‘Traditional Wooden Constructions of Europe’ (TRAWCOE) is an official Leonardo da Vinci Partnership project financed by the European Commission. The programme is based on the cooperation of 9 European institutions of 7 different countries. The owner of the idea and the coordinator of the project is EK Association (ÉK Egyesület), which is a Budapest-based Hungarian architectural organization. The partnership includes vocational schools, educational or professional organizations and trade representatives of carpentry.
The project is to assemble an online, interactive learning tool and materials to support vocational training and for use in schools and colleges. The subjects to be covered include timber-based architecture and woodworking skills relevant to the needs of employees and to increase the learner’s employability in the field of timber construction and heritage building restoration. The intention is to collect and analyse examples of representative timber building types and traditional wood construction details encountered across Europe. These will be presented in a graphically-focussed application and will then be used to develop new and innovative teaching technologies to improve the accessibility for learners across a wide range of skills. A key feature will be to incorporate interactivity through the development of 3D models of the selected reference constructions which will then be placed into an explorable virtual world. Learners will be encouraged to interact with these models to learn about architectural heritage, the different woodworking techniques used and explore details of traditional connection types.This experience allows for a student-orientated and an experimental approach to learning. The material being planned will firstly provide a general overview of wood as a structural material and its various applications using examples from important timber buildings in Europe. This resource will provide examples of the different timber species used and their use in a number of vernacular building styles to be found across a range of European regions and countries. The outcome of this project will be designed to be an expandable model and this virtual learning platform will remain open for future updating and interactive participation in building these technical and training resources as a long-term legacy. The intention is to ensure that the learning tools will remain easy to use and accessible from anywhere, across platforms, without the requirement to have access to expensive and complex 3D or CAD modelling software. This cross-border partnership seeks to develop this learning tool as a new model for creating interactive teaching materials and contribute to the evolution of informal learning methods particularly suited to vocational and life-long training.
CO-ORDINATOR
EK Association, Budapest, Hungary
PARTNERS
GIP FCIP de Basse Normandie, Caen, France
Riga School of Arts and Crafts, Riga, Latvia
Cultural and Educational Intervention Center Doctum, Granada, Spain
Interactive Education Association, Bals, Romania
Professionsbois, Alençon, France
Woodnet, Wadhurst, United Kingdom
Tektum Architectural Office, Cluj Napoca
Studio Giuseppe Sarubbi, Napoli
SILENT PARTNERS
KEMÜ Gáspár András Vocational School, Kecskemét, Hungary (HU)
Lycée Pierre Simon de Laplace, Caen, France (FR)
Lycée Polyvalent Albert Sorel, Honfleur, France (FR)
Lycée général, technologique et professionnel des Andaines, La Ferté Macé, France (FR)
Liceul Teoretic “Petre Pandrea”, Bals, Romania (RO)
Plumpton College, Plumpton, United Kingdom (UK)