The Summer Intensive Program of Engineering and Technology School No. 777 Take Place at SPbGASU

On 1–5 June, senior school students from St Petersburg Engineering and Technology School No. 777 visited the St Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering as part of the summer engineering intensive course held annually at this educational institution for in-depth study of modern technologies. School No. 777 offers a new educational format based on developing engineering, technical, creative, and scientific competencies in students already during their secondary education. SPbGASU and the school have a cooperation agreement.

Opening the intensive program, school principal Vera Knyazeva wished her students productive work: "These two weeks are your chance to try your hand at real-world work, become familiar with engineering specialties, and take a step toward making an informed career choice."

At our university, guests were introduced to the laboratories, scientific and technical library, workshops of the Faculty of Architecture, the Educational Center for Digital Competence, and the Educational Center for Project-Based Learning.

The majority of the university visit was devoted to the practical portion of the intensive course, "Creating an information model of architectural solutions for a residential building in Renga professional software." Under the guidance of Olga Svetlova, a senior lecturer at the Department of Information and Mathematical Modeling Technologies, by the end of the second day, the senior school students had already created their own cottage designs.

Yury Zgoda, a specialist at the Education Center for Digital Competence, gave a lecture to schoolchildren on "Fundamentals of visualizing building information models in virtual reality." As part of their hands-on experience, the students used VR headsets to explore the buildings they had designed.

Additionally, the course "Application of large language models for generating architectural and civil engineering structures" explored the challenges and prospects of using large language models in architecture. Students learned to write prompts for various neural networks, tried their hand at vibe coding, examined the results, and analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of various automated modeling programs.

Following the results of the engineering intensive, defenses of projects prepared by senior school students took place at the SPbGASU Educational Center for Project-Based Learning. “We are confident that we will be able to apply the acquired practical skills in everyday life and in further education at our school,” one of the guests expressed the general opinion.

All participants in the annual summer engineering intensive at SPbGASU received certificates for successfully completing the project "Cottage in Renga Professional. From Simple to Complex."

"The students easily picked up the new engineering program and designed cottages on the second day of class. At the presentations, we received not only beautifully designed projects but also a lot of positive feedback about the intensive course. Thanks to the students' interest and genuine passion, they were able to accomplish even more than they had planned. Events like these help lay the foundation for making an informed career choice and building a future in the present," noted Olga Svetlova.