Erasmus+ project "Digital Architecture" in Monza, Italy

Työskentelimme koululla arkkitehtuuriprojektin kanssa. Kiersimme koulun, joimme kahvit ja aloimme hommiin. Täyttelimme lapun, jossa käytiin läpi tärkeimpiä arkkitehtuuriin liittyviä sanoja suomeksi ja italiaksi, harjoittelimme suomen vokaalit ja kuulimme mielenkiintoisen alustuksen siitä, mitä sana “design” tarkoittaa, sillä tärkeintä eivät ole materiaalivalinnat tai tyyli, vaan rakennuksen toimivuus ja käyttäjäystävällisyys. Keskustelimme aiheesta.

Tämän jälkeen opiskelijat saivat tehtävänannon, jossa heidän tehtävänään on tehdä 3 asuinrakennusta Gorgonzolaan, pihapiiriin, jossa on yksi uudisrakennus ja tyhjää tilaa. Lounastauon jälkeen opiskelijat alkoivat piirtää taloja ja miettiä, mitä huoneita taloissa on.

​Loppupäivä menikin siinä, italialaiset opiskelijat olivat valmistelleet useita alustuksia englanniksi eri aiheista ja loppupäivästä kuultiin yksi niistä. Loppuiltapäivä oli vapaata oman isäntäperheen kanssa.

Today was another day of working on a project. We woke up to a sunny day in Italy and jumped straight to work. We worked on detailing the project together with Italian students and it was interesting to notice some cultural differences that reflect also in the architecture. Some of those are the way buildings are facing east or west to get the maximum of sun light which can bit always be done the same way in Finland. There are also other things like bathrooms and entrance to the house that reflect the culture and weather differences. 

After our projects were done we got an introductory lesson for the AutoCAD programme that we will use for the rest of the week to digitalize our design. It was a challenging tool to handle but we got the basics by practicing with Italian students that were helping us a lot. 

The Italian school is very different from ours. They start their school at 8:15 and end at 14:15 with only one 20min break and eat their lunch at home after school. And they have school also in Saturday.

After the project work ended, we walked to the famous Monza formula one track to close the day. And later we spent evening with our hosts and friends. We walked around and enjoyed some real Italian food. 

We all want to become architects later in our careers so we found this project did really help us a lot to get an idea of what it is to work as an designer or an architect and learning the basics of AutoCAD is interesting advantage we have.

The best thing about Italy is waking up to a sunny and colorful morning. Here it is still an autumn weather with the warm sun and leaves of all color. 

We started our day by talking to Italian students about our school and the Finnish school system. We noticed many differences between our systems, some of them are the way professors teach here. While in Finland the teaching is more based on active approach, in Italy they often absorb the information and take notes. 

Students had many questions about Finland and we were happy that they found our presentation so interesting. It was a bit stressful to present in front of such a big group of students but we did good working together. 

Later we continued working on our design house in the AutoCAD and we were happy to see in just 2 days we got an understanding of the basics of the programme and of the architecture design and rules and overall of what it means to design house. 

We had many short and practical presentations on how to design the interior and exterior and what are the best practices in the field. We all believe that this is a valuable knowledge for our future. 

After the work we had a free afternoon with our friends and spent time enjoying the city, going to Milan, going on a bike tour of the town and eating delicious Italian pasta and desserts. 

This day it was raining so it was good to spend the day inside. We started the day with presentation on some of the important names of architecture and we learned the difference between modern and contemporary architecture. This was very informative because most of us didn't know the difference. The examples of the architecture were amazing and very inspirational. 

Later we had our presentation about the Finnish architecture from the medieval times to the contemporary. We tried to show the best from the design both interior and exterior. I think that it was interesting to see how the architecture and design reflects the cultural aspects and thus it is so different in some ways while unifying in many others. 

After the presentation we finalized the work on our house design and learned how to set the AutoCAD for printing. It was great to see the results of our work on paper in a physical form. We felt so proud of our work and we for sure learned a lot. 

After that we went all together for a lunch and had some amazing culinary experience. And skipping the siesta, we had a tour of the city of Monza with visit to the Duomo and other important sights. 

The evening was for us to spend with our new friends and their families. 

In the short time together we became good friends and we are sure to stay in touch also after our meeting in Finland. We realized that programmes like Erasmus+ are very important and they do bring us young people together and we learn from each other and about each other. And we learn and share the best values for the future. 

Today we were finalizing the project of our houses. We worked in 3 teams and every team designed one house. These houses are on an actual property of Gorgonzola in Italy. 

After finishing the design we got to play around with the colors of the house and it was fun to imagine these were our houses and we could paint them any color we want. And finally, the plans were printed out for each of us to keep as a memory and proof of what we have learned. As a result of this project some of us reconsidered their plan to become architects but the majority got even more ensured that this is the profession we want to do also in the future. 

With the printed plans in our hands, it was time for a feedback session and planning for our meeting in Kalajoki. We think this meeting in Monza was really great and it gave us many valuable skills. We learned to use AutoCAD, the basics of architecture, some rules of thumbs when drawing the plans, met many new friends, learned about Italian food and history and architecture and improved our English language. We learned how to deal with some stress situations and gained independence in solving problems. 

Concrete example to challenge our skills happened later when we went to Milan and for our return almost all trains got canceled or had over 2 hours delays. We had to figure out how to navigate the busy train station of Milan and how to manage the chaos that started after the cancelation of many trains. We stayed calmed, checked for options, considered the best ways and realized there are trains from other station that can get us back. And so we solved a problem like a team. 

For our meeting in Kalajoki we plan to make a laser print and 3D printed model of the houses we designed. 

We are already looking forward to welcoming our new friends in Finland.

After spending many hours at school working on our project today we had a day long trip to Lake Como. We took a train to Varenna and from there a fairy to Belaggio and other nice town. Even though the weather was not great, we admired the beautiful nature with a mountains around us with their snowy tops. 

The villas were also wonderful and showed us some more examples of Italian architecture. We took a tour of the famous villa Del Balbianello where movies like Star Wars and James Bond were shot. The garden of this villa is a perfect example of Italian exterior garden design. 

Later we took a tour of Belaggio town and then a windy walk at the Varenna. And after that it was back home and to spend the last evening with our families.