Event's IaaC

Master students of IaaC , traveled to Albacete in order to attend the international meeting Foro Civitas Nova 2006.
The students were present on 14th and 15th of November in the lectures about ¨Sustainable architecture and town planning¨ and ¨Technology and Innovation in Housing¨.
Between the lectures were also the Director of the Institute, Vicente Guallart and the Co-director Willy Muller

Vicente Guallart, Director of IAAC, has been named member of Adviser Council for Sustainable Development of México City.
From this Council, different international experts will contribute to the city giving the best strategies and projects about sustainable development inside the City Plan named “New Urban Order” (Nuevo Orden Urbano).
In his recent visit to México DF, Vicente Guallart met with the directors of the main schools of Architecture, Architects College´s President and Urban Development Sub-Secretary of México DF.

Inauguración de la 1a exposicion del IAAC Digital Fabrication Lab:
XURRET PROJECT. Produccion Digital y Prototipos CAD-CAM: ReD (Marta
Malé-Alemany + Jose Pedro Sousa) / Proyecto original: Ábalos & Herreros
/ Life Performance: Loreto San Juan / Video: Ibon Olaskoaga

Next Friday, 2nd of February 2007 the open to public final presentation of the projects concerning the development of a self-sufficient city, will take place at IaaC, starting at 16.00.
Two projects have been developed:
1. Neighbourhood of 10.000 habitats in Barcelona, Director: Willy Muller
Location: Barcelona, a zone in the port, next to the city centre
The project in the selected area includes the development of houses for young people to rent, residents and areas of working and investigating.
2. Touristic city of 100.000 habitats in Mauritania, Director: Vicente Guallart
Location: Mauritania
The project aims to the development of a new model of a tourist city, that could be self sufficient. The country of Mauritania, three hours away from Spain and five hours away from the centre of Europe by airplane, presents opportunities for tourist developments, focused on a crucial intention. The intention of contributing in the country’s progress; by using urbanistic, energetic, economic and social criteria that enforce self sufficiency.

Alejandro Gutiérrez, architect from Chile and part of the Arup team for the last five years, presents the Project of ¨Dongtan City¨, a new city being developed in the territory of Shanghai.
The project, which was presented as the first eco-city of the world with ¨0 Emissions¨, integrates the different layers of a city, such as the layer of energy, mobility, waste, the housing and the working spaces through the interaction of their diverse structures, in an effort of making the city more efficient.
¨We proposed to our client to try and obtain a 60% of selfsufficiency and he challenged us by asking us to reach a percentage of 100%...¨
Arup, also develops urban projects in China and Russia applying similar systems with the one in Dongtan City.
www.arup.com/eastasia/project.cfm?pageid=7047http://www.arup.com/

As a part of the Master program in Advanced Architecture a three-day intense workshop of Digital Fabrication took place, directed by Marta Male-Alemany.
The workshop aimed to stimulate the students and familiarize themselves with the necessary tools for fabricating prototypes through digital procedures.
The students had to develop a concept connected with the human body and after that fabricate it using the machines of the laboratory of IaaC.
To obtain that they had to come up with different ways of ¨measuring¨ their bodies and developing a project that could be fabricated using the laser cutter.
The presentation converted into a unique performance bringing in mind big events of the best educational and research centres.http://www.iaacat.com/nueva/en/educationalPrograms_PostDigital.php

Branco Kolarevic gave a lecture at IaaC on previous Friday 26th of January.
The architect, that is Irving Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ball State University in Indiana and he has taught architecture at several universities in North America, most recently at the University of Pensylvania, presented at IaaC part of his works, researches and publications, such as the recently published book: ¨Performative Architecture: Beyond Instrumentality¨ (with Ali Malkawi).
Among others, he also presented works related with the digital fabrication that he develops together with the students.
The conference was part of the Master programe of Digital Tectonics, directed by Marta Male.

Benedetta Tagliabue, current director of the Miralles-Tagliabue-EMBT studio, presented some of the studio’s recent works, including the new Scottish Parliament which was completed in 2004 and won several awards.
¨Our architectural philosophy is dedicating special attention to context..¨, she emphasized while explaining how they reached the decision of the final form of the Gas Natural Tower in Barcelona. ¨They asked us to design a new landmark for the area…and we provided them with a building born by the forces of its environment which called for a complex structural research...¨
Benedetta Tagliabue also presented a series of projects in a successful effort of presenting the multi-character and spirit of the studio.
www.mirallestagliabue.com

On Monday 16th of April, the open to public final presentation of the Self Suficient Building, leaded by Izaskun Chinchilla with the assist of Carolien Ligtenberg, will take place at IaaC, starting at 11.30.
Different case studies-cities has been selected to construct there a building with a clear vertical development.
The requirements were to focus on the local characteristics that have no connection with the spatial ones. Instead of attaching importance to the topograpgy, the boundaries, the axes or the views of the place, the concentration was on the climatic characteristics, the socio-economic structure or the generalized forms of construction.
It is about an effort of designing a Self-Sufficient Building emerging from conditions that apply to the logic of the city as a whole.

Más allá de las recientes polémicas en torno al urbanismo, en España existen iniciativas innovadoras que reflejan el cambio de ciclo histórico que sufre el proceso de urbanización del territorio en el comienzo del siglo XXI.
Estas responden a estrategias vinculadas a nuevas cuestiones como la energía, el paisaje, la interacción, el reciclaje, el software, las redes, o la ecología, superando de esta manera los límites de la disciplina urbanística tradicional.
Independientemente de los diferentes colores políticos que respaldan o impulsan estas iniciativas, ellas están dirigidas por expertos de disciplinas diversas tales como arquitectos, ingenieros, antropólogos, geógrafos, sociólogos, abogados o economistas, que trabajan de forma coordinada, siendoésta parte de la clave de su éxito.
Esta reunión de expertos pretende fijar la atención sobre ellas, conocerlas y evaluarlas simultáneamente, y transmitir a la sociedad la necesidad de fomentar la excelencia en el desarrollo de la ciudad y el territorio.
En el encuentro se presentarán iniciativas, proyectos y estrategias que hace diez años no existían, y que orientan sobre el tipo de iniciativas, planes y proyectos que se desarrollarán en los próximos diez años en España.http://www.buenasnoticiasurbanismo.org/