Summer School
Summer School Ticino 2026: Re-Build Common Spaces
August 22 – 29, 2026
Valle di Blenio, Ticino, Switzerland
August 29 – September 4, 2026
Valle Verzasca, Ticino Switzerland
How can architecture contribute to rebuilding the places where communities meet, collaborate and imagine their future?
Summer School Ticino is back again this year, the annual design-build workshop organised by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) together with Istituto Internazionale di Architettura, bringing international students of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and related disciplines to the alpine valleys of Blenio and Verzasca to work on real projects in close collaboration with municipalities, local associations and residents.
This year's theme, Re-Build Common Spaces, is explored through projects addressing different scales and conditions of public life: from the transformation of a village square in Leontica, to the renaturalisation of the Brenno river landscape in Serravalle, a collective construction site on the tennis court in Aquila, and the design of a shared habitat for humans and bees. Each workshop investigates how small but meaningful interventions can strengthen the relationship between communities and their environment.
Working alongside municipalities, technical offices, local organisations and invited professionals, students take part in the entire design process — from site analysis and participatory workshops to the development of architectural proposals and the construction of selected interventions at 1:1 scale. This direct engagement with local actors turns architecture into an instrument for dialogue, experimentation and long-term territorial development.
Architecture here is not understood as the production of isolated objects, but as the careful construction of relationships: between people and places, between landscape and settlement, between local knowledge and international perspectives. Through design, making and participation, the Summer School generates lasting impulses for the future of common spaces, while contributing to the resilience and identity of Alpine communities.
The 2026 Summer School takes place across two Alpine valleys in southern Switzerland: Valle di Blenio and Valle Verzasca. Students are accommodated in Dangio’s Chocolate Factory and Brione’s castle and work directly on site, allowing each project to develop in close contact with its specific landscape, community and local stakeholders.
Summer School Ticino is realised through a broad collaboration between universities, municipalities, associations and local organisations.
Academic partners:
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU)
Istituto Internazionale di Architettura
Local partners include:
Municipality of Blenio, Municipality of Serravalle, Municipality of Acquarossa, Municipality of Verzasca, Il Larice x Casa Gentila, Meraviglie sul Brenno, Verzasca Foto x squadra, Fondazione Verzasca, Polisport Olivone, Fondazione Cima Norma
Sponsor:
Ikea Foundation, Scheitlin Syfrig Architekten, Ente Regionale di Sviluppo Bellinzona e Valli
The Summer School is curated by Ludovica Molo and Alessio De Gottardi (Istituto Internazionale di Architettura) together with Matthew Howell and Jonas Heller (HSLU).
The individual workshops are led by architects, designers and researchers working in close collaboration with local institutions, including: Squadra, Federico Rella, Giulio Parini, OLAC Studio, FARLAND, Collective Chroma, Jonas Heller, Matthew Howell
