Brief
Bricks are among the oldest and most evocative building materials: durable, natural and endowed with an enveloping, human-friendly materiality, brick has been used to build some of the greatest architecture masterpieces in the history of mankind.
Nowadays, we can no longer procrastinate on environmental issues, but at the same time we must not give up on the freedom and dignity of architectural thinking, and bricks are one of the most effective technical and creative answers to the problems of contemporary building, as they are capable of generating beauty at minimum environmental cost.
It is for this reason that the course in ‘’Earth Architecture‘’ was created, the training project of wienerberger aimed at training architectural professionals in the field of sustainable design in brick, to continue in the research around a material loved by the most prominent interpreters of architecture and capable of providing creative answers to the demand for valuable architectural artefacts with a lower carbon footprint.
Through a careful study of the environmental implications of constructions and by combining the knowledge of earth characteristics with the most modern architectural design languages, designers will have the possibility of generating refined architecture that is highly contemporary yet durable and environmentally compatible, unlike any other technology.
The course consists of 76 hours of frontal teaching, 32 hours of workshop and numerous lectures by renowned professionals. At the end of the training course, the Yacademy Placement office will guarantee each student an internship/collaboration proposal within the partner studios.
Course info
15 In person
5 Online
Bologna
24.11.2025 - 20.2.2026
3 days/weekMarch 2026 - May 2026
€ 2,900 + VAT
Online€ 7,900 + VAT
In person*3
Full coverage of the enrollment fee for the most outstanding candidatesTeaching modules & Workshops
Building life cycle
Sustainability beyond the 50-year thresholdBuilding site robotics
Brick meets automationBrick flexibility and customization
Expressive possibilities and compositional languages of brickCase history
Successful and contemporary examples of brick buildingsChemistry and characteristics of earth
Brick seen through a microscopeProduction process
Brick from the quarry to the building siteBrick and Monumental Architecture
The use of brick in the repurposing of historical heritageSustainability and passive buildings efficiency
Opportunities with brick, between ESG and climate changeBuilding systems and laying techniques
Aggregation possibilities and building site scenariosEarth parametric design
Complex geometries in brickResearch and new applications for brick
Innovation of languages and contamination of materialsBrick and vernacular architecture
Construction strategies and solutions from traditionSite Visits
Craco
Noale furnaces
Venice and Procuratie Vecchie
Special lectures and critiques
Tate Modern: brick as an element of recovery in defining contemporary architecture
Historical and artistic vocation of brick: from the Torlonia collection to the Procuratie Vecchie
Church of St. James the Apostle: brick meets the sacred
Qujiang Museum of Fine Arts: materiality and warmth of architecture
Tabacounda Hospital: vernacular architecture for the wellbeing of communities
Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum: architecture of transcendence
Exile Museum Berlin: the monumentality of brick
Masses and memory: the Vaud Museum of Fine Arts in Lausanne
Earth and fluidity: architecture for life and spirituality
House in Melides: a warm dedalum
Living in the ruins
Design workshop
Jorge P. Silva / Aires Mateus
The workshop is being conducted in collaboration with Craco Ricerche and will focus on the development of hospitality buildings made of brick, located in the context of Craco Vecchia, an abandoned village perched on magnificent Lucanian ravines, so exceptional that it has already been used as a filming location for several Hollywood movies. Among the most fascinating ghost towns in the world, the ruins of Craco stand on a sublime natural landscape among clay pinnacles, overlooking a wild and uninhabited landscape. Craco has suffered numerous disruptions that led to its abandonment, and today it is visited by curious visitors from all over the world, who wish to live the experience of walking through the maze of uncovered vaults and abandoned towers, to be enchanted in the evening by blazing sunsets and to observe starry skies, which are so rare in much of the urbanised world.
Given the village's notoriety, beauty, landscape and archaeology, Craco is well-suited to accommodating large-scale, diffuse accommodation activities, defining the ideal context for a thematic study on the use of brick for the creation of contemporary architectures which can effectively dialogue with historical architecture. Through the workshop, architects will thus have the opportunity to challenge themselves in an extremely precious context, interweaving the potential in terms of sustainability and creativity of brick with issues of cultural heritage preservation and landscape protection of an icon of global architectural heritage.
Construction workshop
Construction is a fundamental step in architecture. For this reason, YACademy offers its students the opportunity to participate in the process of producing their own ideas. Thus, the students will gain practical experience on construction sites and, above all, the authorship of projects built for excellent commissions, destined for a major media echo and capable of defining a turning point in their professional career.
Placement
At the end of teaching modules and workshop, YACademy’s Placement office will guarantee every student an internship or collaboration proposal in one of our partner studios.
Teachers
Admission
Requirements
Students or graduates in Architecture/Design can apply to the course. The commission, based on the assessment of the application, may admit students with different qualifications.
Registration
To apply, it is necessary to register online and submit a Curriculum Vitae, a Portfolio, and a Motivational Letter. Moreover, it is necessary to pay the application fee (€60 + VAT). The best 20 candidates will be admitted to the course according to the rules.
Scholarship
By applying for the course, the students automatically become eligible to obtain a scholarship: one will be granted to each of the best 3 applicants for each course, consistently with the Selection Committee's evaluation. Therefore, it is not necessary to make specific actions to apply for a scholarship. The scholarship covers the entire enrollment fee - regardless of the type of attendance chosen -, but does not cover the application fee (€60 + VAT) that has to be paid in order to complete the application process successfully.
Timeline
Complying with deadlines is a fundamental requirement to take part in the course. All students are encouraged to pay the utmost attention to the timeline and to complete each phase in advance.
Applications opening
Applications deadline
Publication of the provisional ranking
Beginning of second-round admissions
Enrollment fee payment deadline for students admitted according to the provisional ranking
Publication of the official ranking (including second-round admitted students)
Lessons start
Download
Make sure you have downloaded the course brochure, from which you will be able to obtain any information about YACademy, as well as every single detail on how to access and enrol in the courses.
Brochure IT
Brochure EN
Download the 2023/24 internships report
Find out all the statistics and placement methodology for the year 2023/24: 39% of students entered Pritzker studios.
Partners
To each one of them, many thanks from YACademy staff and students.