Applying pedagogical processes as part of ongoing architectural and cultural practice transcends the traditionally contained model of an academic environment. Instead of an ‘ivory towers’ approach, intensive applied educational activities in specific local contexts serves to enlarge a combined practical and conceptual awareness of real sites, as part of an ethos of lifelong learning.
Norwegian architect Alex Furunes brings students into most of his international projects, in Vietnam, Hunan and Shenzhen, engaging them with citizens to design and build. British place strategist, curator and author Lucy Bullivant engages in educational processes through projects using a range of media which serve to draw out new, hybridised relationships between teacher and taught, transcend disciplinary boundaries and localise impacts through participation. This can be seen in a few of their collaborations with communities and students on Biennale projects: one, a collaboration with Shenzhen university students and a knitted garment factory in the urban village of Baishizhou for the UABB Biennale, Shenzhen, 2016; the other, a close collaboration with CAMI migrants support centre and students of FAU Mackenzie to design banners in the Sao Paulo Metro as part of the São Paulo Biennale, 2017. A third and ongoing project is the building of a community centre in Oslo, initiated as part of the Oslo Architecture Triennale, 2019.
Lucy Bullivant (https://lucybullivantandassociates.net) is a place strategist, curatorial director and award-winning author of books about adaptive planning and architecture. She has a PhD by Prior Output in adaptive planning from the School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University and a Masters degree in Cultural History, Royal College of Art. She has created and delivered over 100 projects of social value, many self-initiated – exhibitions, conferences, seminars, videos, books and magazines, including her webzine, Urbanista.org, dedicated to liveable urbanism, for clients in the public and private sectors internationally, and the new Urban Manifesto webinar series with Prathima Manohar. The 2nd edition of her book, Masterplanning Futures, will be published by Routledge in 2021. Formerly a professor of urban design history and theory at Syracuse University London, Lucy has given keynotes and lectures at leading institutions globally.
Alexander Eriksson Furunes (https://erikssonfurunes.com) studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, before receiving his Masters in Architecture at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He has spearheaded and completed a series of collaborative projects with communities in the UK, India, Brazil, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines through his studio Eriksson Furunes. He is currently doing an Artistic PhD entitled Learning from Bayanihan/Dugnad (NTNU, 2016-2021) which explores the role of these traditions in participative planning, design and building processes. Together with Sudarshan V. Khadka Jr. he is the curator of the Philippine Pavilion, Structures of Mutual Support, at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, 2021.
