Project Information

1. Full title of the project:

Cross regional training program for vocational education in the field of traditional way of architectural building

2. Acronym:

           CREDU

3. Project implementation period:

May 3, 2010 – April 30, 2011

Short description of the project:

Teachers and students of the School of Building and Crafts of Čakovec and  Zsigmondy Vilmos és Széchenyi István Szakképzo technical vocational school of Nagykanizsa are to study the following in several sites in counties Međimurska and Zala:

-          the typology and features of the climate factors that influenced the structure and choice of building materials           

-          the technology of construction and spatial organization

-          the design of objects and the way they fit into the surroundings

Once the sudents and teachers have got to know the sites, surveying the objects, drawing the technical documentation in digital form and storing the drawings in the joint portal archives are to follow.

The archive is to be updated continuously with new drawings from new sites and in this way the database on objects that either had not been surveyed or objects that require daily maintenance or objects that had already been surveyed but the documentation on which had not been digitalized before.

A joint handbook will be published and exhibitions and conferences held for wide public. The joint Internet portal will contain, besides the above mentioned continually updated document databate, the information on all project-related events as well.

Objectives of the project

-the revival of knowledge and skills of  traditional ways of architectural building

-          the restoration of the vernacular architecture as the prime value of enhancing rural settlements in the economic, cultural and tourist aspects of sustainable development

-          sensibilisation of the young generations by means of implementing a continuous educational program and support to the development of qualifications and the ability of recognizing and revival of the architectural heritage renewal skills, especially in the Architectural Heritage Technician Course that only the School of Building and Crafts offers in Croatia

-          improving the knowledge and experience exchange among the secondary VET school students in the cross-border area for the purpose of keeping the awareness of the traditional crafts through the joint portal and distance learning (e-learning)

- publishing the joint manual on the traditional ways of building in counties Međimurska and Zala

Need for the project

- the state of the protection and renewal of architectural heritage objects – and especially in the cross border region belonging to Međimurska and Zala counties (Northwest Croatia and West Danube Region of Hungary, respectively)- is critical because of several reasons and what has remained of the cultural heritage sites is mostly privately owned and mostly neither filed nor surveyed and even if the sites have been included into the protected items registry, they have not been renewed in the best way possible.

- in the area of the Međimurska and Zala counties, there is still a series of sites, architectural units and single buildings of a rural or semi-urban character that have not been recognized as a historical value although they do feature qualities of cultural importance exactly in the local context, as a tourist site potentials, that is, for the very community in whose area the buildings are situated. As the objects-due to various reasons-have not been paid appropriate attention up to now, they are either neglected or let to a rapid deterioration or renewed by inappropriate methods and in the ways in which they loose their original features and values.

- regarding the education of the architectural heritage technicians, it is obligatory to set up practical education exercises within the real situations in the field when the objects to be surveyed are concerned because there are no either existing documents or traces of the objects and the gathered data as well as the documents whose origin is not digital should be converted into the digital form to be reliable content in the VET education as a whole for surveying and documenting the objects featuring architectural heritage qualities

The results/outputs of the project and their applicability in real situations

- the joint training program will be organized for the students and teachers of the partnering educational institutions- field assignments classes of Geography, Architecture, Construction and IT.

-           Workshops to be held within field assignments in counties Međimurska and Zala

-           Educational workshops to be held for students and teachers

-           Exhibitions of the results to be staged for wide public

-           A joint multilingual Internet portal to be set up

-           A joint manual is to be published aimed at preserving the awareness of the old crafts in counties Međimurje and Zala (in Croatian, Hungarian and English, 200 copies).

-           The visual identity of the project activities is to be created – promo materials to be distributed in public

-           Exuipment is to be procured that is to be used y the partnering educational institutions for the purposes of field assignments, creating the e-learning portal and archiving the created digital documents

-           Naturally, the upload of documents will be cointrolled and administrated y the project partners, ut the documents will be as well at disposal to investors, the heritage preserving institutions (conservation departments, museums), tourist boards, agencies and executive local government departments that are to upgrade the economic and tourist resources

Potential users of the project results

- The cultural and natural heritage conservating departments

- Museums and galleries

- Educational institutions

- Spatial planning, construction and environment protection institutes

- Government bodies managing economy, agriculture and tourism

- Local and regional development agencies

- Architects, investors etc.

Planned continuation of implementation of the project after the pilot-project

- At the School of Building and Crafts, within subjects Design drawing (residential and pulic buildings), Cultural Heritage, IT and Practical education, the principles of practical work and e-learning will be practiced on after the official two-year implementation of the project.

- It is possible as well to assign the thesis for the school-leaving paper for the architectural heritage technicians. It is as well possible, of course, to update the archives with new and current sites and thus continually increase the volume of documents on the buildings that deserve to be renewed and revitalized.

The possibilities of domestic/international cooperation on the project

- Besides the counties Međimurska and Zala, where the subtle climate-related traditional architecture typology is to be archived, it would be desirable to document the sites and buildings from completely different materials and under different climate conditions (counties Ličko-goranska, Istarska, Moslavačko-posavska and regions of Slavonia and Dalmatia).

This would in turn reinforce the knowledge of differences that resulted in different vernacular architecture types. The cooperation considers construction and geodesy schools in Croatia in first place, but there is also aptness for cooperation with foreign secondary schools such as Ortwein School of Graz. It is possible as well to spread the cooperation chain into the wider EU area.

Comparison to similar projects in the world

This project is significally distinctive in relation to many EU member states and this is because of the fact that many states took giant steps in the renewal of the architectural heritage long before the EU was formed, especially after WW II due to heavy destruction of big towns and other settlements. In Croatia, (as well as in Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and perhaps even Italy), there has been an erosion of architectural heritage, especially when the architectural heritage monuments are concerned and it is because the possibilities and needs of an urgent salvation of valuable objects are in a clash due to lack of funds and a large number of objects that require salvation. It is an additional reason for a development of a need and of awareness of the cultural dimension of salvation, maintenance and renewal of the architectural heritage; This should not only target wide public, but induce as well the training of skilled workers and craftsmen to renew the architectural heritage professionally in a number that should make our renewing capacities match those of  the countries that have not only taken care of the renewal of the existing objects but established the whole architectural heritage renewal centres as well, for example Rasfeld in Germany.