The summer schools organised since 2018 have been led by the teams of international and local architects and designers, landscape specialists, artists, theorists and invited professionals: architect and designer DIDZIS JAUNZEMS, architects KARLIS MELZOBS, ARNITA MELZOBA, landscape architect and urbanist AIGARS LAUZIS, set designer and carpenter RUDOLF BEKIC (Latvia – Austria), architects RALF LÕOKE, SILLE PIHLAK from Estonia, architect and printmaker MALGORZATA MARIA OLCHOWSKA (based in Belgium), architect and furniture designer YORK BING OH (based in Belgium), artist ANDRIS EGLITIS, Estonian architects LAURA LINSI, ROLAND REEMAA, theatre director and set designer REINIS SUHANOVS, architect DINA SUHANOVA.

FULL LIST OF TUTORS AND GUEST LECTURERS IN 2024 WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

TUTORS in 2024:

KRISTA ZVIRGZDA is a maker, teacher and researcher. She is currently a lecturer at the School of Art at Kingston University. Krista is also Operations Manager at Natural Building Systems, a company that produces modular, digitally manufactured building systems from bio-based materials.
Previously, Krista was a Research Associate at the University of Westminster School of Architecture and Cities' Fabrication Lab. For seven years she played an active role in developing the Lab's innovative strategies for 'teaching making' and running design-build workshops. Krista's teaching and research interests focus on the intersection of craft and digital fabrication in sustainable design solutions. Learning through making is her approach to most things in life. Her passion and hobby is making and experimenting with materials and technologies. She is a very hands-on person – there is always a project going on.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristazvirgzda/
https://naturalbuildingsystems.com

NIKLĀVS PAEGLE is one of the founders of the architecture practice ĒTER – Dezeen ranked it as one of the 29 most promising companies in the world in 2022 and the Milan Platform as one of Europe's new "40 under 40" architects. The ĒTER-designed support centre "Pērle" in Cēsis has been awarded the 2022 Latvian Architecture Prize and nominated for the EU Mies Award in 2024. The exhibition at the Design Museum in London won the Dezeen Awards for the best exhibition architecture of the year.
Niklāvs holds a Diploma in Architecture from the AA School of Architecture in London. He is a member of the British Royal Institute of Architects and Association of Latvian Architects. Parallel to his practice, he has taught architecture at the Vienna Academy of Applied Arts, has been a guest lecturer at several universities in the Baltics as well as in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and the UK. Niklāvs is one of the main founders of the emerging architecture school at the Art Academy of Latvia.

RUDOLFS DAINIS SMITS is a dean and lecturer at the RISEBA Faculty of Architecture and Design. Dainis is globally experienced architect currently leading his own practice RDSA Studio based in Riga. He studied architecture, art history and painting at the University of Illinois, Chicago and theology at Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis in the USA. Dainis has over 30 years of experience working in multi-cultural environments in Europe, Middle East and Central Asia. Internationally, he has focused on project idea delivery, design management and specialist experience incl. design innovation and research, technical detailing and value engineering of complex building envelope systems, specialist facades systems, curtain walls, glazed structures; stainless steel and stone cladding systems. Dainis research interests are related to architecture theory – a critical approach to design and reading architecture while distinguishing between idea, concept and affect vs. projective architecture. 

MADARA KVĒPA is a visual artist currently studying in the professional doctoral programme at the Art Academy of Latvia. She has been actively participating in group exhibitions since 2016, including her solo exhibition 'Whole' at the 2021 Cēsis Art Festival and the group exhibition 'Utopias' at the Riga Photobiennale (2022, curated by Auguste Petre). She has also had ten solo exhibitions to date. In 2021 she won the Nordic & Baltic Young Artist Award in the painting category, and in 2020 she received the SEB Bank Scholarship in Painting. Her work is characterised by a continuous exploration of the dynamics of the relationship between man and nature, which she addresses in a variety of media, while retaining her characteristic signature of a muted palette and a mix of contrasting materialities.
Madara currently works at the Art Academy of Latvia as a guest lecturer and assistant in the painting department, and as a research assistant at the Institute for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture.

www.kvepa.com
https://www.instagram.com/madadara

AIGARS LAUZIS is the Founder, CEO & Designer at ZELTINI / BeTriton – Latvian start-up building amphibious e-campers. Although trained in landscape architecture & urban design Aigars has been working across various design fields for more than 10 years. He lived, worked, and studied in London for many years before embarking on a 4-year bicycle ride from London to Tokyo with a few stops to work in the field of Landscape Architecture – Istanbul, Dubai, Singapore, and Shanghai. Aigars has worked on high profile projects across the globe ranging in scale from large masterplans to small pieces of product design. With the main mantra "FORM FOLLOWS FUN" he tries to design things that are playful, unique, sustainable, and meaningful to this world.

LinkedIn / Websites: www.zeltini.com / www.betriton.com
FacebookInstagram & YouTube

PROGRAM MANAGERS:

DINA SUHANOVA is a trained architect and theorist of visual arts and culture. While working professionally as an architect, Dina turned her interest to the education of architects, and until 2019 she worked as an architecture programme director, tutor and project manager at RISEBA University of Applied Sciences. Since 2018, Dina has been the curator and programme manager of the summer school "FestivaL'and", organised in close cooperation with the Valmiera Summer Theatre Festival.

Currently, Dina is a researcher and project manager at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture at the Art Academy of Latvia. Previously, Dina worked with the architectural design studio "Mailitis Architects" and was a team member of the award-winning project of the Shaolin Flying Monk Temple in China. Dina is also an editor of numerous academic and scientific publications, contributes articles to the magazine "Latvijas Architektūra" and leads various interdisciplinary projects related to the field of architecture. In 2019 Dina was co-curator of the international conference "Architecture of Migration", organised by the Latvian Association of Architects. From 2022 she is co-curator of the architecture event series SALONS together with Dagnija Smilga.

ANNA SAUROVA is a graduate of the RISEBA Faculty of Architecture and Design (FAD). She is currently continuing MA studies in the Landscape and Urban Planning speciality. During her studies, Anna participated in various summer schools, plein airs, workshops and competitions and also accepted academic challenges while preparing an article for the scientific journal ADAMarts. Anna has participated in three "FestivaL'and" summer schools, both as a student and as part of the organizing team. From 2021, she combines studies with the position of project manager at FAD, which allows her to actively participate in various activities related to architecture education.

Summer School FestivaL'and

from 2018

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