During the first six months in the program, students are comprehensively trained in the principles of design and construction of advanced ecological buildings through a series of focused and intense modules, which include material production, thermal and metabolic building systems, ecological structures and façade systems and much more. After developing the necessary skills and a holistic understanding of advanced and ecological design, students collectively draft and build a full scale ecological building prototype.
TULIP WINDOWS Taking inspiration from: Little Island by Heatherwick Studios, New York (2021) we replicated the landscape pillars onto a building facade by rotating them to the XZ plane. The extruding pillars are window opening that vary in size depending on solar raditation needed per area in the building. The objective is to recreate the … Read more
Zero waste acorn flour production in Barcelona Quirky Quercus is a cottage industry aiming to transform locally collected acorns fallen from the parks of Barcelona into flour. The product is designed to use all parts of the tree, including the acorn shells, leaves, and oak bark to make a biomaterial packaging. This project strengthens connections … Read more
Crafting Nature’s Palette for Sustainable Printing Introduction For our ecological interactions class, we were tasked with creating a place specific cottage industry, that takes local natural resources and turns them into unique products for the community. The cottage industry should be mostly self-sufficient, and should use resources intentionally and responsibly, to promote longevity and healthy … Read more
Tornant a l’olivera was born from a simple belief: that the most nourishing products come from landscapes that are alive, respected, and cared for. Based in Catalunya, we work with regenerative olive groves where resilient olive trees coexist with aromatic undergrowth—lavender, rosemary, and native plants that strengthen ecosystems and shape the character of each harvest. … Read more
The Galaxia Temple was the crown of Black Rock City at Burning Man 2018. Translating the graceful ascending curves into a facade required identifying the core components of the facade. The rising Mandala shape is the most easily identifiable component, when one breaks down that shape it is clear the swooping curves unfurling from the … Read more
For our Advanced Digital Tools term one final project, we were tasked with designing a building facade based on inspiration from pavilion architecture or existing facades, using Grasshopper. Pavilion Inspiration – The Toledo Gridshell The inspiration for our facade is the Toledo Gridshell constructed in a courtyard in the Naples School of Architecture. When researching … Read more
This project is in reference to the 2025 Serpentine Pavilion by Marina Tabassum “Inspired by summer park-going and arched garden canopies that filter soft daylight through green foliage, the structure is comprised of four wooden sculptural forms with a translucent façade that diffuses and dapples light when it enters the space. Integral to Tabassum’s design … Read more
Reference Geometry: Los Manantiales – by Felix Candela Decoding the Hypar Logic Félix Candela used hyperbolic paraboloids (hypars) made from straight lines.The restaurant roof is composed of 4 identical shells.The geometry is based on a square, diagonal supports, and straight-line grids. Hyperbolic Paraboloid Drawing by Candela Deriving the shape from Hypar Mirroring the derived element … Read more
Analyzing the concentration of water flow across a landscape is an important factor in site planning, being able to communicate those findings in a digestible manner is the issue I hoped to address today. The focal point of the drawing is the flow of water, I did not want to draw attention to the terrace … Read more
At MAEBB We learned how to cut trees, here is how they grow Collserola Natural Park, rising above Barcelona, is home to a diverse Mediterranean ecosystem where oaks are among the most emblematic species. Before the hills were cleared and later populated by pioneering pine trees, the two dominant species were the Holm Oak (Quercus … Read more
The MAEBB Exhibition Space is conceived as a lightweight timber pavilion that gently rises above the existing Valldaura Labs building—a contemporary crown inspired by Herzog & de Meuron, reinterpreted through the ecological logic of locally sourced wood. Resting on a minimal peripheral frame, the structure introduces a luminous and fully reversible addition at the height … Read more
This drawing explores how architecture transforms when it stops imposing its order and allows the forest to define its own conditions. It explores a shift from “building in a forest” to “building as a forest”. In the drawing Valldaura Lab is not an object placed in the forest, it is an interpreter of the forest … Read more
The greenhouse that was built in one of the previous MAEBB projects is a successful and daily used prototype. If something could be changed, it would be the gap in between the windows. These let too much air inside the greenhouse and makes the room too cold for some plants in winter. The airflow is … Read more
Acoustics is the field of physics studying the mechanics of waves such as vibrations, sounds, ultra- and infra-sounds. Room acoustics is a sub-branch focusing on the behavior of sound in a room. The following diagrams showcase the acoustics reflection from the ceiling of the Valldaura lab basement. In both drawings, the initial sound is initialized … Read more
Pedro Pitarch led a Visual Intelligence course, and our assignment was to take the plans of Valldaura’s main building, and implement a “condition” of our choosing: a way to alter the building, or represent certain existing characteristics in a unique and interesting way. For my project, I decided to see what it could look like … Read more
