Event's IaaC

SmartGeometry 2010 Workshop and Conference at:

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Pujades 102 baixos, Poble Nou, 08005 Barcelona
March 19-24, 2010

Workshop:
March 19-22, 2010

Advanced Design Exploration: Functioning Prototypes that Prove and Test Concept and Design

Each year, the SmartGeometry workshop attracts tutors and attendees from across the worlds of academia and professional practice, including many of the brightest students. The workshop hosts 150 participants for four intensive days of design and collaboration on innovative design ideas and projects. The result – some amazing prototypes!

Date and Location:
The SmartGeometry 2010 Workshop takes place March 19-22, 2010, at the world-renowned Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain.

Who Should Attend:
The Workshop provides a unique opportunity for building professionals, along with architectural and engineering students, to explore advanced design objectives enabled by the latest technology.

Apply to attend.

The Tutors
Twenty-five preeminent professionals from architectural practices and design institutes on the cutting edge of generative design lead the workshop. Among them are: Dr. Axel Killian, assistant professor, School of Architecture, Princeton University; Achim Menges, director of the Institute for Computational Design, Stuttgart University; Shane M. Burger, associate and head of Computational Design Unit, Grimshaw; Brady Peters, Ph.D. Fellow, CITA, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture; and Dr. Robert Woodbury, professor, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University.

The Workshop Challenge: Working Prototypes
The four-day workshop carries the theme “Working Prototypes” and focuses on functioning prototypes developed to prove and test concept and design.

IAAC is the ideal venue for the SmartGeometry 2010 Workshop Challenge as it contains a fabrication lab with different machinery and equipment for digital fabrication, even on a 1:1 scale, allowing for creation of material stress, physical thinking, and mental gymnastics. This puts the physical at center stage in challenging participants to design, assemble, and test working prototypes.

The Design Studios
The workshop will be organized around 10 hands-on design studios, hubs of expertise comprised of people, knowledge, tools, materials, and machines. These studios will facilitate the development and testing of working prototypes and provide a nucleus for exploration, discussion, processes, and techniques. Each design studio embraces a wide spectrum of approaches and engages eight to 16 participants, championed by at least two tutors who are pioneers in their field.

The SmartGeometry 2010 Workshop design studios are:

    Deep Surfaces: Articulation and Fabrication of Spatial Systems from Tensioned Fabric Elements

    Nonlinear Systems Biology and Design

    Manufacturing Parametric Acoustic Surfaces

    High-Tech Design - Low-Tech Construction

    Parametrics and Physical Interactions

    Explicit Bricks

    Rapid R&D to Rapid Assembly: snap fit, push on, and so forth

    Design to Destruction

    Inflatable Fabric Envelopes

Applications to Add Design Studios
In addition to applying for a specific design studio, exceptional candidates can submit proposals for projects to be accomplished during the workshop that would inspire a new design studio. Applicants in this category must accept that, although SmartGeometry will do all it can to help, it cannot guarantee provision of materials and machinery.

With this in mind, applicants must detail all requirements for the provision of materials and machinery usage and how they would provide these if required.

El IaaC presenta FabLab House, la casa energéticamente autosuficiente.

Cada dos años se celebra el Solar Decathlon, un concurso internacional entre universidades de todo el mundo sobre construcción sostenible. La primera competición Solar Dechathlon Europe se celebrará el próximo mes de junio en Madrid, y el IaaC (Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña) ha sido uno de los primeros participantes en presentar su FabLab House, una vivieda 100% autosuficiente.  

Cada equipo participante debe diseñar su propia casa para una localización específica, con un clima determinado y una cantidad concreta de energía solar. En la fase final del concurso se construirán in situ entre 15 y 20 casas de las presentadas.......

IaaC lecture Series Mar 17, 19:30h

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Pujades 102 baixos, Poble Nou, 08005 Barcelona
tel. (+34) 93 320 95 20

Dana Buntrock

Dana Buntrock began her studies of Japanese architecture more than twenty years ago, her first visit a month-long trip that took her to tiny corners of the country to see avant-garde and out-of-the-way works.  Her more recent research trips still range in remote pockets of the country, now renting cars, carrying a complex array of cameras and seeking out craftsmen who carry on age-old traditions.  The architecture she sees is still often avant-garde, but today there are other approaches evident as well, ones more concerned with underscoring the uniqueness of these remote regions.  Buntrock’s first book, Japanese Architecture as a Collaborative Process: Opportunities in a Flexible Construction Culture (E&FN Spon, 2001) looked at professional practice and what it said about a nation’s culture.  Her second, Materials and Meaning in Contemporary Japanese Architecture (Routledge, 2010) is concerned with the art and craft of architecture, and how these are used to reflect the particularities of places.

