Abstract:

One of the most strength strategies of the European Union, since 1987, are the exchanges of university students who have attended foreign universities with the Erasmus program. This allows them to study, live and share the culture of other Europeans.

This Blended Intensive Course was based in the vernacular construction, the world of ancient popular construction is the most evident manifestation of the numerous solutions of human adaptation to the environment: different geographic, climatic and geological conditions, different materials available, different cultures, have created architectures strongly related to the sites. The vernacular construction techniques have not only produced buildings but have also modified natural landscapes transforming them into places for life.

This Erasmus+ program was launched by the Department of Architectonical Construction and its Control, of The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The BIP was intitled " Vernacular Construction in Europe and Environmental Sustainability " proposed and coordinated by Pilar Izquierdo Gracia and Gregorio García López de la Osa, with the support of Sonsoles González Rodrigo and Julian García Muñoz, welcomed five groups of students and professors from the Bialystok University of Technology, Università degli Studi di Catania, Universitá degli Studi di Napoli Federico II and the Politehnica University of Timisoara.

The innovative pedagogical approach of the "challenge-based" BIP provides short periods of activity in presence - a maximum of 5 days - combined with online learning and cooperation activities, in which joint groups of students and teaching staff from different countries can collaborate on specific tasks collectively and simultaneously. In this intensive course, the selected case study was the vernacular construction in the center of Spain, visiting la Sierra del Rincón (Biosphere reserve), the villages of Boceguillas and Pastrana (declared a historic-artistic site).

At the end, the students have to prepare a final piece of work. The teachers did not participate in the final work. Six groups of seven students were formed from the different countries, who produced and finally showed their work to the professors.

Considering the very short time of cooperation, the results were surprising not only for the interesting works produced by the students, but also for the atmosphere of cultural sharing.

Keywords:

Blended Intensive Course, vernacular, construction, Erasmus students.