All of these experimentation have been shown on the 22nd of May at the final presentations of the seminar “lightweight structures 1:1″ at IAAC.

The aim of the seminar, led by Silvia Brandi and Rodrigo Rubio, with the collaboration of Pepe Ballestero (ETSAM Prototipolab) and Maria Kupstova, was to build four lightweight structures using structural fabric, within the format of an intensive workshop.

For the development of the project the course counted on the partnership of Serge Ferrari company, which provided the high-performance fabric Stamisol FT 371-3048 and Stamisol FT 381-3128.

The seminar has been developed in two sessions of three days each: in the first one four groups have been formed around four research topics: tensegrity structures, tensile structures, pure tension structures and fibrous structures.

During the first phase each group developed a project proposal and went trough some material testing and prototyping. During the second phase the construction of the four pavilions has been carried out in IAAC.

At the final presentation the students presented their projects to the jury board, formed by Ramon Sastre, tensile structure expert by ETSAV-UPC, Carmelo Zappulla, IAAC Faculty and principal of External Reference, Areti Markopoulou, MAA Director, together with the IAAC Alumni and Staff Mathilde Marengo, Dori Sadan and Moe Beagle.

This week, for the final review of the Material Systems seminar MAA students presented their projects to the Seminar instructors and IAAC staff and external jury (Eduard Cabay, Cloud 9). The Material Systems seminar investigated the relationship between material, materiality and material systems in the realm of architecture, the seminar was discussed further in a post last month.

Above: Casting two materials with similar propertise, – the above group experimented with ice and wax, arranging differendly each time the relationship between ovoid and solid with forms that were able to be achived by the use of materials that both transform to liquid ones in different temperatures.

Below: Translucent Material-  Made out of melted caramel and fiber optics.  Once the caramel solidified the result was a block which allows light to pass.

MAA Student Martin Firera Allessandri (Italy) is working on his project for the Material Systems Seminar final which will be next week. Led by Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poleto (EcoLogicStudio), the Material Systems seminar is investigating the relationship between material, materiality and material systems in the realm of architecture. To learn more about the Material Systems seminar you can read our earlier blog post previewing the Phase III seminar.

Seminar: Multidisciplinar Optimization

Faculty: Santiago Marin (Vortica)

In Phase III of the Masters in Advanced Architecture students will continue to work on their final projects in their Development Studios and they will also attend three seminars that cover a wide variety of topics.

The Multidisciplinar Optimization seminar will be divided into three different sessions. During the first session the students will approach the cognitive engineering for design methods with an introduction from CAD to CED. With the knowledge of management and project presentation of the second session, the students will be provided with tools to manage information within in a multidisciplinary project. One of the objectives will be to find as many parameters as possible that are affecting habitats in order to create a model in the 3rd session.

A workshop will take place in the midway through Phase III where the students will start to develop their projects and identify the parameters surrounding their designs.

Industrial design tools created to quantify intangible elements and apply them to products will be the interest of the 5th class in the seminar. Within this study, a second workshop will be held to quantify emotional parameters from the students projects. Genetic algorithms will be studied by the students for the use of mathematical methods in order to solve complex answers. At the end of the seminar the students will be asked to find natural design methods: the complex meaning of complex systems.

Seminar: Metabolic Structures

Faculty: Cristina Sendra (Eco Intelligent Growth)

In Phase III of the Masters in Advanced Architecture students will continue to work on their final projects in their Research Studios and they will also attend three seminars that cover a wide variety of topics.

Metabolic Structures Seminar will work with applying efficient design concepts to buildings, urban infrastructure and apparatus. There will be three important sources to be taken into account:

1. Cradle to Cradle

“Cradle to cradle” is a concept that was created, separately, by the Swiss industrial analyst Walter Sathel, on the one hand, and by the American architect William McDonough and the German chemist Michael Braungart on the other. The “cradle to cradle” concept is a revolutionary approach to redesigning mankind’s industrial system based on the conviction that careful design at the initial stages of any project, inspired by the regenerative, healthy productivity of natural models is capable of creating an industry that sustains and provides a balance between the social, environmental and economic aspects inherent in any human activity. The goal is to achieve maximum value (social, environmental and economic) through intelligent design.

Its principles are:
-Waste is always a resource
-Use of solar energy
-Celebration of diversity
-Eco-effectiveness: follow nature’s design principles

2. Natural Capitalism

Natural capitalism and the possibility of a new industrial system are based on a new approach and on a values system that differs from that of conventional capitalism. The business world is changing, and the model currently being used to create well-being cannot be applied indefinitely. Natural capitalism provides a guide and framework for action for future businesses to make a profit from their environmental and social responsibility.
3. Biomimicry

Biomimicry is a new discipline that studies the solutions adopted by nature as the result of 3,800 million years of evolution and aims to imitate these designs and processes to solve mankind’s problems. Engineers, biologists, computer scientists, chemists, physicists and other researchers in a wide range of fields are working on fi nding solutions inspired by the strategies developed by plants and animals to thrive in their environment. Studying a leaf to invent an improved solar panel is one example of this innovation inspired by nature.

Seminar: Material, Materiality and Material Systems

Faculty: Claudia Pasquero, Marco Poleto (EcoLogicStudio)

In Phase III of the Masters in Advanced Architecture students will continue to work on their final projects in their Research Studios and they will also attend three seminars that cover a wide variety of topics.

The Material Systems seminar will investigate the relationship between material, materiality and material systems in the realm of architecture. The method of investigation will involve discussion as well as digital and material experiment.

Architecture as a form of Material life

(From Systemic Architecture: Operating Manual for the Self-Organizing City by C. Pasquero, M. Poletto)

“When the matter of architecture is freed from the essentialist conception that considers it a formless entity regulated by transcendental geometric rules, forms and proportions, it suddenly acquires potential of self-organization and becomes generative. In this state matter can go far beyond the resolution of structural or constructive problems as it provides models for dealing with the complex feedback that occurs between multiple (and often contrasting) forces, like the ones operating in cities.

Our task as design explorers has been to breed these models by developing scaled material prototypes that operates as analogues computers when subjected to specific sets of structural and organizational principles, programmatic regimes and urban operational fields.”
These prototypes have been actualized in many series of projects, each exploring specific set of input parameters and actualizing in highly different urban contexts; among them the eco Machines series, prototypical architectures capable of systemic co-action with their users and within the local ecosystems”.

The Designing Associativity Seminar is titled as such in order to acknowledge the effort of designing relationships versus explicit objects or forms. MAA Students look at ways to construct logics which take advantage of diverse data sources, algorithms, geometry, and manufacturing processes.

Architecture as a practice and experience has often dealt with the negotiation of several elements rendered in a built space. The tools of the trade (both conceptual and instrumental) have played a crucial role in defining how architecture and design evolve through form, materials, scale, and performance. In the end though, designing has always been and will always continue to be about designing associations.

The image below  shows a project that uses solar panels that rotate according to sun location to capture the most solar energy possible. Project presented by MAA students Tomas Vivanco and Javier Gonzalez.

Above: A modular wind turbine system that changes direction based on wind data (like wind direction, speed, etc.) obtained from a website.  Project by Vittal Siridharan and Harshad Sutar.

Simulation of louver movement react to sun change. (watch a student video of the project in motion video-1 and video-2)

More information about the work students are doing for the Design Associativity Seminar can be found on the seminar working blog: legacy.iaacblog.com/designingassociativity/

To learn more about what MAA students are working on in the Designing Associativity seminar visit the seminar blog at: legacy.iaacblog.com/designingassociativity

Francisco Marmolejo working on details.