The Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities (MAEBB) postgraduate program is an 11-month immersive academic program focused on learning how to design and build a new generation of buildings and cities to respond to the planet’s emerging climate challenges. The program is carried out in Valldaura Labs, in Barcelona, a 135 He property located in the Collserola forest. Here, students will live and work surrounded by nature while using the most advanced technologies and design techniques in the pursuit of what is also IAAC’s long term initiative, to create self-sufficient and ecological environments.
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
Hexacoralia is a parametric design structure developed for restoration of coral reefs. It provides a complex surface for corals, sponges, and other organisms to attach and structural complexity creating spaces for fish and other animals to hide and inhabit. The organic appearance of the design proposal was inspired to mimic natural shapes of the underwater … 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
Hexacoralia is a parametric design structure developed for restoration of coral reefs. It provides a complex surface for corals, sponges, and other organisms to attach and structural complexity creating spaces for fish and other animals to hide and inhabit. The organic appearance of the design proposal was inspired to mimic natural shapes of the underwater … Read more
This terms collaborative studio project briefed the students at Valldaura to prepare material for the upcoming exhibition, Macquina Climatica, which presents a catalog of proposals for urban agriculture within the metropolitan area of Barcelona. One such proposal uses a scale model to demonstrate what rooftop urban agriculture in the city might look like, how it … 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
Forms Follow Mathematical Functions The project draws inspiration from Joseph Choma’s book ‘Morphing: A Guide to Mathematical Functions for Architects and Designers’ (2015). Utilizing mathematical functions from the book, it delves into the intricate connections between various shapes and forms and the underlying mathematical concepts. The primary objective is to unveil the captivating relationships between … 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
Valldaura forest is a post-agriculture, post-industrial landscape which is now returning to native forestry. Cistercian monks turned the Valldaura (valley of the laurels) area of Colserolla national park into agricultural land in the 19th century, the evidence of which still remains in the terraced beds we will grow produce on as part of our Ecological … 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
