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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Almanac Autumn & Winter Rotation | Leafy

During the first session of the Agroecology course, we were introduced to the concept of bi-annual rotation agricultural system and its importance in restoring soil quality. Every Monday was spent actively taking care of the plant beds as part of Valldaura’s Living Labs. We prepared the beds by removing weeds, tilling the compact soil, mixing … Read more

Design & Fabrication: Fountain Arrangement

In designing and fabricating the fountain arrangement of the Open Nature project, we explored various prototypes. First, we built a small waterway in the garden space at Valldaura Labs to brainstorm how to capture the water in an elegant way. This helped us understand basic grading methods to let the water drain appropriately. Next, we … Read more

Open Nature | [WOOD]LE | Digital Tools

The project ‘[Wood]le’ – a ‘Wooden Noodle’ explores the idea of steam-bending tree logs to create a self stable structure. The Woodle assumes the function of a seating area as it rests on the ground at one end and folds up to become an element that frames the valley of Font Del Gos on the … Read more

Open Nature | [WOOD]LE

The project ‘[Wood]le’ – a ‘Wooden Noodle’ explores the idea of steam-bending tree logs to create a self stable structure. The [Wood]le assumes the function of a seating area as it rests on the ground at one end and folds up to become an element that frames the valley of Font Del Gos on the … Read more

Advanced Digital Tools for Open Nature | Mil Ramas

Through the classes of this course, we practised and learned how to apply the parametric software Grasshopper as well as associated plug-ins into our computational designs. We implemented what we learned in our studio projects in order to comprehend it in real-time. Since our project did not require any direct fabrication through 3d software, we … Read more

Fabrication for Open Nature | Mil Ramas

INTRODUCTION The Design and Fabrication course’s main objective is to orient us towards learning and gaining experience in the use of tools and machines in relation to fabrication. Through designing, manufacturing and prototyping the models we were able to gain hands-on experience on how to fabricate and construct our projects. Valldaura Green FabLab provided us … Read more

Open Nature | Mil Ramas

Brief The main aim of the sculpture seats was to use discarded branches and every part of the tree to create our structure in a sustainable manner. Our project’s objectives were to serve something unique, comfortable and most importantly an advanced form of seating using wooden elements. We began with collecting branches from trees that … Read more

Furnish KIDS 2.0

SCOPE / OBJECTIVES Many European cities are looking to redesign their public spaces. FURNISH (Fast Urban Responses for New Inclusive Spaces and Habitat) aims to merge the challenge of having more public spaces through ‘tactical urbanism’, which can reconfigure and co-create a street expanding the space for pedestrians and leisure, with local manufacturing, through the … Read more