Teaching period: 26 – 30 May 2025
Location: Nida Art Colony (VDA), Lithuania
Teacher(s): Flora Bühlmann and Katharina Riedl
ECTS: 3 ECTS
Number of available places for KUNO students: 10
Level: BA and MA
Application deadline: 21 April 2025
How to apply: A 250-word statement outlining motivation for taking part in the course should be submitted to: info@gemeinsambauenwirneu.ch
Course description:
Through collective construction and discussion, participants in this study course engage in a critical examination of gender roles and power relations in architecture and design. A range of feminist tools is introduced to address current challenges in these fields, drawing on both historical and personal perspectives and experiences. The course aims to foster a deeper understanding of craft—particularly woodworking—through a feminist and social lens. Conversations are complemented and grounded by hands-on activities, including material harvesting and woodworking. Participants are encouraged to interrogate established norms in design, crafts, and education, and “untool” joinery in a joyful manner.
Timber from the Curonian Spit has been central to the Neringa Forest Architecture project, initiated at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2020, which redirects wood originally intended for the biofuel and paper industries towards architectural, design, artistic, and research inquiries. Within this framework, the course will also attend to the unique landscape of the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with further materials identified during field visits, including an excursion to a local disposal centre for reuse sourcing.
Over four days, the programme will include technical introductions to woodworking and joinery. Participants will work with tools and machines, share meals, and engage in collective discussions and walks through the forests of the Curonian Spit. The course encourages a critical and convivial approach, placing emphasis on questioning established practices in design, crafts, and education, and rethinking joinery beyond conventional frameworks. Participants will share and discuss their experiences of working with the materials around them, following their narratives, while learning how to build sustainably with found and locally sourced regenerative materials.
The study course is open to participants from all disciplines and is primarily intended for women and genderqueer individuals. No prior experience in crafts or woodworking is required, and all materials and equipment are provided. Applications from individuals of all genders will be considered when accompanied by a clear motivation, with the aim of ensuring a safer and inclusive environment for all participants.
TUTORS
Katharina Riedl is a trained architect and clay builder in Switzerland and Austria. She has expertise in reuse of building material, regenerative materials and self-determined design and construction processes of self-organized spaces, with a special focus on housing. Together with Flora Selma Bühlmann she is part of Bau-Teilen, a company in Zurich that critically questions the construction industry in its practical implementation. She is founding member of the feminist crafts collective gemeinsam bauen wir neu and has implemented several projects, which are intended to enable the visibility of women and genderqueer people with and without disabilities in construction.
Maria Flora Selma Bühlmann is an architect and craftswoman based in Zurich. Her work explores reuse, self-construction, and participatory building processes. She has been involved in scenography, spatial transformations, and off-space interventions, often using salvaged materials. Since 2022, she has been part of Bau-Teilen, a collective of architects and craft workers focusing on sustainable construction. Alongside her practice, she teaches craft and building techniques in workshops and schools, fostering hands-on engagement with materials and space. She is founding member of the feminist crafts collective gemeinsam bauen wir neu and has implemented several projects, which are intended to enable the visibility of women and genderqueer people with and without disabilities in construction.
https://gemeinsambauenwirneu.ch/
https://ighallenleben.hotglue.me/
Additional information: The workshop will take place at the Nida Art Colony of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, E. A. Jonušo str. 3, Neringa LT-93127, Lithuania. The teaching period begins on Monday morning (26 May) and ends on Friday evening (30 May). Participants are expected to arrive on Sunday, 25 May and depart on Saturday, 31 May. The cost of travel, accommodation, and meals are to be covered by the participants.
Accommodation costs: a room with a shared bathroom costs 16€ per person per night. A room with a private bathroom costs 24€ per person per night. Rooms are shared by 3 to 4 students. Shared and self-funded cooking in the group will be planned for specific days as part of the study process.
Eligibility requirements:
- only BA and MA full-degree students from the KUNO network schools can participate;
-exchange students from other institutions, which do not belong to the KUNO network, studying at one of the KUNO network schools, CANNOT participate;
- full-degree students from the KUNO network schools, currently on exchange at another institution, CANNOT participate (neither with nor without the KUNO grant).
In case of any questions please contact egija.inzule@nidacolony.lt
