Partner – Architektūros fondas
Location – Vilnius, Šalčininkai and Šiauliai regions
Since 2022
The Travelling Architecture Workshops was a project that aimed to encourage young community members to be active in creating their own environment. The goal of the project was to build high-quality and aesthetic public spaces that would involve local communities and offer benefits as a communal setting in a particular town or village. Through this initiative, the project addressed key challenges faced in Lithuania’s regions, including the lack of high-quality public spaces and limited opportunities for residents, especially young people to actively participate in improving and shaping their surroundings.
The project initiators sought to demonstrate that caring for one’s environment could be an engaging and playful process, achievable through simple, accessible means that did not require significant material or human resources. A volunteer team of architects, creative professionals, researchers, youth workers and local youth took part in five-day creative workshops, during which new public spaces were created or existing ones were improved for local communities. Across different towns, a range of small-scale architectural structures were built, including wooden relaxation platforms, piers, pedestrian bridges and amphitheatres designed for community gatherings and shared activities.
The Travelling Architecture Workshops also contributed to strengthening local communities by actively involving residents in collective activities and encouraging them to take ownership of their shared spaces using contemporary approaches to architecture, management, and education. The project enhanced participants’ understanding of their environment, fostered creativity and a sense of personal responsibility, and inspired local residents to care for, develop, and sustain their public spaces collaboratively.
During the project:
Over 360 students and 320 adults from local communities participated, as well as more than 40 volunteers from the architecture field
The implementation involved 18 towns from Vilnius, Šalčininkai, Klaipėda and Šiauliai regions
The activities directly involved 9 teachers from local schools, with the aim of passing on the project methods and equipping the participants with the skillset necessary to draw communities together and empower social action