Photos by Thiago Kunz

IaaC | Fab Lab Barcelona was featured in El Periodico as a central player for Digital Fabrication innovation in Barcelona, and in preparation for FAB10, the 10th International Fab Lab Conference that will be held in IaaC | Fab Lab Barcelona this year.

Barcelona is a city with an important and imposing industrial history, and that is currently supporting and pushing for innovation in many fields, including economy, culture and education. The main mission for the city of Barcelona is to redefine the future of cities based on a self-sufficiency model for the production of resources and social well-being.

In this sense, Barcelona will be the first city in the world to have a public network of Fab Labs, as part of the cities future plan, and in line with Fab10′s main theme: From Fab Labs to Fab Cities, by which the city of Barcelona aims to have at least one Fab Lab in every district. This implementation will allow to discover the talent present in the city itself, give the citizens and users the possibility to gain understanding and control of the technology available and its potentials.

Read the article here.

Friday 28th of February 2014
Massimo Banzi
Lecture: Open sourcing innovation.

@ 19.30, IAAC Auditorium
Open to the Public

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 2013

George Jeronimidis

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

Today the IAAC OTF researchers presented their research proposals to the partner companies (KUKA, CRICURSA, SANTA&COLE, DUPONT, STORA ENSO, BREINCO and CERAMICA CUMELLA), as well as the research line advisors, to discuss the next possible steps towards the development of their experimental prototypes.

9 projects, presented by 10 OTF researchers, in total were presented inside the research lines of INTELLIGENT BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS, and SMART URBAN ELEMENTS, bringing forth great interest on behalf of the partner companies, and an interesting discussion in general.

The research proposals presented various aspects and themes of interest:

_How can buildings meet the needs of public space, adapting continuously to the changing conditions posed by the environment and the interaction between public and private space? What is the potential of a building to interact and adjust to its physical, environmental and social context?

_What are the potentialities of embedding responsive technologies into various materials to generate smart materials, and dynamic products, finally a dynamic and responsive city, potentially generating constant evolution in the spatial context of these material applications, according to the real time needs of these contexts?

_What is the potential of parasite architecture towards the rehabilitation of obsolete infrastructure in the dense urban scape?

_How can invisible elements, such as pollutants and sound, become the basis for the interaction with space, creating new spatiality, according to urban and social needs, and potentially generating energy for these?

Today at IAAC the OTF Researchers followed a lecture on Intellectual and Industrial Property & Unfair Competition, given by Ignasi Espiell, Santiago Nadal, and Mònica López, vibrant young and experienced lawyers from Volartpons and SNAbogados.

This lecture gave the OTF Researchers the opportunity to understand and fully grasp the potentials, limits, the path to be undertaken, and possible problematics that can be encountered regarding Patenting, Industrial Design, Trademarks, unfair competition, and copy rights, as well as a final discussion on general Intellectual and industrial property doubts.

For 28 years now, Santa & Cole has lived for industrial design, an art consisting of focusing on everyday
objects in order to seek a better use experience, thereby leading us to reflect upon material culture.
Santa&Cole generate elements of domestic and urban furniture and lighting, plant elements (living matter)
and books (likewise alive). A range that is only apparently dispersed, converging upon a single concern: not
to accumulate, but rather to select; not to enjoy quantity, but rather quality. Santa & Cole is organized around
four core themes : 1. Strategy, Structure and Knowledge, 2. Editing Policy, 3. The Importance of Design for
Santa & Cole and 4. Policy Knowledge Management.

Breinco is a Catalan company dedicated to the production urban elements and urban furniture using concrete.
Its phylosophy is oriented to define a new generation of products which are set to improve our surroundings
thanks to their sustainability, while constantly striving for eco-efficiency in the manufacture of products,
using recycled materials and incorporating new technology in the design of multifunctional spaces.
Following these strategic guidelines, Breinco has evolved its product research and development, and has
created a new line of products, eco-logic®, being the first Spanish company to produce air clean® concrete
pieces with photocatalytic properties, which cause a decontaminating, self-cleaning effect and which reduce
the emission of environmentally-harmful NOx.

The family workshop CERÀMICA CUMELLA, founded in 1880 in Granollers (Barcelona), originally devoted
to the manufacturing of traditional ceramics and pottery for daily use, has finally become the central core
of an intense public and professional activity. Ceràmica Cumella has lately experienced a notorious increase
in the industrial production of serial pieces -floorings, socles, lattices, coatings, steps, modular elementsundoubtedly
specific in many cases, since they are ordered pieces. Cumella with the conviction of a necessary
integration of technical tradition and innovative process, encouraging with a steady hand and continued
research, for example, on the definition of colours and the manufacturing of the corresponding glazes, both
for mechanical or manual applications; or on finding solutions on how to keep up with present technological
requirement. Toni Cumella spontaneously associates craftsmanship with serial production, personalization,
adaptability, history and culture, not necessarily by this order. He sees it all as a use of concepts, techniques
and processes so as to achieve a specific form of life.