PARTNERGUIDE - SE(a)STAIN WORKSHOP

EASA 2011, CADIZ - SPAIN

2 Partnerguide SE(a)STAIN | EASA 011

INTRODUCTION | EASA
EASA [European Architecture Students Assembly], is an international network of architecture
students that, in collaboration with graduated architects and artists research the architecture
and urban challenges of today. EASA is a platform for the exchange of ideas, experiences and
thoughts, a starting point for interactions in the field of the city.

EASA was founded in 1981 when students of architecture from Liverpool invited fellow
students from all over Europe to come together to discuss and work on proposals addressing
the problem of the city. The meeting comprised of 300 delegates, architecture students, and
this constituted the first EASA. This inaugural assembly developed into an annual international
event where European architecture students gather in a different place every year with the
purpose of exchanging ideas and points of view over architecture and working on proposals
related to this context of our education and ambitions.

Now, EASA represents an ambitious initiative at an international level, absolutely unique in the
European university field, developed by and for architecture students. Over 400 students
traveling from more than forty European countries, are meticulously selected by an open
competition, to participate in the annual summer assembly which manifests as a two week
workshop which is held in a different European city each year. This is a non-profit event where
participants and organizers take part in workshops, lectures and debates, with the common
goal of enriching the city in which it is held, and therefore, enriching themselves. The theme is
always linked with reflections derived from the place and the interventions, and consequently
the actions and developments that occur, are both practical and theoretical, with an intrinsic
link to context.

EASA actively supports international communication and exchange through its National
Contacts [2 per country]. The National Contacts meetings act as an important decision
instrument for the organization. These representatives are in regular contact throughout the
year and meet every autumn for a week at the nominal INCM [Intermediate National Contacts
Meeting] which is again held in a different country each year. EASA also organizes several
SESAMs [Small European Students of Architecture Meetings]. These meetings can take place
throughout the year in different countries with around 100 international students taking part in
them. In addition to the various meetings and assemblies, EASA also organizes many other
events as exhibitions, competitions, design charters, exchanges throughout the year.
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EASA, from the outset, has always acted as an organization that takes on a new legal form
every year, in the country in which the Assembly is held. For this reason, it is the responsibility
of the host country to organize the Assembly, co-ordinate the EASA activities and perform the
selection of the Assembly’s participants for that year. The ‘ASAMBLEA EUROPEA DE
ESTUDIANTES DE ARQUITECTURA - EASA ESPAÑA 2011’ is the legal body for organizing
easa011, it is legally constituted in Spain as a non-profit youth association.

The workshops which develop throughout the two-week event constitute the backbone of the
Assembly. Through these material and theoretical explorations, solutions to problems are
provided at a local and regional level, by creating productions that will be part of the city as a
footprint of the event, always looking for a dialogue with the surroundings and the theme. Over
the last few years, prior to the main summer assembly, an international competition aiming for
workshops related to the theme is announced in order to select the workshops that will take
place during the summer Assembly. The final decision is made by a panel composed by
professors and members of EASA.
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INTRODUCTION | SE(a)STAIN
In the framework of EASA 011, SE(a)STAIN was selected out of the 108 proposals. The
rd th
workshop SE(a)STAIN will be held at the summer Assembly, from the 23 of July until 7 of
August 2011 in Cadiz | Spain. Together with 25 architecture students from over the whole of
Europe, we will complete our design during this two intensive weeks and get to know more
about techniques and materials in practice, a subject that is often forgotten in our education.

As a challenge we want to realize a self-sustainable living unit with our participants in two
weeks, using a sea container as a starting point. We would like to present an easy-made and
quick solution. This contains an advanced design for creating a favorable atmosphere inside,
the provision for water and electricity. Therefore we need to install a rainwater harvesting
system, exploit solar energy and find an interesting way to insulate the container, depending
on the environment.

On one hand, due this workshop, the participants will have taken a closer look to the
possibilities of self-sustainability: rainwater harvesting, alternative energy and alternative
insulation. This makes the workshop interesting, as it's not limited to only realizing the design
but they will also need to have a good understanding in the whole concept of the functioning of
the unit. This would be the main value for the participants of our workshop.

On the other hand, we are motivated to finish the transformation of the sea-container in a self-
sustainable unit in only 10 days, to prove the possibility of realizing cheap emergency housing.
We are convinced this can suggest an alternative form of housing which could be used in very
different circumstances, with the disaster in Haiti fresh in mind as an example (where not only
houses are destroyed, but also the facilities as electricity and water).
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WORKSHOP | Team
All three of us are related through our study. Marie and Hanne are finishing their 2nd master
Engineering-Architecture at the University Gent, where both are writing their master
dissertation. Jose finished his study successfully at the Universidad Autonome de Chile and
already started his own company.

Together we came up with the idea of organizing a workshop at the European Assembly for
Students of Architecture, after the enthusiasm about the EASA event grew through the years.
During summer 2009 we met at the EASA event in Italy - Darfo. At this nice location we all
joined a construction workshop, being participants, and had great experiences with practical
issues of a design realization during the event.

