This learn-and-act program is designed for graduates and professionals eager to become changemakers in the built environment. Combining theoretical insights, practical skills, and hands-on experience, this postgraduate course offers participants a transformative personal journey.

Throughout the year, participants from around the globe collaborate as a team, navigating challenges, exploring new possibilities, and designing and building spaces that foster community connection. The program builds its foundations in three interconnected tracks: hands-on workshops, material exploration and innovation, and reflective sessions focused on long-term impact.

This learning trajectory comes with unique chances and responsibilities: to actively contribute to the local community. Participants are tasked with designing, planning, and realizing a project in collaboration with the community, responding to their needs and aspirations. Deliverables include a community-building festival, a project implementation phase, and creative documentation in the form of a magazine and a short film that capture the journey and its outcomes.

Throughout the program, participants take on diverse roles, such as designer, project manager, facilitator of participatory processes, coordinator of construction workshops, developer of sustainable building materials, budget manager, photographer, social media organizer, and more.

Each edition of this postgraduate program centers on a specific theme. In alternating years, participants reflect on past projects and processes during the international Building Beyond Borders Symposium, where knowledge and insights are shared with a broader audience, bridging the gap between science, society, and practice. Together with alumni and faculty, the program fosters a global network of changemakers in the built environment.

The upcoming edition 25|26 Living Rooms, focuses on using bioregional and harvested materials to build a home for the community of Helchteren. Learn more in the following pages.