who we are
Camposaz is a non-profit association based in Italy that promotes and organizes 1:1 wood DIY workshops.
It was founded informally in 2013 by two Trentino associations to promote interaction between different disciplines and professionalism related to design.
Since 2016 it has been formally established as a Cultural Association and has numerous volunteer members involved. Camposaz is an open collective that has no hierarchies or fixed roles, the idea of open source, where everyone can freely make their own contribution to the development of the initiative is the main driver.
We structure our activities by means of free workshops, offered to young architects, designers and woodworkers who wish to approach a practice of artisanal and participatory architecture. During the workshop days, we live in close contact (usually in tented camps), teaming up, designing, and physically acting on the surrounding landscape using small wooden installations aiming at enhancing the landscape. A strict relationship with the local community always guides the interventions.
The team is usually formed by 10 to 12 participants led by tutors and by local carpenters who can assist the construction process.
The built project is site-specific and it can change according to the conditions in which it is going to be realized. An important aspect of the workshop is the human scale, conceived as the specific scale in which the 1:1 model is implemented within the construction site. Our own body and our manual work should be considered expressive and measuring tools. During the workshop design and construction are tight processes and proceed in parallel.
The aim of the initiative is to condense in a unique experience immaterial and material aspects of the construction process, enhancing the entire creative process. Knowledge sharing and adaptability are necessary conditions for a successful result. Camposaz is an open platform without hierarchies and fixed roles: it is an open-source initiative in which everyone can bring his own contribution in the development of a process that has no pre-established direction.
In this sense, Camposaz promotes different points of view and new design approaches in problematic urban locations, with the intention to develop a sort of “instinctive architecture” with no prejudices and with a lot of collaborative improvisation.
