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IS1 Introductory Studio – Torre Baró Energy District G1 // FINAL PRESENTATIONS

admin — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 17:17:15 +0000

This year’s group 1 Introductory Studio was developed around a series of questions, posed in reference to the context of Torre Baró: How can we transform a landscape into a productive one? How does water, solar energy, wind or biological processes affect sustainable design cycles for structures and landscape? Which strategies and which technologies are appropriate for such social and environmental context? The Introductory studio will focus on the topics of designing and implementing a self sufficient green house and a productive land, where “production” is understood as the production of food, energy, materials, and knowledge.

The Introductory Studio led by Claudia Pasquero and Carmelo Zappulla focused on the topics of energy, natural process, bio materials and environmental resources. The projects received feedback from an international juryvoard composed by Areti Markopoulou – IAAC Academic Director, Silvia Brandi – IAAC Academic Coordinator, Jonathan Minchin – Green Fab Lab Coordinator, Marjan Colletti – marcosandmarjan design limited, Sandra Manso – UPC and Lluis Víu – Max de Cusa Arquitects.

Wednesday 17th of December // IS1 Introductory Studio – Torre Baró Energy District G1 // FINAL PRESENTATIONS

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 12:19:21 +0000

Introductory Studio – Torre Baró Energy District G1

Wednesday, 17th of December 2014 // 10h00 – 14h00, IaaC Auditorium

Senior Faculty:

Claudia Pasquero

Carmelo Zappulla

Jury:

Vicente Guallart – Chief Architect of the Barcelona City Council

Areti Markopoulou – IAAC Academic Director

Silvia Brandi – IAAC Academic Coordinator

Jonathan Minchin – Green Fab Lab Coordinator

Marjan Colletti – marcosandmarjan design limited

Sandra Manso – UPC

Lluis Víu – Max de Cusa Arquitects

Thursday 7th of November: ECOLOGICSTUDIO – ENERGY BEYOND NATURE

admin — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 17:33:05 +0000

Thursday 7th of November 2013
ecoLogic Studio
Lecture: Ecology Beyond Nature

@ 19.30, IAAC Auditorium
Open to the Public

ECOLOGIC STUDIO

Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto are co-founders of ecoLogicStudio an architectural and urban design studio involved in digital design and architecture research for the definition of a new ecology of space and behavior.
Located in the east of London the studio has built up an international reputation for its innovative work on systemic design, a method defined by the combination and integration of systemic thinking, computational design, bio-hacking and digital prototyping. This broadened approach to design – ranging from the micro to the macro and from nanotechnologies to urban networks – is embodied into an experimental practice, where projects and installations become laboratories of interactions. Locally activated design protocols synthesize a form of expanded hyper-reality hacking larger organizational systems.Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto are active academics; they have been unit master at the Architectural Association in London, and are currently studio directors at the IAAC in Barcelona, as well as visiting critics at Cornell University.

Claudia is leader of the MArch in Urban Morphogenesis at Bartlett UCL and, with Marco, co-director of the BIO-UD Research Cluster at UCL Bartlett in London.
Their projects have been published and exhibited throughout the world, in particular in Venice Architecture Biennale (ecoMachines, 2008; The efData Grotto, 2010); Seville (STEMcloud, 2008), Istanbul (Fibrous Room, 2008), Milan (Aqva Garden, 2007), London (HORTUS 2012), in Paris (HORTUS.Paris 2013), in Orleans (Meta-folly 2013). Their latest research has been published in 2012 by Routledge in a book titled “Systemic Architecture”.

OTF Desk Crit with George Jeronimidis

admin — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 12:54:44 +0000

Today the IAAC OTF researchers had the pleasure of a desk crit with Prof. Jeronimidis, checking the development of their projects and helping them with his critics. During the presentations, the researchers discussed their proposals and how these could be further elaborated.

GEORGE JERONIMIDIS LECTURE – Biomimetics and Bioinspiration

admin — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 20:37:53 +0000

Tonight we had the pleasure of taking part in the Fall Lecture Series 2013 George Jeronimidis Lecture on Biomimetics and Bioinspiration.

We were invited to think about architecture in relation to biology, for example: plants share many of the same characteristics as buildings, they are fixed in their context, they must accept what nature and the environment throw at them, and they must adapt to survive. How can we learn something from biology, and apply this to the field of architecture?

