CULTURAL VALUES OF EARTHEN ARCHITECTURE FOR THE SOCIETY OF THE FUTURE. WORKSHOPS FOR CHILDREN IN THE SUMMER SCHOOL OF THE UPV Camilla Mileto 1 , Fernando Vegas López-Manzanares 1 , Esther Blanco Tamayo 1 , Lidia García Soriano 1 1 Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) Abstract Vernacular architecture heritage, both local and global, is one of the mainstays of cultural structure. This heritage is currently in a state of disrepair and abandonment, resulting mostly from a lack of awareness and good judgement on the part of the people. Therefore, one of the key actions for the promotion of proper assessment is education on cultural, social and environmental values. Educating the society of the future, our children and youth, is the key to success in this cultural recovery process. Earthen architecture in particular is unknown to many and forgotten by others. However, it represents the history, the present, and the future of many different cultures. At times, this architecture is considered to be poor, uncatalogued and worthless. We have taken on the task of changing this perception, promoting this building technique and working towards earthen architectural heritage being recognised as part of our constructive knowledge. This article presents the activities and workshops on earthen architecture held for children aged eleven and twelve at the summer school of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) in July 2015. The content of the workshop was divided into four training blocks: earth, adobe, earthen architecture and adobe construction. Activities were divided into two sessions lasting an hour and a half each. The first two blocks were included in the first session while the last two were left for the second. Approximately two hundred students, organised into eight groups of twenty-five children each, took part in these activities. The block dealing with earth as a material was the most theoretical in the activity. It allowed children to understand the properties of earth and its characteristics and to support this through their own experience. In the section studying adobe, children worked on the construction technique of adobe, by making their own raw earth bricks. When studying earthen architecture, students learnt about other cultures and different geographical realities. In addition, students were generally able to identify earthen architectural heritage. Finally, by working on the block on construction with adobe, skills in the technique were improved. At the end of the session, students built a wall using their handmade bricks. This encouraged teamwork and an overall sense of belonging within the group. During the activities, quotes from students included statements such as “ We do not have to underestimate this architecture, even though it looks dirty and worthless. It requires hard work and many people have been involved”. This shows how the workshops made these young students aware of this architecture, an architecture which respects the environment and promotes camaraderie and creative work. Keywords: Learning by doing, earth architecture, children's workshops. 1 THE CULTURAL VALUES OF EARTHEN ARCHITECTURE Architecture is a major part of the cultural expression of a country, region or a specific geographical area. The materials used in the construction of a specific region are a basic reflection of its culture. In the particular case of earthen architecture with its different constructive variants, it is an essential part of our culture due to its remote origin, technological variety and adaptation to natural and cultural surroundings. However, earthen architecture and its construction techniques have gradually disappeared, either abandoned or replaced by new standard techniques, especially during the second half of the 20th century. This was the result of the lack of knowledge and loss of prestige of traditional architecture, considered to be of poor quality and associated with underdevelopment. This situation led to dwindling awareness of earth, a construction material which can be used to work on numerous cultural and social values linked to sustainability and the current management of available resources. Earthen