After a range of new experiences at the workshops of past year at the EASA event in
Manchester, the desire to organize one by ourselves prevailed. Motivated as we are, we made
the design for this challenging workshop and were selected. So here it is: an intensive two
week workshop called "SE(a)STAIN" with Tutor Marie, Hanne and Jose...
6 Partnerguide SE(a)STAIN | EASA 011

MARIE VANDERGHOTE
Master Civil Engineering: Architecture at University of Ghent |
Belgian | 1987
As graduating student Marie is writing her Master Dissertation
about the application of Modern architecture and planning in
Latin America. She was selected, in the framework of Erasmus
Mundus, External Windows Cooperation, to study half a year at
Unicamp in São Paulo | Brazil. During school year 2008 – 2009,
she was intensively engaged in a student organization, as she
was elected president. Back in Belgium, she fully divides her
time on the preparation of the EASA workshop and the finishing
touch on her master dissertation.

JOSE ALFONSO ORTIZ

Graduated at Universidad Autónoma de Chile | Chilean | 1983
After making a design of a horse arena for his master
dissertation past year, Jose graduated as an architect in Chili.
As he is very enthusiastic and enterprising, he already started
his own bureau ‘Exponencial Arquitectos’. Besides this, he
also works for the city's urban planning departure in Temuco.
Despite the fact that Chile and Belgium aren't close by, Jose
manages to share his knowledge with his Belgian friends.

HANNE VERMEIREN
Master Civil Engineering: Architecture at University of Ghent |
Belgian | 1987
Hanne is also writing her master dissertation: an analysis of a
building deconstruction company in the context of Corporate
Social Responsibility. As she is working part-time at an
architecture bureau, she already gets to be introduced in the
construction industry and the practical side of architecture. At
the evenings, she follows her first year of graphic arts. During
the time left, she is engaged to make this workshop a success.
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WORKSHOP | Design
BOX IN BOX
To make sure our container can adapt to different surroundings, we opted for a box-in box
principle, wherefore we build a wooden frame with insulation. We provide a white canvas to
protect the container from the heat by reflection, as we combine natural ventilation through the
strategically placed window openings.

OPENINGS
By opening the box and providing a sliding window, the living area can be extended. The
terrace will be constructed on the cut-out part of the container, so it can be closed and will
protect the fragile part of the container when the unit needs to be shipped.

INSTALLATIONS
In the back of the unit, we will provide a technical room for our water recovery system, easily
accessible from the outside. Next to this technical unit we designed a bathroom with chemical
toilet and sink. Through, a sliding window you can enter our living area with kitchenette and a
place to sit and sleep. In the back of the container there is a double wall where the electrical
techniques are gathered.

WATER RECOVERY
The stretched canvas will gather the rainwater and collect it into the vessels. In the vessels, it
will be filtered for washing and use in the kitchen. The waste water will be collected in the
bottom vessels that can be emptied when necessairy. If needed the upper vessels can also be
plugged in to a local water supply system, if necessary.

SOLAR SYSTEM
To provide electricity for the unit, we
will to use solar panels. By using a
transformer, the solar energy will give
us electricity for lightning, kitchen
equipment and a refrigerator.
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WORKSHOP | Realization
This part of the workshop is probably the most interesting. As we try to realize this challenging
design in only two weeks and our participants are all students without any practical
experience. We divide the participants in 4 groups: 1.ELECTRICITY – 2.SANITAIRY – 3.SOLAR
SYSTEM – 4.BOX. For those who are interested, we can provide a technical fiche with more
information about materials etc. On our website you can also find a more detailed explanation.
We will update regularly about the improvements of the design on our digital platform.
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ADVERTISING | Introduction
First we want to visualize the target group:
The main audience is a specific group of architecture students, universities, professors and
companies from all around Europe. As around 500 architecture students will participate at the
EASA event this summer, they will all get in touch with our workshop and your product. All of
these students will soon be introduced into the professional world of construction, and will be
a new generation of entrepreneurs. Beside this architectural related public, we have the large
group of followers on the internet, from all around the world. During the realization the
container can be seen as a touristic attraction pole in the city of Cadiz.

Media promotion and our digital platform:

The main organizer -EASA Spain- has different media partners that bring all of their workshops
in attention. Through the years, the experience learns that construction workshops arouse the
most interest, and are therefore ideal to promote this event. On top of that, we are looking for
media sponsors in Belgium: by attracting journalists to write an article about our workshop, we
would like to publish in Belgian magazines and papers to reach more people.

Together we invest in Corporate Social Responsibility, by the self-sustainability concept and

the use of secondhand materials. This is a topic that can encourage the green image of
companies that support our workshop.

