DESIGN AND FABRICATION
GRASSHOPPER SCRIPT: SINGLE STRIP SINGLE STRIP SUPPORT OVERVIEW RIBS BREAKDOWN CNC PROCESS VERTICAL MEMBERS AND ADDITIONAL SUPPORTS VERTICAL MEMBERS AND ADDITIONAL SUPPORTS: BREAKDOWN PROCESSING WOOD FABRICATION
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.
Computational Design Seminar : Parametric Partition Wall
Location Valldaura Labs, Dorms Inspiration Parametric wall designed by Denis Homyakov Design Concept The concept was to design a screen that could double as a shelf while also offering privacy. Additionally, we aimed to create a unique design on each side, given its function as a partition wall. Pseudo Code Grasshopper Script Script to Surface … Read more
Computational Design Seminar
Dynamic Partition Wall Inspiration Design Process – Iterations In terms of design, we aimed to design curvature, not just along the vertical faces of the panels, but along the horizontal planes as well to add more dimension to the structure. Our goal was to create curvature in both dimensions for a more dynamic structure, which … Read more
Sustainable Forest Management
Objective Sustainably harvesting trees through single-tree selection system. The harvested trees are then dried, cleaned, and processed for various designs throughout the course of MAEBB at Valldaura Labs. Single-Tree Selection System: The single-tree selection system is a sustainable forestry management practice where individual trees are selectively harvested from a forest, rather than removing all trees in … Read more
Nature as Product
Wark reflects on how modern nature tourism often prioritizes “second nature”—human-made environments—over authentic nature. On her family trip to Mount Zion, the park’s vast canyons and rock formations inspire awe, but this grandeur is soon filtered through rituals like taking selfies. Wacker’s RV transforms the wild into a comfortable, controlled space, making nature feel familiar. … Read more
Close Reading: a space tragedy
An Analysis / Interpretation on Katherine Hayles, ‘How We Read’, ADE Bulletin 150 (2010), pp. 62-79 Close Reading in our brave new world seems to be, indeed, an act of bravery—rarely practiced and disfavored by contemporary multimedia. Technology has stripped reading of its old contemplative value, scattering it across illuminated fields of tabs and battering … Read more
Bridging comfort, affecting the environment
McKenzie Wark, during the chapter “Adventures in Third Nature” of the book “New Geographies #9” uses her own family vacation as a sociological observation study to address the distantiation between humanity and nature. Everything built that shapes the natural environment and promotes comfort for mankind is part of the so-called “second nature”, like the own … Read more
One Planet, One Problem: Rethinking Urban as Global
“The end of the “wilderness.” In every region of the globe, erstwhile “wilderness” spaces are being transformed and degraded through the cumulative socio-ecological consequences of unfettered worldwide urbanization.” – Neil Brenner & Christian Schmid’s Planetary Urbanization from Implosions and Explosions (2013), p.65 source: Pinterestedited by author Earth, An Urban Organism Planetary urbanization challenges the idea … Read more
Evolving Urban Landscapes
Micro-Essay by Isabel Flores “a new conceptual lexicon must be created for identifying the wide variety of urbanization processes that are currently reshaping the urban world and, relatedly, for deciphering the new emergent landscapes of socio-spatial difference that have been crystallizing in recent decades.” (Neil Brenner & Christian Schmid, p. 02) Planetary Urbanization” (2013) explores … Read more
Ecological Intelligence 1. Trimester 2024/25
In our seminar with Michael Salka and Mariano Gomez Luque, we explored the meaning of ecology and the multifaceted challenges of sustainability, materiality and humanity’s relationship with the planet. Over eight weeks, we delved into two distinct but deeply connected approaches to build with ecological thinking and addressing climate change as well as envisioning a … Read more
Terraforming Space Cowboys
MICRO-ESSAY On Gerry Canavan, If Those Goes On Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction’, 2014 & Benjamin Bratton, ‘Planetary Sapience Technology & The Human’, 2021 Both Bratton’s “Planetary Sapience” and Canavan’s “If This Goes On” touch upon the concept of intentional terraforming, albeit in significantly different contexts. Bratton frames it as a necessary outcome of … Read more
Science Fiction in the Present
Micro-Essay by Georgia Hoyer “When we contemplate ruins, Christopher Woodward writes, we contemplate our own future.”(Canavan, p. 11) Benjamin Bratton’s “Planetary Sapience” and Gerry Canavan’s “If This Goes On” intersect in their exploration of humanity’s precarious relationship with the planet, emphasizing the power of imagination and speculative thinking to confront ecological and technological crises. Both … Read more
(Un)limited growth?