Lecture: Materials and Meaning in Contemporary Japanese Architecture: Tradition and Today

IaaC lecture Series Mar 12, 19:30h

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Pujades 102 baixos, Poble Nou, 08005 Barcelona
tel. (+34) 93 320 95 20

EDUARDO RICO
Director of Groundlab and Co-founder of Relational Urbanism

Eduardo Rico is a Civil Engineer and Ma Landscape Urbanism Graduate currently working in Arup. He is also director of Groundlab and co-funder of Relational Urbanism.  He is currently engaged in strategic advice on infrastructure and transportation for urban master planning in the ILG team in Arup, combining it with teaching in the AA Landscape Urbanism and research in the contemporary design practices feeding infrastructural inputs into architectural urbanism.

ENRIQUETA LLABRES
Director of DNA-Collective and Co-founder of Relational Urbanism

Enriqueta Llabres is an architect graduated at the UPC in 2002.  In 2003 she became part of MAP Architects team whose principal is Prof. Josep Lluis Mateo. During this period she was a team member of important winning competitions for the practice, ending up the architect responsible for the Netherland projects. In 2007 she leaves the office and moves to London co-founding together with Eduardo Rico Relational Urbanism. Currently she combines her research in Relational Urbanism with her own architectural practice, DNA-Collective.  

Lecture: Relational Urbanism

Everyday during the afternoon viewing of the Solar House prototypes is open to the public.

The Fabrication  Launching  for the first Solar House in Barcelona, the Fab Lab House, within the frame of the solar Decathlon 2010 Competition took place on Jan 21st, 2010. Click here for a glimpse of the ceremony on TV·

Event Schedule:

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IaaC)

C/ Pujades 102, 08005 Barcelona

13.00h: Introduction:

Javier Nieto, IaaC president

13.15h:Presentación del proyecto:

Vicente Guallart, IaaC Director

Neil Gershenfeld, Director of The Center for Bits and Atoms

Jorge González, Project Director of  Schneider

Electric, Spain

13.30h: Launching of Fabrication, with the participation of:

Ramon García Bragado, Cuarto Teniente de Alcade. Area

de Vivienda, Urbanismo y Regimen Interior, Ayuntamiento

IAAC IS DOING A RESEARCH TRIP TO INDIA FROM February 28th to March 8th from Barcelona to Mumbai to Chandigarh following the tradition of IAAC'S Research Trips which brought us to Brazil, Taiwan, Eslovenia, and Tunisia. This years trip IAAC will be working in Mumbai exploring current conditions and dynamics of the territory. Some highlights of the trip will be day 1 students will take part in the  HOLI (festival of colours)! Day 2 they will attend a Lecture Series and Discussion at BSSA (partner for the research trip) followed by a Workshop discussion, lectures on city, humanities & hospitality, a Mumbai City Tour, Slum Tour which will delve into exploring recycling materials and  Slum fabric!

On day 4 IAAC will arrive in Chandigarh and students will research Sector 22, Housing, Lake, Sector 17 to analyse housing types and the sector plan, lake and sector 17 facades. On day 5 they will visit the Capitol Complex by le Corbusier and embark upon a city tour. On day 6 there will be a very important visit to the port and on day 7 a visit to the Film City and surounding Suburbs.To conclude the trip there will be a round table discussion to share insights on student research.

FABberz (www.fabberz.com) and LaN (www.livearchitecture.net) are collaborating to organize a series of workshops for students and other interested parties to be held in multiple locations each year, leading up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. While digital production tools have been commercially available for some time, the accessibility to these technologies can now reach far beyond factories and warehouses to our classrooms and homes. We are really excited to bring our idea to Kickstarter as a way to support the teaching and application of these technologies to student participants in Brazil.

The workshop will focus on the social and infrastructural issues facing Sao Paulo & Rio de Janeiro as they prepare to host the international games. This investigation will set the stage for the development of student proposals. The 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics are catalysts with the potential to create unique opportunities for architectural innovation in South America. This scenario serves as a testing ground to sustainable digital manufacturing processes.

The workshops will collectively form part of a long term, additive research scheme focused on the infusion of user participation in design processes. Participants will explore digital fabrication techniques and parametric design tools as a means to create their own architectural interface prototypes - ways for residents to become directly involved in design and building. We will begin with an intensive introduction to parametric design softwares such as Rhino Grasshopper and other Rhino based digital tools. Students will evaluate the user as a parameter for creating design interfaces, and mass customization techniques will emerge as the central strategy in connecting material and experiential processes. Fabrication will be studied as a complex process from the design stage to the construction stage, incorporating the participation of local residents.

