Bologna 2014 – Building Europe in 3D

Last April ten students studying at the Institute of Building and Construction Engineering together with two lecturers Mr Christian Brincat and Mr Mario Bugeja had the opportunity to participate in a bi-lateral Comenius Programme.  The first mobility was together with a technical Institute in Bolognia Italy; ‘Istituto Tecnico Commerciale e Geometra Crescenzi’.

The project is entitled ‘Building Europe in 3D’ and consisted in, finding a location in Bologna, which in our case was ‘Porta Saragozza’ one of the 12 gates that one could find in Bologna.  MCAST students together with the Italian students during their stay had to survey the area and the gate itself and creating a 3D model digitally. During this stay IBCE students visited other educational sites including; Istituto di Istruzione Superiore in which we were introduced with locals tremor experiences and other geological movements.  An interesting visit was at IIPLE (Istituto di Istruzione Professionale dei Lavoratori Edili di Bologna) Edilizia Sicura an educational institution on Building Safety measures.

A student studying BTEC Extended Diploma in construction and the built environment (Civil Engineering), Sarah Camilleri was one of the students that participated in this mobility.  It was an important learning experience for her abroad as part of her studies to learn new building technology. Sarah shared her experience during her mobility.

“During the site survey we used different and sophisticated equipment which record our work digitally ready to be put and converted into a drawing on CADD or Rhino. Also we used manual tools to survey the site, as manual as measuring rods and paper to sketch on. We shared our methods to conduct a survey around the location and knowledge on the software we use for building design. This trip to Bologna for me was not just working, learning and attending lectures with the Italians. In-fact I can personally say that from the first moment we introduced ourselves as the group from IBCE together with the Italian students, the period of ten days were not just a learning experience but a united team and true friends.

As a continuation of this project our institute will be hosting the Italian students in a few months and we are planning a week full of educational activities together with IBCE students, including 3D building design of a historical building and other site visits in which these would be definitely a fruitful experience for all.