Summer School
Have you ever considered the vital role that water plays in shaping cities and societies? Berlin, a city defined by its rivers, canals, and lakes, provides the perfect setting to explore the dynamic relationship between water and urban life. This is your opportunity to delve into one of the most pressing socio-urban issues of our time and contribute to innovative solutions for the future.
This summer, 2026, at Berlin International, we are continuing our journey of discovery with the BI Summer School. Over two exciting weeks, participants will collaborate with experts in urban studies, environmental science, and design to analyze and reimagine Berlin’s water systems. Water is the foundation of civilization—yet, in many contemporary urban environments, its importance is often overlooked or exploited. Through this program, we will explore its ecological, infrastructural, and cultural significance while identifying new ways to manage and sustain this invaluable resource.
Summer 2026 - “On Water”
The second BI Summer School focuses on topics related to "Water" to study and document the city of Berlin. Water historically is the reason why most cities and civilizations exist/thrive yet its importance is often neglected or deliberately undermined.
"On Water" alludes to the systems that connect different parts of the city and structure the intricate ebbs and flows of people, culture, and commerce animating the urban spaces that we inhabit. This topic puts forth the critical role that ecology and natural resources play in our cities. "Water" is essential and finite, amorphous yet heavily controlled.
This opportunity is unique! In this two-week program in July 2026, together we will investigate the role of "Water" in Berlin and unravel its potential to shape the future of other cities.
Key Information
- When: Summer 2026 - July 17 to August 2, Mondays to Saturdays from 09:00 to 17:00
- Where: BI Campus - Salzufer 6, 10587 Berlin
- Language: English
- Target: Open to all university students and recent graduates in architecture and other related disciplines. Young professionals with an appropriate background and a maximum of 3 years of experience in architecture and other related fields are also welcome.
Apply to BI Summer School
The next BI Summer School will take place in Summer 2026, between July 17th and August 1nd.
Applications will be accepted from Novemeber 1st to April 15th.
You will complete your application electronically through our online application portal. You will enter your personal details, and finally upload the required documents. These are:
- Passport
- Photo
- Proof of Academic Status
- Current Students: Academic Enrolment Certificate
- Recent Graduates: Official Academic Certificate/Diploma
- Young Professionals: Official Academic Certificate/Diploma
- Short motivation letter
The process will be as follows:
1. Step: Submission of Application
2. Step: Interview
3. Step: Payment
4. Step: Confirmation of Place
Depending on when the payment will be made, the following fees apply.
- Early Bird: Until Feb 15 - 600 EUR
- Normal Ticket: Until April 15 - 700 EUR
Your offer letter contains the fee to be paid in order to confirm and secure your seat. This fee covers the total cost of the BI Summer School 2025.
Diego Borrell is founder of TANAT (2019), a practice based in Mexico City that works between architecture, art, and research, with a deep interest n landscape, and water, through a critical perspective relating architecture and cities. Some questions had been raised relating the radical transformations of cities, through sistemic processes of colonization and extractivism. On this ongoing resarch, Diego started on 2024 the project Rizoma del Agua (Water Rhizome), focusing desing through reflecting on the present water crisis in Mexico City.
Through TANAT, Diego has exhibited different site-specific installations such as Cronoboros Pavilion at the Museo Experimental El Eco (Mexico City), Casa Wabi (Mx City, and Oaxaca), and the art fair Salón Acme.
Office ParkScheerbarth is a Berlin-based practice for architecture and urban planning. Founded in 2019 by Moojin Park (M.Arch, Harvard, BDA) and Benjamin Scheerbarth (MUP, Harvard), the office works with situations of complexity and seeks to innovate over restrictive forces.
Office ParkScheerbarth operates across the fields of planning and design. Founded in 2019 and based in Berlin, OPS is led by principals Moojin Park and Benjamin Scheerbarth. The interdisciplinary team, drawing from architecture, urban planning, and social science, allows the practice to explore, navigate and celebrate the co-existence of multiple perspectives within each project and the built environment at large. Committing to this diversity serves as a point of departure for varied modes of production that are not confined to buildings. The office's first projects are rooted in the cultural sphere. Examples include "Haus 2+", an award-winning mixed-use extension for Berlin's creative community at Holzmarkt.
Vesna Jovanović, is an architect, territorial researcher, and queer-feminist activist engaged in urban design and questions of urban policy.
From 2011 to 2015, she worked at ETH Studio Basel, co-authoring Territory – On the Development of Landscape and City (Park Books, 2016). She later taught urban geography at the Université de Neuchâtel, where she mapped socioeconomic processes of work-related migration. From 2021 to 2022, she coordinated the ETH Zurich–EPFL joint MAS in Urban and Territorial Design. Most recently, as visiting professor at KIT Karlsruhe from 2022 to 2023, she worked with students on reimagining residential neighbourhoods with integrated public food-production spaces, fostering new relationships between urban edges and the surrounding landscape.
In 2024, she founded Cabineta, a workroom dedicated to developing socially inclusive and ecologically responsible spatial interventions. Cabineta explores reducing material and energy inputs in construction while creating adaptive, appropriable spaces where diverse communities can feel empowered.
For information on the visa requirements, please contact the German consulate in your country of citizenship. A list of consulates per country can be found here.
General information on applying for a visa for the purpose of studying can be found here.
The conditions can vary significantly between countries and even individuals, so it’s always better to go directly to the responsible authority for the most accurate, up-to-date information.
Berlin International is not covering any assistance in visa matters.
