The University of Liechtenstein is teaching its architecture students the importance of social consciousness as part of a pro bono module. These classes involve conceiving, realizing and reflecting on projects that serve the public interest.

Pro bono projects are an important part of the architecture curriculum pursued at the University of Liechtenstein. These involve conception, implementation and reflection phases. As the university points out in a press release, it is aiming to prepare the students “to take over executive responsibilities in various professions, but also in a societal sense”.
In this context, for example, four students have initiated and implemented the mobile exhibition pavilion WissWak in conjunction with the Alpenverein Vorarlberg. The exhibition is focused on the managed Totalphütte mountain cabin, situated at an altitude of 2,385 meters, that was unfortunately destroyed by an avalanche in January 2019 before subsequently being rebuilt. The exhibition can be viewed there until the fall of 2021.
Four other students set their sights on the slaughterhouse area in Villingen-Schwenningen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In September, they transformed the site, which had been abandoned for 20 years, into an experimental field for two days as part of the Lost Place & Media Art Festival, which they helped to organize. Together with artists from the Trossingen University of Music and Furtwangen University, they quite literally put the area into a new light, while at the same time providing space for discussions about the future of the area.
Another group of four architecture students has been working with, among other organizations, Österreichische Post AG. As part of the Re:Post project, a first upcycling workshop, young creatives developed ideas for how to use old service uniforms. A second workship in October will seek to deal with vacant post office buildings.

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