MAEBB01 / M02 ECOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE / MICRO-ESSAY On Benjamin Bratton,‘Planetary Sapience’, NOEMA (2021), pp. 1-10. On Gerry Canavan,‘Introduction: If This Goes On’, Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction (2014),pp. 1-19. “In stark contrast to the untold riches and total freedom they are imagined to provide, distant space colonies — whether on inhospitable moons or orbiting … Read more
Is Nature just another App?
MAEBB01 / M02 ECOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE / MICRO-ESSAY On McKenzie Wark,‘Adventures in Third Nature’,pp. 179 – 182. The idea of second nature1comes from the layer of physical transformations that humans have built all around our environments: houses, cities, and even RVs. Second nature operates through tangible items and mechanisms that directly affect the physical environment. It … Read more
Revolutionizing Architecture with 3D Sand Printing
Revolutionizing Architecture with 3D Sand PrintingA Case Study Analysis by Reuben Diamond In recent years, the intersection of computational design and 3D printing has pushed the boundaries of what architecture can achieve. The article “Printing Architecture: Castles Made of Sand” by Benjamin Dillenburger and Michael Hansmeyer explores how 3D sand printing—a cutting-edge additive manufacturing technology—can … Read more
Redefining the Urban
MICRO-ESSAY BY REUBEN DIAMOND “ A new conceptual lexicon must be created for identifying the wide variety of urbanisation processes that are currently reshaping the urban world” (“Planetary Urbanization,” Brenner, N., & Schmid, C., p. 13) BOUNDARIES DISSOLVED As planetary urbanization reconfigures social, economic, and spatial relations, the traditional frameworks of urban studies encounter profound … Read more
La Obertura – Water Management
The primary objective of the water management strategy employed in this project is to reduce the water usage of both the building occupants (including residents and industrial users) to a minimum level. One straightforward method for reducing water consumption involves implementing the following measures. By setting a baseline for the overall water consumption in residential … Read more
Proximity Food: Metabolic Building Systems – Energy
In the face of the climate crisis, the role of energy systems in building design has come under increasingly scrutiny. Buildings are not only significant energy consumers but also major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. As we grapple with rising global temperatures and rising urbanization, the focus on creating energy efficient buildings which rely on clean, … Read more
Proximity Food: Metabolic Building Systems – Water
Plot 2 – Proximity Food combines food production & residencies. Greenhouses split residential buildings, providing residents with access to growing spaces to be used for food self-sufficiency throughout the year. The industrial level includes a variety of food industries – including hydroponic farming, food R&D labs and urban food forests. Water is a crucial part of … Read more
Proximity Food: Urban Synthesis
Barcelona is actively seeking to develop a more sustainable food system for its residents. The aim is to green its municipal food markets by reducing the distances from which the food is sourced. This initiative has been labeled by the city of Barcelona as “Proximity Food”. We co-opt this title to emphasize our project’s importance … Read more
La Obertura
Sant Adrià de Besòs is a municipality conurbated to Barcelona. For the past decades, the city has faced a transformation in its spatial organization and uses. The high demand for housing along with an industry that already has no space in urban centers created a challenge, which is the key of the project. In order … Read more
VeloVerd La Verneda: Urban Synthesis
Incorporating the principles of Industry 4.0, our architectural project redefines urban living by seamlessly integrating sustainable design strategies with advanced manufacturing techniques. With a focus on promoting bicycle culture and health, our industry manufactures bikes. In this module, we synthesised the previous modules into a holistic design. The design principles from thermodynamics, exosystemic structures, metabolic … Read more
VeloVerd La Verneda: Ecosystemic Structures
Incorporating the principles of Industry 4.0, our architectural project redefines urban living by seamlessly integrating sustainable design strategies with advanced manufacturing techniques. With a focus on promoting bicycle culture and health, our industry manufactures bikes. In this module, we understood the different parts of the building, focusing on how their structures work and are interconnected. … Read more
Echo house | Project media
As part of the media project class, we received tools for presenting architectural projects in a more interesting and convincing manner. We experimented with two types of media: a documentary-style video based on interviews and rendering using Lumion. We practiced these tools on our semester project, Echo House, which focuses on the combination of housing … Read more
