UPDATE: We are extending the deadline until May 5th and clarifying, following several questions received, that 4th-year students are also encouraged to participate.

“Reșița Industrial Heritage Lab” is an interdisciplinary summer school dedicated to industrial heritage, organized by MKBT and the Non-Formal Spatial Planning Workshop, under the umbrella of Reșița 250 Lab*.

For 8 days, students in their final year or young practitioners from the fields of architecture, restoration, landscaping, urbanism, and territorial planning will collaborate under the guidance of a group of lecturers and practitioners to propose functional conversion scenarios for Blast Furnace no. 2. The blast furnace, a historical monument of national importance, is the most imposing industrial heritage site in Reșița, a symbol of the city's over 250 years of iron and steel industry.

What will we do?

Field visits, discussions, and applied work, which will cover the entire process from decoding the historical, cultural, technological, and social context of an industrial heritage site to the possibilities it offers at the level of architectural object and its symbolic role in a transforming community.

We will be guided in this learning process by guests from academia and professional fields specializing in industrial heritage, anthropology, urban planning, and regeneration, and engineering – a list of confirmed mentors so far is available here (list being updated with new confirmations)

Following these learning and discovery sessions, participants will outline visions and scenarios for the functional conversion and public opening of the blast furnace. These scenarios will be presented by the participants to local community representatives during Street Delivery Reșița, a street cultural event, which will take place between August 1st and 3rd.

Who are we looking for?

Students in their final year or young practitioners (who graduated no more than 4 years ago) in the fields of architecture, restoration, landscaping, urbanism, and territorial planning, with Romanian or Moldovan citizenship.

We will prioritize:

• candidates who can demonstrate interest in the theme of industrial heritage, supported by participation in similar events or projects, relevant recent personal experiences, etc.
• candidates from the Banatului Montan region, without limiting the selection to this area.
• participants from diverse academic fields to create an interdisciplinary and gender-balanced group, thus encouraging the exchange of ideas and collaboration between different perspectives.

What do we offer?

• A truly special learning opportunity, focusing on a complex and nationally unique industrial heritage site, working side-by-side with a carefully selected and interdisciplinary team, under the guidance of specialists with national and international experience and relevance.
• The opportunity to demonstrate and apply skills and competencies developed in academia and personal experience, presenting them to an open and interested audience, including specialists and representatives of the local and national institutional environment relevant to industrial heritage.
• The chance to discover and spend 9 days in Reșița, in Banatul Montan, arguably the micro-region with the densest and most valuable industrial heritage in the country;

Interested?

Do you fit the applicant profile and are you interested in participating? Fill out the registration form by April 30th, 12:00 PM. Results will be announced by email by May 12th.

Depending on the number of applications received, we will also include a pre-selection stage consisting of individual online interviews.

Additional logistical details and participation conditions.

Participation in the Summer School is free, and accommodation and meals are provided by the organizers, as follows: shared accommodation – 2-3 students/room with private bathroom, coverage of 3 meals/day during July 26th – August 2nd.

Participants will cover their own transportation costs to and from Reșița. If transportation presents prohibitive costs, please write to us, we can cover a limited number of transport scholarships.

Participation in the Summer School is conditional on availability for:

• participation in three online preparation sessions, each lasting 1.5 hours, which will take place between July 1st and 26th.
• presence in Reșița for the entire duration of the summer school and participation in all work sessions scheduled for July 26th – August 3rd.

Contact address for more information

eduard.moisac@mkbt.ro

About the organizers

MKBT (Make Better)

MKBT is an organization dedicated to the research and practice of urban regeneration in Romania, with the mission to revitalize communities, working especially with cities affected by demographic decline and economic restructuring. To this end, MKBT proposes and coordinates urban regeneration processes, working systemically and interdisciplinarily, in partnership with public authorities, NGOs, cultural operators, and local initiative groups. MKBT has been working in Reșița since 2016, laying the groundwork for an ecosystem of action around the revitalization of the city's industrial heritage. A timeline of their activities in Reșița on this theme is available at www.muzeulvirtualresita.ro.

ANF. Non-Formal Spatial Planning Workshop Timișoara

The Non-Formal Spatial Planning Workshop Timișoara is an initiative to consolidate concerns in the broader field of urbanism and territorial planning into a functional system for learning and operating in spatial planning. ANF aims to become a non-formal alternative to the usual procedures for professional training in spatial planning. At the same time, ANF aims to offer an operational method focused on positive impact on the territory, applicable at different scales and in various contexts, in order to improve the quality of the built environment and, thus, the quality of life in the community.

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The “Reșița Industrial Heritage Lab” summer school is part of the project “Let's rally around the last blast furnace”, a project supported by the Order of Architects of Romania, through the architecture stamp, and The King’s Foundation, with co-financing from the National Cultural Fund Administration and the Reșița City Hall.

The summer school is organized under the umbrella of Reșița 250 Lab - the urban innovation laboratory initiated in 2023 by MKBT, which acts as a catalyst for an ecosystem of co-creation, testing, and implementation of urban regeneration actions in Reșița.