concept, and we guided participants into their journey of thinking by making, and flipping a coin when in doubt. I led the drawing session that helped brainstoring, exploring together with the group how the process will lead to the final outcome without having a plan.
No materials were purchased to create this structure; everything was salvaged from the streets of Benidorm, abandoned buildings and trash found on the streets. Therefore, no additional waste was generated during the workshop and the final construction could hold up to 10 people on the water without drowning.
This workshop taught me how to guide a group of people while keeping an open mind, mutually growing and learning from each other. Moreover, I explored architectural hitchiking - the idea of letting the encounter define the process. The goal is the process and not the outcome, letting the journey guide you, occasionally throwing a dice.
Together with Anna Shishkina, we came up with the workshops where the importance lies in the process rather than planning, with the intention to design a floating construction. It was developed without a predefined visual concept, and we guided participants into their journey of thinking by making, and flipping a coin when in doubt. I led the drawing session that helped brainstoring, exploring together with the group how the process will lead to the final outcome without having a plan.
No materials were purchased to create this structure; everything was salvaged from the streets of Benidorm, abandoned buildings and trash found on the streets. Therefore, no additional waste was generated during the workshop and the final construction could hold up to 10 people on the water without drowning.
This workshop taught me how to guide a group of people while keeping an open mind, mutually growing and learning from each other. Moreover, I explored architectural hitchiking - the idea of letting the encounter define the process. The goal is the process and not the outcome, letting the journey guide you, occasionally throwing a dice.
Since 2019, I have been National Contact of European Architecture Student Assembly for Moldova. EASA is very much a collaborative practice, where you are submerged in the atmosphere of 500 architecture students living and working together for 2.5 weeks in a certain location and connected by a certain theme. Therefore, each person attending EASA is a special contribution.
As a National Contact of EASA Moldova, I am responsible for finding inspired architecture students from Moldova to attend such a gathering, where we become a team. My responsibilities (it is all, once again, volunteering) include giving participant calls and attending other important events of EASA, where organizational decisions are taken about the direction of the entire assembly. The assembly has been happening since 1981, and has a long and rich history, where many students come back inspired, with their lives changed for the better.
As a National Contact of EASA Moldova, I am responsible for finding inspired architecture students from Moldova to attend such a gathering, where we become a team. My responsibilities (it is all, once again, volunteering) include giving participant calls and attending other important events of EASA, where organizational decisions are taken about the direction of the entire assembly. The assembly has been happening since 1981, and has a long and rich history, where many students come back inspired, with their lives changed for the better.
In 2023, I attended EASA Commons taking place in Sheffield, UK, as a participant. EASA Commons explored the social, material and theoretical implications of commonly-held resources and space. Workshops within the assembly were focused on bringing the tangible change into the area, and helping local communities.
This Bothy Has Legs is a workshop organized by Scottish tutors, exploring the bothy – a hut in High Lands of Scotland. Bothy – a basic shelter left unlocked in the nature, is accessible by all the travellers walking past it. It can be an overnight accommodation or a place for food for free, being a perfect example of commons.
During the workshop, we created a transient bothy out of wooden panels with canvases, that were later brought to the Peak District and around Sheffield, exploring the spatial qualities and the sense of enclosure caused by such a demountable, metaphorical bothy The main conclusion of the workshop became the feeling of shelter it was able to create in any setting – let it be a forest, a plain field, or streets of Sheffield, ultimately being brought back to where it belonged - Scotland.
Photos: Tomáš Volejník
This Bothy Has Legs is a workshop organized by Scottish tutors, exploring the bothy – a hut in High Lands of Scotland. Bothy – a basic shelter left unlocked in the nature, is accessible by all the travellers walking past it. It can be an overnight accommodation or a place for food for free, being a perfect example of commons.
During the workshop, we created a transient bothy out of wooden panels with canvases, that were later brought to the Peak District and around Sheffield, exploring the spatial qualities and the sense of enclosure caused by such a demountable, metaphorical bothy The main conclusion of the workshop became the feeling of shelter it was able to create in any setting – let it be a forest, a plain field, or streets of Sheffield, ultimately being brought back to where it belonged - Scotland.
Photos: Tomáš Volejník
In general, EASA has truly transformed me, and I deeply feel like I found my community where I belong through EASA. It is a collective of individuals who come together and shape the world - or their bubble - further. I believe that being in my role of Natianal Contact of Moldova is meaningful to the place where I come from - Moldova, where more people can experience the beauty of connections formed between artistic and creative individuals, each time in a different place.
