Wood Architecture at Yacademy
Yacademy’s Wood Architecture course encourages students to pioneer sustainable architecture practices using timber.
The Wood Architecture course at Yacademy trains students in using wood to make sustainable architecture, with a great visual impact, which represents the renovated balance between human needs and nature.
The course provides students with knowledge of techniques and composition of wood architecture for contemporary design.
The design workshop is tutored by Anteo Taro Boschi Sanada, Partner at Kengo Kuma & Associates, and will focus on the design of a distributed training centre in the Ornica area, an Alpine valley, aimed at preserving and promoting the local food and wine culture.
With a frequency of three days per week for two months, Wood Architecture hosts several frontal teaching modules with the participation of numerous well-known professionals working at world-renowned companies, including Shigeru Ban – Architects, Snøhetta, IBUKU, Sou Fujimoto Architects, Dorte Mandrup, and many more.
To foster an all-round experience, students will be given the opportunity to visit significant sites for the course’s theme, including Naturalia-Bau, to learn traditional architectural techniques, Vibrobloc, to explore timber engineering, and a selection of outstanding contemporary timber architecture in the Alpine landscape.
Believing that construction is a fundamental step in architecture, Yacademy offers its students the opportunity to participate in a construction workshop, gaining practical experience on construction sites, and the authorship of projects capable of defining a turning point in their professional career.
At the end of the teaching modules and workshops, Yacademy’s placement office will guarantee every student an internship or collaboration proposal in one of its partner firms.
The course offers multiple scholarships for the most deserving students, and several financial support options. It is also possible to participate in the course remotely.
School: Yacademy
Course: Wood Architecture at Yacademy
Type: Short course
Location: Bologna, Italy and online
Course dates: 8 March 2027 to 7 May 2027
Application deadline: 18 December 2026
Find out more about the course and apply ›
What will I learn during this course?
– How to use wood for the design of contemporary, sustainable architecture
– The wood production process, the various essences, and the characteristics of a material which is alive and constantly evolving
– How to make the most of a material that is renewable, natural, low carbon-footprint, healthy, aesthetically pleasing, and capable of giving a cozy, human touch to any architecture
What are the requirements?
– Participants should have at least a B1 level in English
– Participants should be students or graduates in architecture, landscape architecture, architectural engineering, heritage-related studies or design
The Selection Committee can admit applicants who hold a different certificate from those mentioned above after examining their portfolio and motivational letter and, possibly, interviewing them.
What facilities and resources are available?
– An educational hub of excellence in a prestigious medieval place in the heart of Bologna;
– An architecture library of more than 5,000 volumes
– Apartments in the same building that houses the institute’s classrooms. The accommodation service is to be considered outside of the fees for attendance to the courses, and it is activated upon request of the students
– Scholarships and other forms of financial support are available
What career prospects can I expect upon graduating?
Trained in designing architecture that represents the renovated balance between human needs and nature, students will carry out a period of collaboration with one of Yacademy’s partner firms.
Such collaboration will have a minimum duration of 2 months and guaranteed remuneration, consistently with regulatory requirements.
Some of the professional players with expertise in relation to the course topic include Shigeru Ban – Architects, Snøhetta, Kengo Kuma & Associates, AMDL Circle, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group.
Who teaches this course?
– Kengo Kuma, founder of Kengo Kuma and Associates
– Taro Okabe, art director of Shigeru Ban Architects Paris
– Marie de France, associate architect at Sou Fujimoto Architects
– Martina Maier, architect at Snøhetta
– Lars Almgren, senior architect and associate partner at Dorte Mandrup
– Michele De Lucchi, founder of AMDL Circle
– Virginie Le Goffic, head of the landscape department at EFFEKT
– Elora Hardy, founder and director of IBUKU
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