The Brașov HUB-IN Summer School
By joining the programme “The City as a Classroom”, pupils and students had the chance to rethink and redesign public squares
Last July, 20 pupils and students, future architects, urban planners or currently studying Furniture Design, took part in the Brașov’s HUB-IN Summer School.
Following the graduation of the HUB-IN Summer School’s “The City as a Classroom” mentoring program, pupils and students presented their ideas to a jury made up of architects, furniture manufacturers, local developers and teaching staff from specialized universities, prototypes and proposed layouts for four squares in the historic center.
Participants designed, tested and finalized urban furniture proposals for Brassai Square, Sf. Ioan Square, Apollonia Hirscher Square and Paul Richter Square. Based on these projects, ABMEE will create urban furniture through the HUB-IN project, which, starting in the spring of 2024, will be installed by the municipality and tested by those who arrive in the historic center.
”The City as a Classroom programme was meant to be a research path. Students had to study and analyse the place, get the opinion of locals, and gather information from tourists and businesses who operate in these markets. Apart from this x-ray, they tried to synthesize problems, to find ways for overcoming obstacles, to propose solutions for these squares transforming them in leisure points, much more than just transit routes”, said Leea MIHAILA, ABMEE Director.
A more people-centric Brașov: Students’ ideas will enhance public squares
Based on the experiences developed during the two previous workshops held in spring 2023, each group of students received a “design kit” consisting of raw constructive elements (boards, beams, stairs, slats, etc.) and fastening systems (string, cables, etc.). The goal of each team was to build/assemble and test different urban furniture configurations for youth in the designated squares. They analysed and documented audience interaction with the prototype objects. Nine mentors – architects, urban planners and specialists in the field – guided the students during the whole process.
According to architect Alexandru Beleny, each team developed between six and ten different objects: from resting spaces that differ from regular benches to totem-like installations that highlight the buildings in the historical centre, as well as benches with variable geometry which can be transformed from a linear resting space to a circular one, where people can have a group discussion. Moreover, the participants took an evening walk to analyse how the historical centre is lit, and whether the potential of the buildings and squares is being sufficiently used or showcased.
“Basically, the preparing workshops and the Summer School constituted the stage of study in which we tried to create different more or less practical, more or less playful objects. We’ve tried to test limits and all this material will be taken over by a design team that will do final fit-out projects and each market will accommodate one or two of these objects, of the kind created during the HUB-IN Summer School. Of course, a week is far too short to do a serious design project for a public space. Probably next spring, these objects may appear in all four squares, all initiated from the ideas and by the tests done by the students participating in the HUB-IN Summer School”, said the architect Alexandru Belenyi, the coordinator of the action.
Find out more on the Brașov HUB-IN here!
