(Above: Digital Team by MAA Student Mani Khosrovani (Iran) from RS3: Digital Tectonics-Switzerland, Germany. Taken at the Weissenhof Museum in “Le Corbusier” House. Winner of the exhibition photo contest.)

On the evening of 6 May 2011, IAAC held a special exhibition chronicling the 2011 MAA Research Trips. The exhibition featured research, videos and photos created by the students in the Master in Advanced Architecture program. The exhibition was held at the Corretger5 gallery in Barcelona.

Each year the MAA program takes its research out of Barcelona. Past trips include India, Romania, Taiwan, Slovenia-Croatia, and Brazil. This April each MAA Research Studio explored a different part of the world: RS1 Emergent Territories (Hong Kong), RS2 Self Sufficient Buildings (Dubai, Abu Dhabi) and RS3 Digital Tectonics (Germany, Switzerland).

Student videos featured in the exhibition

You can find other videos from the Research Trips on the IAAC YouTube Channel.

Follow the interactive timeline of the 2011 MAA Research Trips

IAAC staff from each Research Studio group kept us updated during their travels on Twitter, Facebook, and through the IAAC Blog. See the complete recap of where IAAC went and what the students learned each step of the way.

(Above- RS2 at Yas Marina F1 Circuit, Abu Dhabi. IAAC Tweet: “RS2 at Formula 1 Karts! The group had amazing loop times…”)

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This past week each explored a different part of the world. Each trip was related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

Looking back on the trips each research group spent time learning about architecture and technology through visits to various race tracks, stadiums, and automobile engineering facilities. They explored the many ways that automobiles and racing influence architecture and urban planning and development.

(Above- RS1 at Happy Valley, Kong Kong. IAAC Tweet: “RS1 Impressive the Race in HK!”)

(Above- RS2 at Meydan City, Dubai. IAAC Tweet: “Meydan City-a new concept of urban development based on horse races as the attractor”)

(Above- 2 images, RS2 at Yas Hotel, Abu Dhabi. IAAC Tweet: “RS2 at Asymptote Yas Hotel in Yas Island/huge infrastructures related with Formula 1 industry”)

(Above-IAAC Check-in: “RS3 studio @ BMW World by CoopHimmelblau”)

(Above- IAAC Check in: RS3 Studio @ Mercedes Benz Museum by UN Studio!)

IAAC Everywhere:

Staff members from each Research Studio group chronicled their travels on Twitter.  You can also follow all of IAAC’s future stops around the world on Foursquare.

Next week each of the three Research Studios will present their findings to the entire MAA class. We will post notes from these presentations so you can see in greater detail what the students learned on their trips

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This week each will be exploring a different part of the world. Each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

It is Friday and the groups are wrapping up their trips from around the world. While RS2 is returning from Dubai, RS3 will spend the weekend in Basel and Geneva.

RS1 is spending the final two days in Hong Kong conducting research projects around the city. In these projects, students will be exploring the city through five different tours which will examine: ports, waterfront development, parks, transportation systems and information networks. The goal of the research is to study urban zones with in relation to how they impact the culture of the city. Each group will create 3-5 minute video documentations of onsite information supported by graphical representation.

(Above- IAAC Check-in: RS 1 at Bank of China Tower. The final two days the trip will consist of a research project exploring and documenting Hong Kong.)

(Above- IAAC Tweet: “RS1 team at Bank of China. I.M.Pei”)

IAAC Everywhere:

Staff members from each Research Studio group are chronicling their travels on Twitter.  You can also follow all of IAAC’s stops around the world on Foursquare.

Next week each of the three Research Studios will present their findings to the entire MAA class. We will post notes from these presentations so you can see in greater detail what the students learned on their trips

(Above- RS3 at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. IAAC Tweet “RS3 studio @ Frei Otto’s Stadium, 2h tour on the canopy, walking + jumping on the 70000 m2 of cable net roof! Unforgetable experience!”)

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This week each will be exploring a different part of the world. Each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

On the third day of exploring Hong Kong, Research Studio 1: Emergent Territories visited the School of Architecture at Hong Kong University, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, and the Terminal Cruisers Authority. Still ahead for RS1 is a gallery tour of the Hong Kong Planning and Infrastructure Exhibition and exploring the Kowloon district.

(Above- IAAC Tweet: “RS1 meet with Housing Authority in HK.”)

Research Studio 2 finished their trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. On the last day the group visited the exhibition of proposed designs for the future museums on Saadiyat Island.

(Above- IAAC Tweet: “RS2@Corniche Exhibition/F. Gehry,Z.Hadid,J.Nouvelle+T.Ando proposals for 4 museum/attractors”)

In Germany, Research Studio 3: Digital Tectonics spent time at the Olympic Stadium and BMW Welt in Munich before heading to Stuttgart. There they spent time at the University of Stuttgart’s Institute of Computational Design and Institute of Lightweight Structures. RS3 will have one more day in Stuttgart before heading to Basel.

