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.
Our collaborative design project kicked off for Máquina Climática Exhibition based on farming and harvesting local varieties of fruits and vegetables which will be held at the greenhouse in Parque de la Ciutadella, Catalonia. The exhibition focused on urban food production, requiring tables and chairs for hosting various activities like workshops and dining. Our goal was … Read more
Ensuring food security is a major challenge for cities worldwide. The vision of Bio-cities includes that of food self-sufficiency, tackling the environmental impact of current agriculture systems which contribute to environmental concern through food miles, land and habitat loss, soil erosion,and reliance on fossil-fuel derived fertilisers. The Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB) has 636km3 of … Read more
The first trimester’s Collaborative Design Studio Project we focused on the conception, design, and execution of a vertical farming system. The system is intended for exhibition at Barcelona’s Ciutadella Park in February 2024, in an exhibition titled MÁQUINA CLIMÁTICA. Our primary objective has been to create a vertical farming system that harnesses hydroponic techniques utilizing … Read more
1. Table The main goal of this assignment was to get familiar with the basic commands of the grasshopper and create variations of the principal design. All the solids created derive from the same coordinate points, differing only in the way they were manipulated in order to generate the table base. Starting from five points, … Read more
The first trimester’s Collaborative Design Studio Project we focused on the conception, design, and execution of a vertical farming system. The system is intended for exhibition at Barcelona’s Ciutadella Park in February 2024, in an exhibition titled MÁQUINA CLIMÁTICA. The goal of the fabrication part of our project is to conceptualize and produce a plant … Read more
Through Advanced Digital Tool Advanced Digital Tool course has been a great eye opening. During this course, I acquired comprehensive knowledge and hands-on experience in utilizing the parametric software Grasshopper for computational design. Throughout the duration of the classes, our focus was on mastering the practical application of these parametric design tools. By integrating the … Read more
THE PROCESS OF PROTOTYPING planning Fabricating chairs for the Collaborative Design Studio project 2023-24 was a journey consisting of diverse ideas, input, and glitches that led to multiple learning outcomes. We spent the first few weeks designing digital models to narrow down to a design language, that guided us throughout the process. We then explored … Read more
The umbraculo bench is designed to be placed in the Umbraculo, Parc de la Ciutadella, Barcelona. It is designed as an organic shaped bench focusing on materiality, ergonomics as well to be a state of art element. It is designed and constructed using CLT panels made using pine wood lamellas. The Umbraculo The Umbraculo translates … Read more
Embarking on my journey with the digital tool Grasshopper has been an intriguing exploration into the realm of parametric design. As a novice, the process of manipulating shapes and structures through a variety of tools within the program has been both challenging and captivating. The dynamic nature of Grasshopper allows for a seamless transition from … Read more
During the advanced digital tools class, we were introduced to the Rhinoceros plug-in Grasshopper. Grasshopper is a way to create visual scripts, a graphical way to program, resulting in an output in Rhino that can easily be changed. Grasshopper works using components and its capabilities can be expanded using different plug-ins. The classes were divided … Read more
Many physical objects are built / created with many layers of complexity. Some object of designed with basic primary forms like villa Savoye, while other objects are designed with a more complex form like pattern of a sunflower. Grasshopper is a different modeling system to the traditional programs (rhino, 3ds max) it allows the creation … Read more
During the first term of my stay at Valldaura Labs I was primarily doing the video documentation of the Design Studio Project and had the chance to experiment with all sorts of tools and machines capable of realizing my personal ethereal ideas into actual objects. The 3D printer was my favorite machine to experiment with … Read more
Light Fixtures and Kinetic Sculptures Exercise 01 : Wooden Shingle Lampshade The first exercise was a lesson in learning a basic Grasshopper script that involves several steps in creating and manipulating geometry. We learnt to interpolate curves from multiple points generated within grasshopper. and then went on to applying a revolution command to rotate them … Read more
The Defining Biocities course introduced us to the fundamental concept of “biocities.” This course involved an in-depth examination of terminology related to biocities, specifically within the realms of food, energy, and biodiversity. Through thoughtful discussions, we gained valuable insights, exploring global examples that illuminated the practical implications of these concepts. A series of guest lectures … Read more
The Defining Biocities course introduced us to the fundamental concept of “biocities.” This course involved an in-depth examination of terminology related to biocities, specifically within the realms of food, energy, and biodiversity. Through thoughtful discussions, we gained valuable insights, exploring global examples that illuminated the practical implications of these concepts. A series of guest lectures … Read more
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
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
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
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
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
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
Project AbstractThe Pine Table is a four-and-a-half-long table made out of solid wood that was locally harvested in the Parc Natural de Collserola. The central concept of the table is that of the ‘Harvesting table’ where the products of farming come together to be enjoyed together. Another main driver that has steered the design decision … Read more
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