DIA phase 1 will explore multiple fabrication techniques using laser cutting, including fabric forming and puzzle joinery. An introduction to these techniques will be followed by team development of customizable user interfaces and fabricated prototypes of different iterations of the proposals. Local residents will be invited to participate by customizing their own prototypes using the systems developed by students in the workshop.
The research and work done at the workshop will be disseminated through a publication by AA (Architectural Association) Adaptive Ecologies, as well as exhibited at the Architectural Association (in London) "Project's Review" and WOOD 2010 'Architecture of Necessities' exhibitions.

We think that the real potential of this project lies in the power of collaboration. With the involvement of many people from different backgrounds, and by layering diverse ideas in this incredible setting, we can collectively propose options for the future. Oh behalf of FABberz, LaN, and the workshop participants, we thank you in advance for your interest and support!

IaaC lecture Series Feb 24, 19:30h

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Pujades 102 baixos, Poble Nou, 08005 Barcelona
tel. (+34) 93 320 95 20

Michael Jakob

Michael Jakob is Professor in Landscape & Art at hepia (Geneva) and Lecturer in Theory and History of Landscape at EPFL and at ISE (Geneva University). He studied at the universities of Tübingen (Germany), Paris, Stanford and Geneva. He has been a guest professor at the Universities of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), St. Gallen (Switzerland), Turin (Italy), Rome (Italy), Grenoble (France), Urbino (Italy), Stanford (USA), Princeton (USA). He has worked with the Centre d’Art Contemporain (Geneva), the Magasin, Centre d’Art Contemporain (Grenoble), the Museum of Grenoble, and the Fotomuseum Winterthur (as the curator of the photographic art show ‘Girola’). He is founder and head of COMPAR(A)ISON, an International Journal of Comparative Literature, and the chief editor of «di monte in monte», a series of books on mountain culture (Edizioni Tarara’, Verbania). He produced several documentary films for TV and has a longstanding experience as a radio journalist. Among his recent publications: Letteratura e paesaggio, Olschki, Firenze 2006 ; Paysage et temps, Infolio, Gollion 2007 ; Le Paysage, Infolio, Gollion 2008 ; Il giardino allo specchio. Percorsi tra pittura, cinema e fotografia, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2009 ; Il paesaggio, Il Mulino, Bologna 2009 ; Paesaggio e tempo,  Meltemi, Roma 2009 ; Le jardin et les arts, Infolio, Gollion 2009. 

 Lecture: ¨Faux Mountains and the essence of the symbol¨

IaaC lecture Series Feb 19, 20:00h

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Pujades 102 baixos, Poble Nou, 08005 Barcelona
tel. (+34) 93 320 95 20

Bostjan Vuga
SADAR VUGA ARHITEKTI Founder

Bostjan Vuga graduated at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana (1992) and continued post graduate studies at the AA School of Architecture in London (1993-1995).

Since 1998 he lectures at architectural schools, conferences and symposiums in Slovenia and abroad. In 2003 he was a studio tutor at Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. He was a visiting critic at AA School of Architecture, at Bauhaus Kolleg in Dessau, at the IAAC in Barcelona, at the ETH in Zuerich, at the Universitaet fuer Angewandte Kunst Wien and Academy of Visual Arts Vienna. As a visiting editor he took part in two issues of AB architectural bulletin.

He had published numeurous articles on current occurance in architecture and urban planning, presented in national and international professional and broad interested publications.

Lecture: ¨One Project, Three Designs¨

IaaC lecture Series Jan 29, 19:30h

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Pujades 102 baixos, Poble Nou, 08005 Barcelona
tel. (+34) 93 320 95 20

Carlos Leite
Principal of Stuchi + Leite Projetos
Founder of CIC SP: City Information Center, Sao Paulo [NGO]
Leite is an Architect and Urbanist with a Master and PhD in Urban Design from the University of Sao Paulo and a Posdoc from California Polytechnic State University where he was a Visiting Professor. He is a principal at Stuchi & Leite Projetos in Sao Paulo. He also works as a Sustainable Development and Design consultant. He is Professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo and has been a visiting professor and lecturer at different schools in California, Canada, Barcelona and the Netherlands, as well as at MBA Curses in Environmental Mangement at FIA (FEA USP), Fundação Dom Cabral and IED.
His professional focus is to face new challenges abroad through academia and consultancy - from his broad and multidisciplinary achieved knowledge  in Brazil and abroad in the last 15 years (more than 40 cities visited). For more information see his site: www.stuchileite.com.

Lecture: Approaching Architectures in Sao Paulo • Choosing a Sustainable City Redevelopment Model