Gone are the days when summer vacations were 104 days of boredom, most of which were spent on frivolous activities. Hanging out with friends, binge-watching TV shows, and dining out are all enjoyable activities. But what if we told you that summers may be a mix of incredible opportunity and excitement? It’s only a matter of looking in the proper direction. A summer school is your ticket to making the most of your time, building your resume, and socialising with your friends and peers. It allows you to assess your abilities and take advantage of the courses available to help you decide on a professional path. Here is a resource for those who are unfamiliar with summer schools and want to learn more about them.

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The summer school courses combine lectures from academic and professional experts, studio work, workshops, site visits, and self-study to get students thinking by utilising basic research and development tools to experiment with and recognise the workings of any notion in two and three-dimensional drawings and models.

Here are some ways summer schools can help advance your architecture and design skill set.

1. Increase your knowledge and understanding | Summer schools

It is probably a good idea to enrol in summer school if you are passionate about a subject and are skilled at it. This will provide you with an advantage over your classmates by allowing you to gain more knowledge, clarity, and experience.

For example, if you’re interested in history, you can consider taking a short course on world history or European political history. You can obtain a multi-dimensional perspective on the subject this way.

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2. Expand your curricular horizons

Frequently, schools have a restricted range of subjects. That’s not to say you shouldn’t pursue your passions! Summer schools provide a wide range of unusual courses that allow you to experience the world outside of your school’s walls.

For instance, if you have a strong desire to learn about aquatecture, a summer school is an option. To give wings to your passions, you might enrol in courses in marine architecture, underwater construction, and flood resilient architecture.

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3. Gain exposure to a variety of educational settings

Studying at a summer program will introduce you to different educational approaches as well as the peers in your environment. Studying in a summer school (particularly one in another nation) will expose you to a new marking, teaching, and testing system. It may be challenging and outside of your comfort zone, but it will undoubtedly help you build adaptation and social skills.

Studying at a university also allows you to experience the finest of college life while still in school, which is an opportunity not to be missed.

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4. Explore different cultures

Summer school is both an academic and a life-changing experience. If you travel abroad, you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in a foreign culture, meet locals, study their rituals, learn their language, savour their cuisine, and most importantly, share your life with them.

Here is a compiled list of a couple of the popular summer school programs this year that you can check out and apply to.

5. Summer Course in Interior and Showroom Design | Summer Schools

IED – Istituto Europeo di Design Milan

The course introduces you to the Italian design field as well as current interior design trends to help you acquire the skills you’ll need to create layouts for high-end showrooms and stores that have a strong expressive value.

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6. Summer program: Design Immersion Days

SCI-Arc

Design Immersion Days (DID) is a four-week summer programme for high school students in Los Angeles that teaches them design and architecture. Its goal is to pique students’ interest in design, teach them the basic design concepts and critical thinking abilities, and familiarise them with the city’s diverse architecture and design culture.

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7. Summer Course in Graphic Design in Branding

IED – Istituto Europeo di Design Barcelona

The Summer Graphic Design in Branding course delves into the connection between visual interfaces and user experience, as well as how they relate to traditional and online platforms, social networks, technological dissemination, and promotion platforms, and how it all relates to our surroundings.

8. Resilient urbanism: Exploring the Kerala model | Summer schools

CEPT

The Kerala Institute of Local Administration assisted in the development of this course (KILA). The purpose of this study is to examine urban vulnerabilities and the various climate resilience strategies taken by various urban agents and partners in Kerala. The land surface temperature has been rising as a result of growing urbanisation. This course might be the one for you since innovative planning solutions are urgently needed to make the urban community adaptable to environmental and climate transition threats.

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References:

  1. TeenLife. 2022. Architecture Summer Programs – TeenLife. [online] Available at: <https://www.teenlife.com/category/summer/architecture-summer-programs.
  2. Keystone Academic Courses. 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.academiccourses.com/Summer-courses/Design-Studies/> [Accessed 12 May 2022].
  3. ACEDGE. 2022. After the Concept: A Design and Architecture Summer School. [online] Available at: <https://www.acedge.in/bundles/acedge-summer-school-2022> [Accessed 12 May 2022].
  4. Sturges, M., 2022. 2021 Summer Architecture Programs. [online] Study Architecture | Architecture Schools and Student Information. Available at: <https://studyarchitecture.com/blog/featured/2021-summer-architecture-programs/> [Accessed 12 May 2022].
  5. Henry Harvin Blog. 2022. Top 10 Summer Schools In India in 2022 [Updated] Learn More About Summer Program. [online] Available at: <https://www.henryharvin.com/blog/top-10-summer-schools-in-india/> [Accessed 12 May 2022].
  6. Aaschool.ac.uk. 2022. AA School. [online] Available at: <https://www.aaschool.ac.uk/academicprogrammes/visitingschool/aa-summer-school> [Accessed 12 May 2022].
Author

A final-year architecture student who enjoys traveling and learning about culture, architecture, and history. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and scribbling down her ideas. She attempts to capture many perspectives on the world through her writings.