English abstract

Initiative Baukulturvermittlung
Initiative for Built Environment Education

The Initiative for Built Environment Education is a group of institutions and projects from troughout Austria involved in built environment education for young people (e.g. architecture, urban and rural planning, building engineering).

In spring 2008, several associations and bodies from Austria‘s provinces founded the network „Initiative Architekturvermittlung Österreich“ from which in early 2010 the Initiative Baukulturvermittlung was established as a NPO.

Initiative Baukulturvermittlung serves as a platform for cooperation between Austria‘s local built environment education teams as well as a contact pool for international exchange.

Aims

On the site, documentations and evaluations of finished projects, ideas and classroom learning materials are available, as well as a calendar of built environment education events. It also provides a discussion forum for exchanging experiences with other initiatives in Austria and elsewhere and publishes theoretical articles and commentaries as well as relevant literature and links. The site has been online since late 2010 and is continually being updated and expanded.
This type of nationwide network of regional institutions is unique in the field of built environment education.

Target group

Adults promoting built environment awareness (teachers, parents, youth workers, kindergarten teachers, architects, building culture educators, leisure educators, etc.)
interested youths

Motivation and objectives

We all live, work and move within designed environments. Feeling comfortable and confident within these spaces is crucial for identity formation and maturity. Experiencing space is one of the most fundamental events of human existence. Practice shows that children and young people are very interested in their surroundings, perceiving it with a high level of awareness. The recognition of architecture is a learned skill, a skill that stimulates spatial comprehension and the understanding of design potential and the built environment. Architecture and built environment education improves visual, linguistic and decision-making skills and empowers a responsible participation in built environments.
Built environment education is anchored in the curricula of several different subjects. Nevertheless, it is only a part of school curriculum if the teachers themselves are interested in building culture and turn to built environment education institutions for learning materials and experience. The aim of the website www.bink.at is to lower access thresholds by making information and materials easily available.

The project details of this website are only available in German.

Contact

For further information please contact

Dr. Barbara Feller
Initiative Baukulturvermittlung
Krugerstraße 17/2
1010 Vienna /Austria
+43 1 513 08 95 office@bink.at