The Vision

The Challenge Academy is an idea based school that was born out of a desire for creative exploration of what the architectural competition can do as an educational process.

The project aims to develop the creativity and the competitive spirit of the student through a series of courses that take a project from the concept phase to final presentation.

We propose a structure where we learn to build stories that generate meaningful architecture, or perhaps just creative strategies and processes that help us understand the field of architecture in its current context. 

The studio

We believe that the territory of competition within the architecture field should be exploited more, as it pushes the student into a problem-solving arena that deals with real problems, with urgent social and cultural issues.

Mainly aimed at architecture students, the studio structures the learning process around a multitude of design competitions that offer substantial material to deal with, in terms of architectural demands.

The learning process and the experience that students attain are at least as valuable as the prize. Participating in competitions implies learning to be better students, thinkers, future architects.

Skills we're training

  • Understanding the basics in the field, the meaning of a ‘concept’  and the way the idea is born;
  • Creativity when it comes to solving problems – students will be able to creatively solve problems both in the design field and outside of it; they will gain confidence in finding solutions to problems of various natures;
  • Develop a competitive style of working – they will try to constantly excel in all projects and continue to work in competitions regardless of the result;
  • Communication and teamwork skills – as a result of working in teams and the active involvement in conferences and project presentations;
  • Strategy-making skills – strategic and applied thinking, from concept to implementation;
  • Composition, image and rendering skills. 

The space

We are happy to be hosted by the most active community of makers, designers and creatives in town! Nod makerspace offers excellent grounds for interacting and creating all kinds of projects, bearing a beautiful configuration of functions, including studios and great-looking nooks dedicated to creative work.

The classes will be held in Mater material library.