Join them tomorrow, from 11 am until 19.30 pm, at IaaC.

The 2010/11 MAA Students in the Self Sufficient Buildings Studio wrapped up their year with today’s presentation of final projects. The goal of each project was to create a self-sufficient city block in Barcelona. This Studio was led by IAAC Director Vicente Guallart and Javier Peña. The studio assistant was Rodrigo Rubio.

For the final presentations each MAA project in the Self Sufficient Buildings Studio was individually reviewed by an outside jury panel which included: Ali Kermanian (Ali Kermanian & Associates); José Pérez de Lama (Hackitectura.net); Antonio San Martin (aSZ Architects); Cristina Sendra (Eco Inteligent Growth); and Luis Viu Rebes and Jordi Pages i Ramon (Max de Cusa Arquitectes).

This was the second of the three MAA Studios to present this week. You can read about the Digital Tectonics presentations from Monday. Tomorrow, the Emergent Territories Studio will begin their presentations at 10:30h. All of the Studio presentations are open to the public.

(Above: Ali Kermanian (Ali Kermanian & Associates) discussing the MAA studio projects)

MAA Student: Maria Marghariti (Greece)
Research Studio: Self- Sufficient Buildings

Studio Instructor: Vicente Guallart, IAAC Director, and Javier Peña

Project: Algae Farm Block

Student’s Summary:

Basic element of the project is the algae and its cultivation, that consists a powerful source of energy, an effective water cleaning system and captures great amounts of CO2 (essential for its growth), emitting at the same time O2. The algae is cultivated in photobioreactors that are hanged from the free ends of the beams of the light steel structure forming in that way the north-east and north west facades of the building that work as a filter between the interior and the exterior space. Furthermore, the terraces that are behind the photobioreactors consist a transitional space that can be unified at will with the interior space controlling in that way the conditions and the microclimate of the interior spaces. Moreover, principal circulation of the building are ramps and bicycle lines that follow the facades of the atrium of the building and that lead up to a green roof of a neighbor existing building.

The form of the structure is based on the placement of the columns and the perimetrical beams 2m towards the interior space of the slabs, creating that way a transitional space between the interior and the skin facade of Algae photo-bioreactors. That structure creates neighboring spaces with different conditions and gives the opportunity of a more free positioning of the interior partitions.

About the MAA Final Projects

In Final Phases of the Masters in Advanced Architecture program students attend one of three Research Studios: Self-Sufficient Buildings, Digital Tectonics or Emergent Territories. At the end of Phase II MAA Students presented their initial proposals. Throughout Phase III they have refined this research for their final presentations.

This year final presentations will be held the week of June 27. All presentations are open to the public. We invite you to come to see the students present. More information will be provided closer to the week of presentations.