The series of international workshops in Acre are a collaboration between Shenkar and the Politecnico Di Milano. They aim to acquaint the participants and the residents of Acre with cultural architectural sites of the old city. During the workshops, chosen sites will be documented and presented in architectural drawings, as well as three-dimensional models. Previous workshops focused on the Han Elomdan with the fisherman’s plaza, and the small bathhouse. This workshop continues with focusing on the fortifications surrounding the light house.

Throughout the workshops participants will be divided on two groups that will collaborate. One group will focus on documentation of historical buildings and the second group will focus on urban museology and design intervention of the historical urban fabric.

The documentation group will acquire technical knowledge on today’s methodologies of documentation and historical knowledge on the old city of Acre and on the specific sites they will be dealing with. The digital documentation of the chosen sites will be executed through the use of 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry. The participants will be shown the methodology and strategies related to the acquisition and management of three-dimensional data from the site. Further, during the workshop, the possibilities of using acquired data for the construction of two-dimensional drawings and three-dimensional models will be explained. Last, the workshops will close with an exhibition that represents the documentation and the history of the sites that were research during the workshop. The exhibition will be open to the residents and community of Acre.

The urban museology group will analyze the urban fabric with its historical buildings and will explore design interventions that transform the city into an open museum. The discussion will focus on how to allow the heritage sites to be part of the everyday life of the local community, which become an interest for the touristic visitor at the same time.

The workshop is 5 days and will take place in Shenkar. It will include a day on-site in the old city of Acre. The participants will take an active part both in collecting the information on-site and in the post-processing of the data into architectural drawings and an architectural/ urban design proposal. The workshop will conclude with an exhibition at the Laurbert Gallery in Shenkar.

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This year the workshop is an integral part of "Italy, Cultures, the Mediterranean", a cultural program, which the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will implement in the Middle East and North Africa during the year 2018, with the purpose of consolidating the dialogue between the two sides of the Mediterranean Sea. A dialogue based on the exchange and enhancement of different cultural and social identities and the combination of tradition, innovation and creativity.