Without limits
Before the start of the academic school year, a delegation from SCE’s School of Architecture traveled to the Monviso Institute in Northern Italy to attend a three-week “Summer Architectural Studio.” This Studio was held with the support of the College’s Division for International Academic Relations, for the expansion of such collaborations and to provide the students with learning opportunities and experiences in other academic and professional environments across the globe. This delegation, in which 17 students participated, was accompanied by Architects Alon Sarig and Lior Ramon.
During those three weeks, these students lived and did their research work amid the Alpine scenery. They examined various sites and did architectural planning while considering each specific community and its specific environment. Besides the work done at the Studio, they also went on professional tours in the Monviso area, in Po Valley (Val Padana) and in the city of Torino, which exposed them to a variety of professional architectural approaches to landscape planning, heritage preservation, local industry, and regarding the reciprocity between Humanity and Nature.
ARCHITECTURE UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS
In the Studio, the main task required complex planning—To suggest a demarcated area for the temporary residence of a future campus in the Monviso area. Moreover, this work focused on one of the main, contemporary architectural challenges—planning for extreme conditions.
The students had to deal with the mountainous surroundings, characterized by acute changes in the weather, complex topography and limited accessibility. The planning suggestions included partial solutions, such as: modular construction; use of local materials; passive mechanisms for natural energy use; functional flexibility across the seasons of the year; as well as the development of construction systems that may be easily built, deconstructed, and fortified even in distant sites.
The lengthy stay in the field and direct contact with the community and local experts provided the students with unmediated learning opportunities and personal experiences in research-based planning, ideational development and dialogue. The participants in this delegation recounted that the experience enabled them to leave their comfort zones, to strengthen their professional self-confidence, and to expand their architectural perspectives, as well as acquiring new tools for teamwork in challenging surroundings.
According to the Studio’s mentors, Architects Sarig and Ramon: “The Studio is a learning opportunity in another league. Rather than planning a site from afar, the students were living there and experiencing the climate, the topography and the local culture. The Monviso region is a unique laboratory for architectural thought, in which the climatic conditions and environmental sensitivity require creative, precise and responsible thinking, These are precisely the questions with which future Architecture will have to deal.”
Summarizing, the students said: “This was a significant academic and personal experience—one that connected Architecture, location, community and environment—and substantiated the latent possibilities in learning outside the classroom walls.”
BETWEEN AI AND THE ENVIRONMENT
A delegation consisting of eight SCE students spent the summer in Germany to participate in the International Summer School at TH Lübeck University of Applied Sciences. This program dealt with “Engineering Sustainability in the AI World”—a meeting between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and sustainable Engineering and Technology.
The SCE delegates, chosen by a committee in the Dean of Students Office, were accompanied by Zohar Zalik-Kreitser, Career Development Center Coordinator. This delegation included students from the confrontation-line settlements (Gaza Envelope) and I.D.F. student reservists.
TH Lübeck is an Applied Sciences university with many characteristics like those of SCE, also emphasizing practical training and a close connection with Industry. Over the course of ten days, the students participated in an intensive program that included workshops, lectures, and field trips to local industries. They were directly exposed to practical applications of technologies they had studied in the classroom, and they learned how advanced industries integrate technological innovations, AI and environmental thinking into their development and production processes.
Besides the academic learning, these students enjoyed a variety of social and cultural activities. They were given rich cultural and historical tours of the cities Lübeck and Hamburg and developed ties with students from other countries.
Two SCE lecturers were also officially included as lecturers in this program: Prof. Ariela Burg, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering (Be’er-Sheva campus) and Dr. Chen Giladi, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering (Ashdod campus).
For the students, this was a wonderful opportunity for learning in an international environment, to become familiar with new technological industries, and to build a personal, professional network with young engineers from across the globe. This program demonstrated that the future of Engineering does not rest solely on the development of the next technology, but rather on the question of how to use technology responsibly, efficiently, and sustainably. The combination of innovation and AI with a deep understanding of social and environmental needs is precisely the challenge standing before tomorrow’s engineers.
