The program is also unique as it is developed hand in hand with Industry Partners, with the objective of offering the researchers the possibility to engage in a semi-professional environment, and develop a project with the support and expertise of individuals and institutions that are commercially involved in their field of research.

The collaborative companies are: ASCAMM, Cumella Cerámica, Santa&Cole, Breinco and Cricursa.

The final presentations of OTF researchers took place with an international jury board: Areti Markopoulou – IAAC Academic Director, Lucía Pérez Cerezo – ASCAMM, Josep Maria Serra – Santa&Cole, Toni Cumella – Cumella Cerámica, and Paolo Bombelli – University of Cambridge; as well as the presence of the program advisors Silvia Brandi, Alexandre Dubor and Luis Fraguada.

This year’s projects feature green energy systems, small scale desalination devices, the implementation of ceramics with robotic fabrication, natural material research for the implementation of 3D printing on the architectural scale, and much more.

Open Thesis Fabrication 2014 // Applied Research Program

Monday, 19th of January 2015 // 16h00 – 19h00, IaaC Auditorium

Advisors:

Silvia Brandi

Alexandre Dubor

Luis Fraguada

Jury:

Areti Markopoulou – IAAC Academic Director

Lucía Pérez Cerezo – ASCAMM

Josep Maria Serra – Santa&Cole

Toni Cumella – Cumella Cerámica

Paolo Bombelli – University of Cambridge

Collaborative Companies:

ASCAMM

Cumella Cerámica

Santa&Cole

Breinco

Cricursa

In the audience Vicente Guallart, Chief Architect of the Barcelona City Council, Manuel Sanroma, President of the City Protocol Society, Joan Subirats, Full Professor of Sociology, as well as Antoni Munne and Montae Ingla, Arcadia editors were all present for the discussion that Barber proposed.

Barber discussed themes of city governance, starting with some brief historical notes, to then elaborate the potentials city governance and the city itself has in future of democracy with respect to the older Nation state models. Cities and their leaders are now taking decisions that were once reserved to the nation states relative to climate change, immigration, and much more. Cities, with their multicultural connotation, are, in contraposition to the States an their monocultural connotation, in a position to face these imposing problems, together, in a sort of global democracy. The aggregate force of cities has the potential to have a powerful and direct effect on the market place, and not only. Cities, and their citizens, need to be heard, they need to have a larger voice.

IAAC Students developed this amazing projet within the IAAC OTF program: MATAERIAL, the revolution in 3d printing! Also published in DEZEEN.

“MATAERIAL is the result of the collaborative research between Petr Novikov, Saša Jokić from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and Joris Laarman Studio. IAAC tutors representing Open Thesis Fabrication Program provided their advice and professional expertise. During the course of the research we developed a brand new digital fabrication method and a working prototype that can open a door to a number of practical applications. The method that we call Anti·gravity Object Modeling has a patent-pending status.”  Saša Jokić and Petr Novikov

MATAERIAL – a brand new method of additive manufacturing. This patent-pending method allows for creating 3D objects on any given working surface independently of its inclination and smoothness, and without a need of additional support structures. Conventional methods of additive manufacturing have been affected both by gravity and printing environment: creation of 3D objects on irregular, or non-horizontal surfaces has so far been treated as impossible . By using innovative extrusion technology we are now able to neutralize the effect of gravity during the course of the printing process. This method gives us a flexibility to create truly natural objects by making 3D curves instead of 2D layers. Unlike 2D layers that are ignorant to the structure of the object, the 3D curves can follow exact stress lines of a custom shape. Finally, our new out of the box printing method can help manufacture structures of almost any size and shape.

Fabian Scheurer (born 1969 in Munich, Germany) seeks to interface the abstract order of digital systems with the creative chaos of design. He graduated from theTechnical University of Munich after studying computer sciences and architecture and worked as assistant at the CAAD group of TU-Munich, as software developer at Nemetschek Programmsystem GmbH , and as new media consultant forEclat AG in Zurich. From 2002 until 2006 he researched and lectured as a member of Ludger Hovestadt’s CAAD group at the ETH Zurich. His scientific work focused on the practical aspects of artificial-life methods in architectural construction and has been applied to a number of collaborative projects between architects, engineers, and fabrication experts. In 2005 he co-founded designtoproduction as a research group at the ETH. Since 2006 he is an associate in the company of the same name.

Yesterday, the 2011 Open Thesis Fabrication (OTF) participants gathered for the first time for a presentation by the various industrial partners for this year’s program. The 2011 OTF program has developed a non-profit partnership between IAAC and the following companies:

Santa & Cole- Design editor
Kuka- Robotic Technologies
Cricursa- Complex glass manufacturer
Escofet- Concrete and cast stone manufacturer
Industrias Imar- Metal Manufacturer
Dupont- Corian manufacturer
Finnforest- Wood company
Fupisca- Wood construction

The objective of this collaboration is to offer participants the possibility to engage in a semi-professional environment and to develop a project with the support and expertise of individuals and institutions that are commercially involved in their field of research.

(Above: Kuka, robotic technologies, presents to OTF participants)

About the Open Thesis Fabrication Program
In 2010 the Institute for advanced architecture of Catalonia launched a 16-week intensive research program for individual participants called the Open Thesis Fabrication (OTF). The goal of this program is to incorporate the use CNC fabrication equipment and technologies as part of a research agenda. Participants of the OTF Program will be asked to choose an individual research topic, connected to their own interests and/or prior experience or in response to a specific challenge proposed by the different partner companies. The research topic will be framed and evaluated together with the OTF Program directors, who will help participants to establish the specific research goals, potential methodologies, and concrete work calendar for the development of a the project.

The OTF is led by Program Director, Marta Malé-Alemany and Program Co-director, Luis Fraguada. Advisors for the program also include IAAC faculty, Victor Viña, as well as Tomas Diez, Manager of the Fab Lab BCN which is equipped with several large scale CNC machines, providing participants with an infrastructure for the development of material tests and full-scale physical prototypes.

Learn more about the Open Thesis Fabrication Program, here.

¨Behaviour: Examining the Proto-Systemic¨ by Theodore Spyropoulos