The first point of the Lecture lead us to understand exactly what Biomimetics is. Prof. Jeronimidis noted that there are ibfact many ideas as to what Biomimetics is, but the one he relates most to is: “the abstraction of good design from nature” (J.F. Vincent).

Biomimesis should aim not to replace biology, but to understand the mechanisms that biology has developed overtime, and understand what we can then use these mechanisms for. Mimesis, not understood as copying, but as abstraction.

And there are many ways of referring to such a process, for example bio-inspiration, or the German term Bionik (from biology and technic).

There are of course diverse forms of applying biomimetics.

Form/shape biomimetics, taking its inspiration directly from the beauty of the form. Things that are beautiful, that also have a function, but inwhich we show no interest, inspire us. For example the columns in the Stuttgart Airport inpired by the form of trees, the connection between the tree and the structure is only the form, not the function.

Then there is functional biomimetics, a more interesting approach for Prof. Jeronimidis, that implies capturing the function of a living organism and translating it into innovative technology.

For one to approach biomimetics, one must understand biology. The combination of DESIGN DRIVERS OF “NATURAL” DESIGN (the changing physical and chemical environment, and the survival instinct) and NATURAL PROCESSES (adaption, evolution, natural selection, genetic variability, genotypes and phenotypes) make for SMART ADAPTIVE BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS.

But how do we do biomimetics? What is the plan of action for these technology transfer strategies?

The process starts with biology (biomechanisms, functional morphology and anatomy), without which we inevitably miss the basic information, allowing us to understand the principles, that will then be abstracted and technologically implemented. This process is of course a multidisciplinary process that starts with biology, to then shift to another field of expertise, such as engineering or architecture.

This process can lead to diverse applications from building systems inspired by termite mounds, to material systems inspired by plants (VELCRO, inspired by plant seeds), or also functional surfaces inspired by plants (Self cleaning surfaces inspired by the lotus leaf) or animals (drag reduction surfaces inspired by shark skin), as well as hierarchical structures (noise suppression inspired by owl feathers, then applied to wind turbines by Stefan Oerlemans).

So where is biomimetics relevant today? There are many application sectors for the diverse functional biological levels (molecular, cell/tissue, organ, organism), and of our interest in today’s lecture the application of cell/tissue and organ biological funtions to architecture, and that of the organism to the city. All of these can help us generate bioinspired tools to help shape our future applying biology’s successful design (evolution, natural selection, time, random mutations… + materials, structures, sensors, integration + efficient use of energy) to our field of interest.

So to sum it up, the lessons that we can learn from nature are:

_Inspiration, not imitation

_Highly integrated design – multi disciplines

_Simple materials – fibres – complex structures

_Adaptive, multi functional smart solutions

_Simple physics – smart implementation.

Tuesday 22nd of October: GEORGE JERONIMIDIS LECTURE – Biomimetics and Bioinspiration

admin — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 05:56:04 +0000

Tuesday 22nd of October 2013

George Jeronimidis

Lecture: Biomimetics and Bioinspiration - Smart solutions for functional architecture
@ 19.30, IAAC Auditorium
Open to the Public

Professor George Jeronimidis is currently Emeritus Professor of Composite Materials Engineering and Director of the Centre for Biomimetics in the School of Construction Management at the University of Reading. In 2009 he became Co-Director of the Emergent Technologies and Design programme at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. He obtained his doctorate at the University of Rome and moved to the University of Reading in the 1970’s.

His research interests cover the design of composite fibrous structures in biology engineering and architecture to achieve high levels of functional integration. He has published extensively in the fields of biomechanics, biomimetics, wood science, composite mechanics, smart materials and structures and bio-inspired systems in engineering and architecture.

He is currently on the Editorial Board of the new international journal Virtual and Physical Prototyping, Wood Science and Technology and Biomimetics & Bioinspiration.

In 2009 he was elected President of President of BIOKON International (from 2009), a European Network for the promotion of Biomimetics in relevant sectors (engineering, architecture, built environment, materials, sensors,…). In 2005 he became a Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science (IAWS) and served as Chairman of the Academy Board of the IAWS from 2010 to 2013.