DOMa Summer School 2023: COOL DOWN POP UP
Year: 2023 | Status: Completed | Lead Organization: Doma Education | Summer School Directors: Haris Biskos, Thanassis Manis | Studio Lead: Georgeen Theodore (Interboro Partners - US) | Funded by: Univery of Thessaly (ARSINOE Horizon Project) | With the Auspices of: City of Athens
The DOMa Summer School 2023 took place from July 3–14 in Athens, Greece, led by Georgeen Theodore of INTERBORO Partners. Sixteen architecture students from around the world gathered for a two-week, design-intensive workshop focused on the critical issue of urban overheating.
As cities become increasingly vulnerable to extreme temperatures, the program explored how architecture and urban design can respond—both through long-term strategies and immediate, human-scaled interventions. Under the theme “COOL DOWN POP UP,” the workshop addressed the need for creative adaptation to heat in everyday urban life.
Through a series of talks, site walks, and hands-on sessions with invited experts from the fields of architecture, urbanism, climate science, and public policy, participants investigated the environmental, spatial, and social implications of heat in the city. The design focus of the program was the development of short-term spatial proposals that could cool public space while enhancing urban life.
The workshop culminated in the collective design and construction of a temporary public installation in central Athens—offering both a moment of climatic relief and a playful platform for public engagement. Hosted at Romantso, a cultural hub in the heart of the city, the program became a living laboratory for testing ideas at the intersection of climate, space, and urban life.
The DOMa Summer School continues to position design as a tool for environmental resilience, urban innovation, and collective experience in the contemporary Mediterranean metropolis.
