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.

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Advanced Digital Tools

Grasshopper fundamentalsMAEBB program 23/24 Grasshopper is plug-in within Rhino, it enables to create complex parametric designs by connecting components in a graphical interface. This tool allows for a new way of designing and manipulating complex geometries. During the first semester, we had to submit weekly assignments. For our final assignment we had to send in … Read more

La Danza | Advanced Digital Tools

During the Advanced Digital Tools classes, we were introduced to various aspects of the parametric design software Grasshopper. Weekly, we had assignments to review the components / tools learned in class. At last, we had one final exercise to combine everything we were taught during the course into one final animation. Though we had some … Read more

Shoe rack | Design and Fabrication

When the year started, Nishi and I noticed we missed something important: a place to place our numerous shoes. We thus decided we should make a shoe rack to safely and orderly store our shoes away. Since we wanted place to store boots, we decided for a design with alternating overhang. Additionally, we decided not … Read more

FLUCTUATIONS – a form finding exploration

A FORM FINDING EXPLORATION Fluctuations in design; the variations, changes, or deviations that contribute to the form-finding process. This research lies in unfolding the possibilities of parametric design driven by the use of jitter and random components in Grasshopper. These tools are used to generate variations and introduce randomness into the design. Let’s explore how … Read more

From Concept to Craft: Fabricating and Assessing Wooden Table Structures

The design & fabrication course focused on inculcating hands-on experience in utilizing advanced machines such as CNC routers, 3D printers, and traditional carpentry tools. In this class, we were taught how to use various technologies to fabricate our designs into the final product. For this program, we started with prototyping the structure of our Table. … Read more

Overview | Advanced Digital Tools

Within the Advanced Digital Tools course, we embarked on an exploration of parametric design using Grasshopper, exploring the possibilities it allows. This overview will showcase some of the projects I worked on and culminates in a presentation of the final assignment. This journey underscores Grasshopper’s dual nature—as a controllable tool and a gateway to innovative … Read more

Designing & Fabricating the Umbraculo Bench

Prototype and Final Production The Umbraculo bench was designed in three main stages. The first being the design phase, this phase underwent many design iterations until a final design was settled upon. Next came the the prototype phase where we utilised the 3D printer and the CNC machine to better understand our design as well … Read more

Design + Fabrication

This post shows the different products that I produced and the fabrication methods and machines that were applied during the first semester, using the machines of the carpentry and the Green Fablab at Valldaura Labs. Table saw jigs The table saw jigs serve the purpose of making angled or elevated cuts on the table saw … Read more

Adaptive stairs | Advanced Digital Tools

Project AbstractThe programming of the definition for these adaptive stairs serves the purpose of investigating parametric design as a type of proceduralmodelling by using Rhino Grasshopper comprising of parameters, algorithms and their outcomes. The Grasshopper definition uses an extensive set of parameters, published to Rhino’s remote control panel to adapt the design in real-time. The … Read more

Pinus halepensis | Sustainable Forest management

Tree search. Pinus halepensis |Sustainable Forest management Sustainable forest management classes took place at Valldaura labs located in Barcelona’s Collserola Park. Trough different guest lectures, we where introduced to the parks history and biodiversity, focusing on the conservation of the forest and its diverse species. Cutting down some Pinus halepensis commonly known as Aleppo pine, … Read more

Prototyping “Notched In”: A journey to the final model

The worked developed for Design and Fabrication course focused on the construction and exploration of prototypes for the Shelves project, part of the Collaborative Design Studio discipline. Two different approaches The design process commenced with various ideas and structural concepts, eventually narrowing down to two options: double columns and double beams. To investigate strength, assembly … Read more

Advanced Digital Tools: Getting Familiar with Grasshopper

In the context of technology, Grasshopper refers to a visual programming language and environment. Unlike traditional coding languages, Grasshopper employs a graphical interface, allowing users to create and manipulate algorithms through a visual representation of code elements. Originally designed as a plugin for the 3D modeling software Rhinoceros, Grasshopper enables architects, designers, and engineers to … Read more

Advanced Digital Tools: An Overview

During the first term of the Master’s program, we took a class called “Advanced Digital Tools,” which focused on exploring all the functions and potentials of the software “Grasshopper.” This blog post aims to showcase some of the works developed during the course, illustrating both the processes and results. Same code, variations of parameters The … Read more

Advanced Computational Tools: A Journey Through Grasshopper

Welcome to the world of advanced computational tools, where we delve into the intricacies of Grasshopper, a graphical algorithm editor tightly integrated with Rhino’s 3-D modeling tools. This blog post will guide you through the learning process, focusing on the fundamental aspects of Grasshopper and logical representations. Grasshopper Fundamentals Grasshopper is a powerful tool that … Read more

MO.CA | media production

The main aim is to provide an insight as to what the students were experiencing and actively trying to achieve through every step of the process. This goal is to focus on practical visual storytelling strategies and skills through the work of the MAEBB Students. CLT PANELS MAKING OFThe media production team began with an … Read more

MO.CA | final thesis design

The brief for the MAEBB batch of 2022-23 was to design and construct an advanced ecological prototype mobile home. The home was to be designed for two individuals and basic domestic amenities of a tiny home. The mobility element of the brief started an interesting journey that brought forth discussions on nomadism and collective sustenance. … Read more

MO.CA | material production

This years Material Production started after the final design for the prototype was chosen and ran parallel to the further development of the design. The main goals were: – to monitor the amount, humidity and density of the locally sourced aleppo pine wood – to simulate production flows in the workshop (tools and time needed, … Read more

MO.CA | final thesis construction

MO.CA construction sequence Thinking about the sequence of events was vital to a successful construction. With this cascading of events we were able to balance completing design details with progressing towards completion. Proper time management and scheduling was important to maintain momentum. The sequence informed our work in all stages: processing, assembly, and installation. Final … Read more

DZONGHA | Urban Interventions

The Site chosen is Paro, Bhutan is a place of rich culture, high environmental values, and beautiful nature. For the design of a place to learn and exchange traditional handicraft techniques and knowledge, our building follows design values to enhance the space by efficient, environmentally-sound choices. In the first layer of design, we studied and … Read more