Workshop: Inspiring sustainable design

Erik Workel and Danyan Liu of IAA together with Floris van der Kleij, Josia Brüggen and Jetske Mulder of Aveco de Bondt jointly gave a workshop ‘Sustainability’ to and with the students of the ROC (Regional Ediucation Centre) of Flevoland.

This workshop originated from our mission for MFA (multifunctional asccommodation) De Botter and is organised by the ROC to strengthen the link between education and business. The afternoon began with three dazzling presentations on sustainability, focusing on engineering, architecture and landscape architecture. Afterwards, the gathering delved into the ‘serious game’ Bosrijk, in which student teams faced the challenge of making choices to make an imaginary forest greener.

The teams were challenged with sustainability and lifestyle dilemmas, leading to lively discussions and negotiations on the impact our daily choices have on the environment. Bosrijk offered a range of sustainability measures that inspired the students for the final part of the workshop: designing their ideal ‘hangout’ for the school. This part was tackled with considerable enthusiasm, and the results were downright surprising. The designs often combined a broad spectrum of sustainability aspects, including technology and materials, experience and well-being, exercise and nutrition.

To fuel the competitive fire, we even awarded a trophy to the ‘winner’. It was an afternoon full of creativity, discussion and inspiration, in which students not only greened their imaginary forest, but also put their views on sustainability into practice when designing the ideal chill spot.

Photographer: Josia Brüggen (Aveco de Bondt)