Abstract:

With the decreasing of youth population, the number of students in Portuguese universities has declined. Thus it is necessary the creation of new strategies for dissemination of courses, for young people, which should be integrated into University while in secondary school. These experiences might be revealing helpful when choosing the degree and scientific areas of knowledge in their future.

The integrated master’s degree in Architecture at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Beira interior (UBI), has achieved the fulfilment of the degree vacancies (being the third degree with more available positions, at UBI, it is compulsory to prevent the decreasing of students). Consequently it was created a workshop in the form of ‘open atelier’, in which secondary school students can have contact with the curricular units of the integrated master’s degree in Architecture, having the possibility to practise and experience architectural activities.

The topics covered in this Workshop are the importance of theoretical curricular units, as the History and Theory of Architecture in conjunction with practical disciplines, such as Drawing, Descriptive Geometry and Project. Accordingly the program is divided into four parts:
1) How to read a project having inputs from the curricular units of Theory and History of Architecture. The young students may discuss and experience the importance of architectural theory and history in the analysis and design of the Architectural project.
2) How to draw architecture – the Perspective. The young students may discuss and experience the importance of hand drawing and sketching in architecture. The drawing, regardless of how it is produced, is the mean of expression and communication of an architect.
3) Architectural survey, scale and proportion - the technical drawing. The young students may discuss and experience the importance of the technical drawing in architecture.
4) From Project Sketching to Model of study. The young students may discuss and experience the importance of the model in the architect’s profession. The model, as well as the Project Sketching, are fundamental tools to stimulate creativity and to a better understanding of the formal characteristics of the scale, proportion and contextualization of a project.

This paper brings to analysis and to debate the four topics of the workshop which will captivate young students to experience the university environment and gaining a better insight into the complexity and degree of development of academic architectural work in preparation for the actual context.

Keywords:

Architecture, academic experiences, secundary education, Post-graduate education.