Yacademy's Architecture for Humanity short postgraduate course immerses participants in complex global contexts to develop appropriate and sensitive architectural solutions.

The Architecture for Humanity course at Yacademy trains students in composing meaningful architecture even in the most complex contexts.

The course provides students with a method spendable in any context, capable of optimizing resources and design inputs to give rise, under any conditions, to educated and refined architectural phenomena.

The design workshop is tutored by Anupama Kundoo and will focus on the design of a boarding school in Kotagiri, within the Nilgiri landscape of southern India.

Students will be invited to consider the school not simply as a place for learning, but as a space for living and collective life, capable of establishing deep relationships with the territory and the communities that inhabit it.

With a frequency of three days per week for two months, Architecture for Humanity hosts several frontal teaching modules with the participation of numerous well-known professionals working at world-renowned companies, including Shigeru Ban, Tatiana Bilbao, Anna Heringer, El Equipo Mazzanti 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 WASP Research Lab, the intervention of G124 by Renzo Piano in Modena, and Dynamo Camp, a recreational therapy centre hosting children who are sick, in therapy or in the post-hospitalisation period.

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: Architecture for Humanity
Location: Bologna, Italy, or online
Type: Postgraduate short course
Course dates: March to May 2027
Application deadline: 18 December 2026

Find out more about the course and apply ›

What will I learn during this course?

– How to create architecture that responds to the primary needs of humankind
– Technical and compositional strategies to adopt in the humanitarian, social, and emergency fields
– Thinking in terms of objectives, budgets, and anthropological phenomena

What are the requirements?

– Minimum B1 level in English
– Background as a student or graduate in architecture, landscape architecture, architectural engineering, heritage-related studies, or design (applicants with alternative credentials may be considered via portfolio, motivational letter and interview)

What facilities and resources are available?

– An educational hub located in a prestigious medieval setting in the heart of Bologna
– An architecture library containing over 5,000 volumes
– On-site apartment accommodation options in the institute's building (available upon request for an additional fee)
– Access to scholarships and financial support options

What career prospects can I expect upon graduating?

Trained to bring design quality and beauty to complex contexts, graduates will complete a guaranteed paid collaboration period of at least two months with one of Yacademy's partner firms (in accordance with regulatory requirements).

Partner practices associated with the course topic include Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, El Equipo Mazzanti, TAMassociati, Estudio MMX, Foster + Partners, Anna Heringer Architecture and Shigeru Ban – Architects.

Who teaches this course?

– Raul Pantaleo, co-founder of TAMassociati
– Shigeru Ban, founder of Shigeru Ban - Architects
– Juan Cerda Costabal, partner at Elemental
– Anna Heringer, founder of Anna Heringer Architecture
– Giancarlo Mazzanti, founder of El Equipo Mazzanti
– Tatiana Bilbao, founder of Tatiana Bilbao Estudio
– José Selgas and Lucía Cano, founders of Selgascano
– Anupama Kundoo, founder of Anupama Kundoo Architects

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