ARKKI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH LAUNCHES ITS INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME IN GREECE & CYPRUS

The Helsinki-based Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth is a school of architecture providing long-term architectural education for children and youth aged 4 to 19. Unique in its kind in the world, Arkki is now happy to announce the launch its international activities with a new architectural education programme for children and youth in Greece & Cyprus.

The architectural education for children and young people provided by Arkki is among the most comprehensive in the world, measured by the programme’s depth, quantity and quality. In Finland, 500 children participate in Arkki´s weekly architecture courses, and c. 5000 children attend short courses and events per year.

The Arkki programme is innovative in its pedagogical methods. In Arkki, play and fantasy are used as means to discover the different phenomena of architecture. Arkki´s educational programme also enhances 3D thinking, mathematical thinking and communication skills. In some projects children can take part in the actual design process of architecture and city planning. Through architecture education it is possible to foster a new generation of active citizens who have a deep understanding about the built environment, and who hopefully possess tools for a positive change in the future.
“Metropolization has brought ecological problems and the challenges of urbanization to the forefront all over the world. Architecture education. In Arkki we believe that architectural education gives children new possibilities, means and mediums to influence the creation of our future environment, whatever their occupation is ” says Pihla Meskanen, CEO of Arkki International.

The new international programme in Greece launches in summer 2014 with architecture programs for 7-9 and 10-13 year old shildren and youth in Athens. More detailed information of locations and partners for the academic program as well as the workshops will be available soon. Arkki will be producing the programme in Greece & Cyprus in partnership with DESIGNEMBASSADOR.COM UG, which specializes in the design of festivals, events, conferences and workshops. The Arkki team in Greece includes architect and Historian of Architecture Stavros Martinos who is in charge of the academic programme and Vassilios P. Bartzokas (entrepreneur) who is in charge of the licensing agreements and educational programme.

“We have admired the work of Arkki for years. It is unique and innovative! It is wonderful to have a chance to offer these inspiring courses to the Greek & Cypriot children”, says Vassilios Bartzokas, CEO of Designembassador, and a father of three boys. Stavros said: We are very excited about bringing the excellent pedagogy of ARKKI to Greece and Cyprus. During the last 20 years in Finland, ARKKI has evolved within the context of the most innovative educational system in the world, elaborating on the multi-layered, hands-on, playful and creative content of architectural training. We are delighted to be part of this legacy and to be able to contribute into its further expansion.
Pihla Meskanen, CEO, Arkki International, [email protected] +358 50 5174602
Vassilios Bartzokas, CEO, Designembassador & Archisearch.gr, [email protected] +49 176 2 772 3 662



Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth
Arkki was founded in 1993 in Finland and is run by a non-profit organisation. Teaching in Arkki follows the Finnish national system of Basic Education of Arts and Architecture, which supports and extends arts education at elementary school. The objectives and core contents are determined in the national core curriculum devised by the National Board of Education.
The Finnish basic art education, offered for children and youth by law, is internationally unique. The art education of the elementary school is complemented by music institutes, figurative art schools and dance schools for children and youth that operate all over Finland.
Among them, Arkki is quite special: it is the country`s first school specializing in teaching architecture and environment education.
Architectural education aims to develop a child’s ability to perceive, consider, understand, conceptualise and evaluate his or her environment. Education about architecture helps provide tools for responsible and active citizenship.

http://www.arkki.net/

DESIGNEMBASSADOR.COM UG
DESIGNEMBASSADOR.COM UG is a company founded by Vassilios P Bartzokas in Berlin, a person with great impact in the Greek Design Scene.
Vassilios is the former CEO of CARTECO Design Centre, a company awarded under his management as one of the 10 best companies in Europe for the Customer Focus Award at the European Business Awards, together with companies such as DELL, DEUTSCHE TELEKOM, AIR BERLIN and others. He is the founder and CEO of a platform that connects creative talents from Europe in Asia called DESIGNLOBBY.ASIA based in Berlin. He has been the initiator, producer and organizer of Athens Architectural Workshop, Green Design Festival, Invisible Hotel Exhibition, Esw [eso ] Conference for the Interior Design & Architecture, NTIZAIN.ORG Conference for Industrial Design, 39.22 Design Collective and the innovative space for creatives called THE ARCHIVE
DESIGNEMBASSADOR.COM UG owns ARCHISEARCH.gr online magazine for Architecture & Design promoting the best of creative talent from Greece to the rest of the world and is a lisencee and strategic partner for ECOWEEK CONFERENCES in Germany and Asia.

STAVROS MARTINOS | Academic Programme Director
Stavros Martinos is an architecture historian, working on the transatlantic exchange of ideas that shaped the 20th-Century Modern Movement. He studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and continues his research at the Unite States, on a Fellowship from the Department of Hellenic Studies at Princeton University. He has worked as an architect and consultant in private and public projects as well as a researcher at the National Technical University of Athens and CNRS, within the framework of the scientific collaboration between Greece and France. He has assisted with Architectural History and Theory courses at the National Technical University of Athens and is a frequent contributor to conferences and scientific workshops in Greece an abroad, as participating lecturer or member of the jury. He is the editor in Chief of ARCHISEARCH.gr online magazine.

VIDEO ABOUT ARKKI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE FOR CHILDREN & YOUTH

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