Infrastructure doesn’t just move people. It shapes who they are, where they go, and what kinds of lives are possible. At the northern edge of Barcelona — at the junction of Nou Barris, Sant Andreu, and Santa Coloma de Gramenet — Avinguda Meridiana does all three. It connects the city to its northern territories efficiently. … Read more
Mapping out Spatial Intelligence Program: Master in AI for Architecture and the Built Environment (MaAI)Supervisor: Wassim Jabi Motion Pixels is a research project that explores how pedestrian movement can be transformed into spatial intelligence. By combining computer vision, trajectory analysis, behavioral mapping, and machine learning, the project converts video recordings of public spaces into spatial … Read more
“Power is not something you possess, it is something you exercise”– Michel Foucault With this phrase by Michel Foucault, I would like to invite you, reader, to adopt a lens focused on power relations as you move through this blog post. The first power dynamic I would like to highlight is the asymmetrical relationship between … Read more
Vulnerability-adjusted carbon sequestration for more [actionable land]. Current climate mitigation treats carbon sequestration as a static stock: it counts the biomass a landscape holds and rewards storing more. Yet under fire and drought, the densest biomass is lost first, turning a carbon sink into a source. This thesis develops vulnerability-adjusted carbon sequestration. Working across a … Read more
atlas of vacant spaces Urban vacant land in dense, post-industrial cities remains spatially invisible: absent from open datasets despite its potential to address chronic green space deficits. This thesis “vo:id” is a pipeline detecting, classifying, and prioritizing urban voids using only globally covered open data. Combining OSM-based negative masking, vision-language model classification, and human-in-the-loop validation, … Read more
Introduction Noise is one of the most pervasive environmental stressors in cities. Long-term exposure has been linked to sleep disturbance, cardiovascular disease, reduced cognitive performance, and lower overall quality of life. Yet despite its importance, detailed noise maps are surprisingly difficult to obtain. Producing official noise maps requires measurements, traffic models, and considerable technical effort. … Read more
Objective Traditional flood risk maps take months to produce, are updated only every few years, and are too coarse, they might say a whole district is at risk without telling you which specific street or field will actually be underwater. “We are going to predict whether any given location in Thessaly, Greece is Flood-Prone or … Read more
Re-envisioning Container City One of Barcelona’s most strategically located waterfront areas, the container port south of Montjuïc, remains largely disconnected from the inner city. As the city explores the possibility of relocating portions of its container operations in this speculative project and transforming this industrial landscape into a mixed-use district, mobility becomes a more pertinent … Read more
Using climate clustering, vernacular precedent research, and evolutionary optimisation to create climate-responsive design typologies when no established local precedent exists Overview Lovingly named after the very first test location, Project Michigan is a tool that provides climate-responsive design guidelines when no local vernacular precedent exists. Through scraping climate data and global vernacular information, it helps … Read more
From Afar 2nd Term Salt is Essential Salt is a fundamental element of human and animal physiology. The body cannot produce all the sodium and chloride it needs on its own, so it depends on a constant dietary intake. Sodium and chloride regulate nerve signaling, muscle contractions, fluid balance, and blood pressure, and they are … Read more
This project explores how power operates spatially through counter-cartography and autoethnography in Poblenou, Barcelona. Combining observation, mapping, and self-tracking, the research examines how infrastructure, urban objects, rules, and rhythms shape behavior, movement, and perception. Benches, pedestrian streets, and smoking practices reveal how freedom, restriction, and permission are unevenly distributed. Findings show that movement is widely … Read more
How AI Can Transform Compliance Checking in Architecture Compliance checking is one of the most essential parts of architectural design, yet it is also one of the most tedious and time-consuming. Research confirms this reality: The Foundation Before developing ARCHAI, we conducted a rigorous Proof of Concept to verify the feasibility of our vision. We … Read more
Deforestation Raster Map – 2024 The visualization depicts accumulated and annual deforestation patterns in Brazil from 1985 to 2024. The accumulated dataset shows a continuous rise in total deforested areas, reaching over 140 milllion hectares. Annual trends reveal strong fluctuations, with peaks in the late 1980’s and mid-2000’s, followed by decreases and renewed variability in … Read more
Brazil Vulnerability Cartography Brazil, a vast and vibrant country, is renowned for its breathtaking landscapes from rolling highlands to expansive savannas. It’s known for iconic beaches and bustling urban centers where a dynamic blend of cultures and ethnicities come together. Its cities hum with energy, music, and art. Together, these diverse landscapes and rich social … Read more
Mapping Proximity to Wellbeing Amenities in Urban Areas “For most of us from now on, life and death will be an urban affair.”— World Health Organization As cities become the primary environments in which people age, longevity can no longer be understood as a rural or lifestyle-driven phenomenon alone. Inspired by — but critical of … Read more
In our final exercise of our Urban Data seminar, we were asked to create an interactive web platform, using the python library Dash. Dash allows users to upload and format datasets to be interactive, easily toggling between different data visuals rather than showing static imagery. In personal experience, our group has noted how applicable this … Read more