ADVERTISING | Different occasions

Website/Blog/Facebook page
Engaged as we are , we already made a website : www.seastain.eu, together with a Facebook
page and Wordpress blog, to have a bigger interactive platform to inform our public during the
preparation, realization and the final presentation of our workshop. Through the Facebook
page we inform the interested public directly on the preparation of the workshop. To give an
impression about the enthusiasm: as we initiated our Facebook page, we had already 200
interested persons following our adventure after only 3 days, and we see this number rising
daily. On top of that, during the realization, we will post pictures, movies and some
explications, on the progress we made during that day on our Word press-blog (and of course
post the daily updates of the weblog on our Facebook page). All the digital platforms are
connected with each other and will soon be connected to the digital network of
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EASA, who can count on thousands of interested persons, consisting of architecture and arts
students, architects, professors, universities, magazines,…

Workshop fair
The selected workshops will be exposed to all the participants (400 architecture students from
around whole of Europe and further) on the first day of the Assembly. During this day, the
participants will be able to decide in which workshop they will enroll for the next two weeks.
Each workshop will present using a poster and some extra material.

Workshop realization
The SE(a)STAIN workshop will be realized at the beautiful beach of Cadiz, a place continually
visited by a great amount of tourists during the summer period. For this, we will provide a
panel to give a short explication on what we are doing, so people who are interested will be
able to inform themselves. As we realize this working space will have a lot of peasants, we
want to take more advantage of this. Therefore we will improve the visibility of our partners: by
for example placing beach flags; as tutors together with our 25 participants we could be
wearing sponsored T-shirts, or we can place brandstickers on the most visible sides of the sea
container. This way we can inform people which companies are supporting this self-
sustainable project.

Final Presentation
Every year, the last day of the Assembly is used to exhibit to all the participants, architects,
artists, students and other collectives interested, the results of each one of the workshops.
During this exhibition, tutors and participants from every workshop will perform a presentation
using presentations, videos, pictures, etc. In addition, an EASA DAY will be take place
showcasing the results of the workshop to the public across venues in the city.

Final Report
After the end of each EASA, the result of all the activities [constructive workshops, lectures,
theoretical projects, exhibitions, etc.] are gathered and published in a special edition. The final
report is published for the participants, involved institutions and for a wide public of architects,
students, professionals and artists. This final report is also useful to enrich the EASA archive,
and will serve as a useful manual for future organizing teams at future summer assemblies.
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ADVERTISING | Suggestions

As we are searching for materials to realize the project, we like to attract partners that can help
us to provide materials, as well as giving financial support. Partners could also suggest other
formula’s as the ones presented underneath:

1. Sympathizer
Logo and link on the digital network of SE(a)STAIN: Website, Facebook page and Word press
blog
100 - 200 euro
2. Supporter
Logo and link on the digital network of SE(a)STAIN
Logo on poster, presented at Workshop Fair
Logo in the generic of our final movie, presented at the Final presentation
300 - 500 euro
3. Backer
Logo and link on the digital network of SE(a)STAIN
Logo on poster, presented at Workshop Fair
Logo in the generic of our final movie, presented at the Final presentation
Logo on T-shirts and beach flags during the 2 week-workshop at the beach of Cadiz
600 - 700 euro
4. Sponsor
Logo and link on the digital network of SE(a)STAIN
Logo on poster, presented at Workshop Fair
Logo in the generic of our final movie, presented at the Final presentation
Logo on T-shirts and beach flags during the 2 week-workshop
Logo on the information panel, placed at the beach of Cadiz
Logo and link on the website and digital network of EASA 011
800 - 1000 euro
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5. Partner
Logo and link on the digital network of SE(a)STAIN
Logo on poster, presented at Workshop Fair
Logo in the generic of our final movie, presented at the Final presentation
Logo on T-shirts and beach flags during the 2 week-workshop
Logo on the information panel, placed at the beach of Cadiz
Logo and link on the website and digital network of EASA 011
Mentioning in the Final report of EASA 011
Permanent logo on the SE(a)STAIN container, starting from the first day of our workshop
1200 - 1500 euro
6. Exclusive Partner (only 1 will be selected)
Our exclusive sponsor will benefit of all the advertising forms of Formula 5. We will name the
workshop and container after their company e.g. Vanderghote SE(a)STAIN. This name and the
company will be mentioned in all the media publications. And we will lay the next life, after
finishing, of our precious SE(a)STAIN container in the hands of this company. The company
will be owner of the first self-sustainable living unit, made in two weeks out of a 20ft container.
The company has the full right to put his conditions to the design or propose some changes in
the design concerning material use, color, interior,… in the framework of the Imagineering of
their company, considering it will not bring our time schedule and estimated costs in danger. If
there are more candidates than one company, we will take the decision in our hands and make
th
a final decision before 15 of June.
2500 - 5000 euro
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CONTACT INFORMATION

Website: www.seastain.eu

Bank account information: SE(a)STAIN workshop

IBAN: BE88 377023309541
BiC code: BBRUBEBB
Tutors: Marie Vanderghote – telephone: +32 498 78 92 59
Hanne Vermeiren – telephone: +32 473 81 48 61
Jose Alfonso Portiz – telephone: +56 987 72 86 66
Email: se_a_stain@hotmail.com