European Architecture Students Assembly is a platform for alternative education organized by students, for students.

EASA offers a unique framework for co-learning as a non institutionalised way of teaching, learning and exchange. A horizontal learning process where decisions are made upon consensus, EASA gives a chance to experience architecture in a way that universities are yet not providing.

EASA brings students to a certain context, defined by the location and theme of the assembly, where they have to raise architectural questions themselves and investigate them. Being their own educators, students then elaborate the answers and bring them to reality.

In 2025 the main event of EASA will be organised in Savonlinna, Finland with the theme ’Rhizome’. Below you can read more about the theme and the location of the event.

Theme: Rhizome

The theme of EASA 2025 is Rhizome.

In nature, rhizomes are the root systems of all fungi and plants. Rhizomes have no central system and they are the underground mass of interconnected multispecies roots that grow, organize and share resources horizontally. A rhizome is a nonlinear network that connects any point to any other point within the network. It is also a philosophical concept that can be used to analyze different ways of organizing in our society and everyday life. 

With the theme rhizome we want to explore the relationship of architecture and built environment to ecology and power structures. We see rhizome as a metaphor for ecological systems but also as a tool for creating potential new world views and shifting ways of thinking. As architecture students we want to ask what it means to design in the era of the climate crisis. EASA 2025 examines rhizome as a conceptual tool to rethink spatial practices and narratives underlying the design process.

Location: Savonlinna

‘Why Savonlinna?’ is a question often asked when people find out where EASA 2025 will be organized. Savonlinna, the location of EASA Rhizome, is a small city in Eastern Finland, located by lake Saimaa, which is the largest of the tens of thousands of lakes in Finland. The location close to the eastern border, far from the growing Southern parts of the country, creates regional challenges related to shrinking population and lack of connections. Yet, these so-called difficulties also open up an opportunity for the EASA community to focus on the interwindment of societal structures, the challenges they currently face and their relation to the natural world. The theme Rhizome offers a great lens for approaching such issues by giving tools to critically examine these connections especially in the context of Savonlinna region.

Savonlinna is known for the lake Saimaa surrounding it, and the rich history which is most monumentally manifested in Olavinlinna castle, where also the well respected Savonlinna Opera Festival takes place every July. The city has beautiful and historical buildings but it is good to note, that because of factors such as late urbanization and wars, the built heritage of Finland and therefore also Savonlinna is relatively young, compared to many other European countries. The economy of the city is focused on technology, forest industry and tourism, which are closely tied to the history and nature of the city. 

Last but definitely not least, the final reason for selecting Savonlinna as a location for EASA 2025 was the specific site of Lehtiniemi, which was, before anything else, a result of successful cooperation with Savonlinna city officials. The serenity and beauty of outdoor space – with trees, green lawns, interesting buildings and closeness of the Saimaa lake – creates a soft space hopefully allowing reflection, creativity and joyful co-living within the EASA community.

SITE: LEHTINIEMI

The site for EASA Rhizome is Lehtiniemi, former manor, located 14 kilometers away from the Savonlinna center, by lake Saimaa close to forests and old fields. The history of Lehtiniemi manor dates back to the 17th century as a manor farm owned by a few different noble families. From the 1930s to 2008 Lehtiniemi hosted an emäntäkoulu, a school teaching domestic skills to women and wives. After 2008 the site has mostly been unused except for a few years in 2015 to 2017 when a refugee reception center operated there. As Lehtiniemi is quite disconnected from the urban context, it offers EASA a tight site where focus can be put on communal life: EASA Rhizome will be in nature quite compact and we will be spending a lot of time on the site. 

The site consists of around ten buildings and a garden with a shore to lake Saimaa. The biggest building on site was built in 1929 to be a school building. The oldest preserved building is from the 19th century and newest from the 1990s. One of the buildings is a sauna next to the lake. The buildings and the surrounding garden will accommodate us and have spaces for lectures, workshops, bar, eating and other important functions EASA will need. One of the buildings in the site will be demolished soon after EASA which may offer some possibilities for workshops that might want to make use of it. 

Since the site is far from the urban context, surrounded by a lake, forest, a garden and fields, it offers opportunities for EASA to focus on the relationship we have to these surroundings and the workshops to explore our connection to our environment.