June 26, 2021

School of Architecture for Childrens

SOUper Summer School Alassio
Posted on 26 June 2021

The second meeting, yesterday afternoon in Alassio, for the first edition of the SOU Summer School, the new summer format of the Architecture School for Children at Farm Cultural Park, curated by SOUper, the non-profit association founded in the summer of 2020 to spread the values of SOU.
Three tables: three cities, three different scenarios, one common logic. The 23 children, aged between 7 and 12, interacted, exchanged ideas, experimented with work activities, imagined solutions to overcome difficult and complex situations, and solve problems. Listening, collaboration, sharing, and together we learned through play.

Seated in the final circle, after nearly three intense hours in which three tables simulated the cities of waste, energy, and food, the children expressed that they had learned something about life. The etymology of the term economy, the art of managing the home, the place where we live together.

Le Grand Jeu www.legrandjeu.net is a game born from the collaboration between philosopher/artist Federico Bonelli and engineer/designer Raffaella Rovida, who passionately discussed democracy, permaculture, and alternative economies. The aim of the game is the search for positive narratives based on the concept “global thinking, local action.”
The game consists of basic pieces on which any kind of activity, society, and economy can be built. The rules of the game are broad yet simple, allowing a lot of creative freedom for the players, who, by playing, create their own world, their dynamics, and their rules for victory.

On a triangular grid platform (the “city”), players will place their small triangles (their land) on which they can build and develop activities (shaped with their fingers). Each turn, the various activities will produce/use resources (the white ones) and produce/use waste (the grey ones), while players will decide how to compete or collaborate with each other and with other cities. But be careful, situations change, and the cities must be ready to react!