Organised by students for students, each year from 1981 a different country within the EASA network hosts the main 2-week long summer residency, with other smaller events happening throughout the year.
The annual gatherings enable participants to explore alternative forms of architectural thinking and practice outside of the traditional university context, with students taking the delivery of their education into their own hands.
The annual event is attended by around 600 international participants and consists of around 35 workshops, each with different outputs, selected through an open call.
During EASA, students and professionals form a community of participants, tutors, organisers and helpers which maintains itself – they all work, study, rest, cook, eat, clean and live together. Workshops make up the majority of the programme, with evening socials, lectures, excursions, exhibitions, open discussions, intuitive one-day workshops, and spontaneous performances take place, among other activities.
In 2024 EASA took place in Benidorm, Spain, under the theme of Shanzhai, the copy.
During the workshop, architecture students participants have been encouraged to step out of their comfort zones and embrace the unknown and the unplanned, without focusing on a specific outcome. This was achieved through a combination of relaxing body-theater exercises, painting and urban derives, also in collaboration with other workshops. The activities have been facilitated by relational tools such as ropes, paint markers, towels, and clay.
We found ourselves learning how to get lost in hotel pools as fake guests, squat tunnels, and even how to be transported by strangers in vans and hosted in their houses for the night.
Regular "vibe checks" and breaks were incorporated to facilitate collective decision-making and reflections upon themes such as productivity, time, unplanning, urban dynamics and opennes after each spontaneous experience. Great emphasis has been placed on fostering horizontal group dynamics, allowing each participant the freedom to propose and lead activities.
The workshop has been designed as an open-ended experience, combining everyday knowledge and team bonding with a fictional narrative and a distinctive graphic identity.
A collectively made instagram page and a collective performance acted as final devices to present the two weeks process.
The workshop had 500 euros budget, which has been used for food, transport from and to the accommodation and to buy the first set of tools to establish connections. All the additional materials and paint used are leftovers which have been generously donated by Paco, a precious encounter.
