The last century saw vernacular building techniques and knowledge being substituted by industrial and technological materials, namely in the context of cheap oil prices, which facilitated the construction with materials coming from all over the world. However, with raising energy costs, there is an increasing interest in producing with local resources and improve energy self-sufficiency on buildings. By doing so, it is contributing for lowering the ecological footprint associated with construction and maintenance of buildings, minimizing environmental impacts. To guarantee that low skilled construction workers and/or professionals can have access to this know-how, that knowledge about legal aspects is more solid, and that popular and scientific knowledge are put together to find solutions able to answer to the current resources and environmental context is our aim. The intention and objective is to spread, exchange techniques and clarify legal issues connected to this architectural and technological knowledge between the European partners involved, to enable citizens to construct and maintain buildings, based in sustainability principles. In a european crisis context, where the unemployment grew, in particular the one related to the construction sector where the workers majority are low skilled, immigrants or minorities, having already less opportunities to get out of a mainly precarious work cycle, LearnBIØN has the objective to reinforce adults key competences, especially regarding social and civic, sense of initiative, entrepreneurship, self esteem and responsibility towards the self and the others and sustainability issues. Empowering people to act strongly to build their own community and to build their own learning and professional path, is the expected result. Building the inner self through constructing a mark on the community built environment mirrors this parallel approach between the built object and the development of the one who builds it. BIØN strives at being the missing link, to help fostering and disseminating this cooperation and its results at the European, and worldwide level. To foster knowledge transfer, the implementation of trust systems of validation and recognition of the skills, competences and knowledge, using EU tools, such as European Qualification Framework and the introduction and development of ECVET credit system, is a priority. Project’s goal is to create a network of architects, master builders, engineers and researchers working and teaching basic notions of sustainability, low environmental impact architecture and energetic strategies for autonomous buildings. In order to do so: 1) research and recover vernacular techniques, work being done by each partner as a mission along the last years; 2) reinterpret at contemporary sustainability standards and needs; 3) develop methodologies to spread this knowledge and train people 4) implementing validation system in order to solidify this training methods. In order to achieve this, the LearnBIØN project is born, aiming to answer the need for innovative ways to train target groups, with a practical approach to sustainability and citizenship. This network involves seven different partners including grass root organisations, NGO’s, Research Centres, Universities and Architecture Offices working with different techniques, technologies and methods to be shared in diverse contexts, especially by people outside the main research circles, with particular attention to low skilled adults, unemployed, minorities and NEET. The members of the network share a deep understanding of their local and social context and a common preoccupation in building ecologically. BIØN proposes with this project the organization of an european wide research and training activities that promote the appropriation of these techniques by the local population, and the low skilled professionals in the field. LearnBIØN expects to train directly 140 people, in 7 courses in different European countries (resulting in 6 built didactic prototypes), create a website to share the research results and to be a on-line training platform, 8 guides and 7 exhibitions to spread the outcomes of this project, multiplying the reach of the project exponentially. BIØN aims at being a long-lasting and growing partnership, producing open knowledge on low impacts construction, and contributing to address the challenges that our societies are currently facing. The Building Impact Zero Network (BIØN) believes that 1+1=3, and thus combines contemporary knowledge, communication technology and tools with vernacular intelligence. Learn to innovate with tradition, walking the future knowing the ways of the past.

The construction sector is facing a problem of exhaustion of energy and material resources. Regarding the Global Status Report (GABC 2017), the construction industry and the use of the buildings are responsible for 36% of the global energy consumption and 39% of the CO2 emissions. Architecture practices tend towards standardization; however, tailor-made solutions are essential to adapt human settlements to the local disparities in terms of climate, resources and know-how. Social economy and civil society actors are inventing new practices based on the reinterpretation of local vernacular architectures (such as the use of local resources, bioclimatic approaches, and so on) and also in terms of community participation (placemaking, participatory processes, for example).In a logic of “act local, think global”, the cooperation between local agents of the change to local-made solutions is vital to guarantee a scaling up of their good practices. The exchange with and among people with different backgrounds enhances this process. In view of these considerations, BIØN (Building Impact Zero Network) was founded in 2015. It aims to divulge knowledge in the field of low environmental impact building techniques through inclusive architectural practices. From 2015 to 2018, the network realized a first Erasmus+ project called LearnBIØN in which seven organizations from five European countries cooperated to train 140 adults, implementing an innovative hands-on-approach didactic methodology. On the basis of this valuable experience, the network is launching an enhanced edition of the first project called LearnBIØN#2. The new consortium is formed by three NGO’s (Oficinas do Convento [PT], Architectural Environmental Strategies-AES [SW], and Architettura a kilometro zero-Ak0 [Italy]), two cooperatives (Actyva - miga ecoarquitectura [Spain] and Architettura e cooperazione - Arcó [Italy]), one small company (Canyaviva [Spain]) and two research centers belonging to universities (Haute Ecole de Bruxelles-Brabant - HE2B, C.E.R.I.S.ES [Belgium] and Sciences Po Grenoble, Chaire d’Economie Sociale et Solidaire [France]). The intention is to implement five workshops tackling new building techniques and complementary approaches to the techniques previously addressed. The project also intends to use video as a way of encouraging the participation of trainees in the process of sharing knowledge and as a powerful tool for social network dissemination. Eight events (“LocalForum” and “OpenBIØN”) hosted by the partners are fostering an increased impact of the network at a larger scale.BIØN plans to continue its efforts for the inclusion of low-skilled adults by considering them as a main target group for its lifelong training actions. In a context of an European crisis, where unemployment became widespread, in particular in the construction sector, LearnBIØN#2 aims to facilitate the access to validation of non-formal and informal learning, taking advantage of the new European certification of earth-based building techniques (ECVET units). The network intends to align its training activities with these new standards, opening educational pathways. Regarding the capacity of the partners to engage low-skilled adults in their training activities, synergies have to be created with key local agents. For this purpose, the skills of the partners are being reinforced through staff training activities addressing two aspects: the placemaking processes and the knowledge of social ecosystems. The first is led by AES, the second by Sciences Po Grenoble, a new partner in this project, counting with the collaboration of experts on territorial approaches. Both training activities are retro-fed by fieldwork and will result in the creation of different outputs of high transferability potential to other agents of the social economy. Concerned with the importance of a long-duree perspective of construction, the network also intends to develop a follow-up methodology to analyze in retrospective its own practices with a multidisciplinary approach (monitoring of the indoor climate conditions after several years in different seasons, maintenance and use by the community, etc).LearnBIØN#2 expects to directly train around 120 adults, in eight training sessions in different European countries (resulting in five didactic prototypes); to gather 250 participants in eight multiplier events; to produce five new video tutorials packages transmitting practical information about the techniques and how to teach them; six follow-up reports of the past actions of the network; and three outputs on placemaking processes and local ecosystems analysis. All these contents are intended to be shared at BIØN’s web platform, in order to reach a broader public of students, professionals and other people that did not have the opportunity to participate in the training activities of the network, ensuring the visibility of the project beyond its official terminus point (2022).