The scale of imagination

Project

298936

Status

Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS: existing completed examples

Project title

The scale of imagination

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Description

The Scale of Imagination was a project of artistic and creative workshops targeted to a diverse group of local children from Nowy Port district in Gdansk, Poland. Through city funding the program was made accessible and free of charge. Weather permitting, the workshops were implemented outside prioritising the important places in participants' daily environment and enabling reconnection with the nature.

What was the geographical scope of your project?

Does your project address mainly urban or rural issues?

Does your project refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations?

Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?

Has your project won an EU prize?

Your project is fully completed?

When was your project implemented?

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes ?

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?

Please provide a summary of your project

During the summer 2021 the project organised two-weeks workshops for local children from children's organisation Dom na Skraju in the Nowy Port district in Gdansk, Poland. The initial plan of the project was to connect local artists and architects with educators. The objectives of the project were to help locals regain a sense of belonging, reconnect with nature and prioritise the places and people closest to them. The first week consisted of lessons and exercises about architecture and the scale of buildings. The practical project of the first week was to measure the historical main building of the organisation Dom na Skraju and to build a wooden model of it in the scale of 1:10. The function of the model is to host hedgehogs, which are regular guests of the backyard garden. The topic of the second week was bigger urban scale, aesthetics and accessibility of public spaces, as well as nature and rainwater in the city. After the lessons the kids were encouraged to find important places nearby, photograph the nowadays view to match with old photographs from the beginning of the 20th century. Finally they were given the task to imagine and plan the future of these places. Additionally the participants needed to consider the aesthetics and accessibility of these spaces and urban nature surrounding them.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability (including circularity) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The project was implemented in the historical district of Nowy Port, which has a problem of underdeveloped public spaces and infrastructure. There is regular flooding because of lacking rainwater infrastructure. The key objectives were to educate the participating children about sustainable urban planning and infrastructure. They gained knowledge of various subjects including green spaces and rainwater management in the city. In addition to knowledge provided the participants, the small citizens of the district and regular visitors of the Dom na Skraju garden, hedgehogs, got a new place to stay.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The one of the main objectives of the project was to educate the participants about consistent urban planning and architecture. They had to think about which kind of structures would aesthetically fit between existing buildings in the district.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (equal opportunities, public participation, citizen engagement, co-design, universal design, accessibility, affordability, etc.) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The project was funded by a city grant so it was free of charge. The participants were mostly coming from families with lower than average income, which means that they would not be able to participate in such workshops if there were any admission fees. Additionally the project was implemented locally close to their homes, so the children did not need to use any means of transport to come and join the workshops.

Please explain how these three dimensions have been combined in your project.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary

The workshops addressed themes from climate goals to recycling, from aesthetics to healthy environment. By means of simple exercises we created a platform for conversation and creation, which gave a possibility for the participants to consider the before mentioned issues.

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

The visible results of the workshops can be still seen in the Dom Na Skraju garden, where the model house still stands. The underlying and possibly more valuable impact is the knowledge and insights the children got and they can utilise in their lives. During the whole process the participants were writing their thoughts and the thing they had learnt in notebooks provided. This way we could also monitor their progress and the things they were learning during the program.

Please explain how citizens and civil society were involved in the in the design and/or implementation of the project.
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.

The group of children from the district were the main participants. There was a project closing event, which was open for everyone and especially targeted at the parents of the children. The children were proudly presenting their work and taking the visitors on a tour around the garden. Besides the participants benefiting from the education, also the families got some insights from our project and the feedback was completely positive.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addressed by providing local solutions

Architecture and green spaces are global challenges, which were addressed locally in this project. By knowing the environment, we were able to take the knowledge and experiences of the participants to a new level. The priority of the activities was to increase the sense of local identity and to look at the spaces surrounding us in a broader context. 

Please highlight the innovative character of the project as compared to mainstream practices in the field of the project.

The main goal was to create a program of activities that would be, on the other hand, tailored to the specific location, but could be implemented in any public environment which has a historical background. The innovation of the project lies in the flexibility of the scenario and its openness to change.

Please explain to the potential of transferring the projects’ results or learnings to other interested parties and contexts.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.

The Scale of Imagination is an open source program and can be implemented in the location of your choice. As an elaborated method it could be used as a tool for working in different places and allow improving the quality of urban spaces in cities. We would like the program to be openly licensed and eventually a common platform could allow for the improvement of the initial idea based on the foundations of the project. 
The program is based on literature and examples from around the world, such as The Davos Declaration and the Davos Process, Arch-adventures (a Polish educational program), general architectural education.

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