KEA Charrette 2020

Local business collaboration - from 1000 of miles away

As always, local Copenhagen organisations and businesses took time to volunteer their case as collaborators for the Charrette groups. In 2020 the focus was to “Reshape your Community – Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Culture after the Crises” and the local collaborators each had a unique point of view that the groups could work on developing. At the local venue Stengade 30 it was noise control and in the brand new FabLab Nordvest space it was the issue of creating community relations in a time where you are not supposed to gather.

Developing your global empathy

The Charrette is about developing intercultural skills and exercising your global empathy as much as it is about hard professional competences and it was a concern that this element would not be possible in a virtual format. Julia Polina – lecturer on KEAs Digital Concept Development and an advisor on the Charrette – commented on the following: 
 
“Before the Charrette kicked off Monday, I was quite concerned that we wouldn’t experience the same enthusiastic energy now that we can’t be at the same physical location. But I’m really impressed with how quickly the students have adapted to this new normal and are able to work around the physical barriers. Locally, we’ve all been working a lot online for the last months so it’s really a pleasure to see these competencies being used in the global and experimenting context of the charrette.” 

Impressive Final Concepts

The student groups would work through technical difficulties and time-zone constraints to create some truly impressive concepts. The enthusiasm and engagement from the students and the advisors made the workshop week inspirational for all following the projects and the final results shown on Behance were all praised by the jury and the collaborators on Friday.  
 
On the final day the Jury chose group 5’s project with MitNørrebro because of their comprehensive and elaborate concept that among other things included a festival, community chalkboard and innovative revenue options. In the People’s Choice category it was group 4 who designed a sound-diminishing court-yard for local venue Stengade 30 that was chosen. 
 
Click through the links below to see more about the students’ projects for the Charrette 2020.