(Above- IAAC Tweet: “RS3 studio @ ICD-Institute of Computational Design, University of Stuttgart. Presentation + Visit of robotic facilities”)

IAAC Everywhere:

Staff members from each Research Studio group are chronicling their travels on Twitter.  You can also follow all of IAAC’s stops around the world on Foursquare.

(RS2 Self Sufficient Buildings: Students discuss sustainable urban planning in Masdar City)

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This week each will be exploring a different part of the world.

As we have mentioned, each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio. Their goal is to discover advanced architecture in action around the world and apply and expand upon these ideas in their work when they return for the final Phase of their Masters program. In this post you will see a few of the things a couple of the Studios have seen in their travels that relate to their MAA curriculum at IAAC.

(RS1 Self Sufficient Buildings- Electric cars in Masdar City)

(RS3 Digital Tectonics- The longest 5axis CNC machine, used to fabricate free-form timber structures at Blumer-Lehmann in Erlenhof)

(RS2 Self Sufficient Buildings: Masdar Library by Norman Foster, created from low carbon materials)

(Video from Research Studio 1: Emergent Territories at the Hong Kong Housing Authority. Urban interactive.)

IAAC Everywhere:

Staff members from each Research Studio group are chronicling their travels on Twitter.  You can also follow all of IAAC’s stops around the world on Foursquare.

(RS3 Checking in outside ETH, the group on foam furniture fabricated by robots)

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This week each will be exploring a different part of the world. Each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

RS 1:Emergent Territories is in Hong Kong and after a walking tour of the city yesterday they headed by boat to Macau. Tomorrow they will be visit Hong Kong University for a tour of the campus.

(RS1 Checking in from Flower Market Road, Mong Kok, Hong Kong)

RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings made their trip to Masdar City today. Tomorrow they will tour Ferrari World and the Yas Marina F1 Circuit. (RS2 at Masdar City- IAAC Tweet: “Chris Wan, Masdar City director explaining different strategies of energy generation”)

RS3: Digital Tectonics is currently traveling by bus through Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. They concluded their first day of visits in Zurich at EPFL also included a visit to ETH Zurich Digital Fabrication Lab and a presentation at Design to Production by Fabian Scheurer about use of parametric tools for production of non-standard buildings. Tomorrow they will arrive in Munich and will visit Museum Pinakothek der Moderne, the Olympic Stadium, and BMW World.

(RS3 at EPFL- IAAC Tweet: “RS3 studio visited EPFL Mobile Robotics Group, received by senior researcher Dr. Francesco Mondada”)

IAAC Everywhere:

Staff members from each Research Studio group are chronicling their travels on Twitter.  You can also follow all of IAAC’s stops around the world on Foursquare.

(Above: IAAC Inside 0-14 Tower in Dubai. IAAC Tweet: “RS2@O-14 tower by Reiser+Umemoto/amazing concrete exoskeleton structure+skin freeing the building core and the floors from columns”)

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This week each will be exploring a different part of the world. Each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

RS 1:Emergent Territories landed in Hong Kong today. Their first day will consist of a walking tour of Hong Kong to visit relevant projects such as the HSBC headquarters, Bank of China Tower, and The Peak Tower. RS3: Digital Tectonics is currently traveling by bus through Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. Tomorrow they will be in Zurich visiting Blumer-Lehmann, Design to Production and Gramazio & Kohler, Architecture and Digital Fabrication.

RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings has been in Dubai all weekend and have been very busy so far. They’ve been to the top of the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, and to Meydan Race Course. Today the group visited the dxb.Lab studio led by founder Khalid Alnajjar.

Tomorrow the group will visit Masdar City. Masdar City, established in 2006, is a commercially driven enterprise that operates to become a leader in making renewable energy a real, viable business and Abu Dhabi a global center of excellence in renewable energy and clean technology.

(Above: IAAC Tweet “Checking in at Burj Al Arab”)

(Above: dxb.lab. IAAC Tweet- “RS2@dxb-lab architectural office@Khalid Alnajjar,founder of the practise touring the group and presenting projects”)

IAAC Everywhere:

Staff members from each Research Studio group are chronicling their travels on Twitter.  You can also follow all of IAAC’s stops around the world on Foursquare.

(Self Sufficient Buildings- Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Above- Masdar City)

The Masters in Advanced Architecture program will be traveling the world!

Each year the MAA program takes its research out of Barcelona and explores a different region of the world. Past trips include India, Romania, Taiwan, Slovenia-Croatia, and Brazil.

This year, the three Research Studios will be exploring a different part of the world. Self Sufficient Buildings will be in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Digital Tectonics will visit Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, and Emergent Territories will travel to Hong Kong. Each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

Follow IAAC’s Travels

IAAC staff from each group will be updating everyone on Twitter and we will be posting pictures and recaps regularly on the blog. Students have already set off on their travels and updates have started to come in!

(Digital Tectonics- Lausanne, Zurich, Munich, Stuttgart, Basel, Geneva)

(Emergent Territories- Hong Kong)