Today the Open Thesis Fabrication 5.0 gave their Mid term review, with an internal IAAC jury, as well as representatives from the collaborative companies, in particular Claudia Roselló, Santa&Cole, and Toni Cumella, Ceràmica Cumella.

The OTF program pushes the development of a specific research agenda in the field of digital design and fabrication, in an experimental environment that provides the spatial and technological means to execute it, finally aiming to develop and complete full-scale prototypes using advanced CNC machinery, innovative material solutions, and smart energy applications.

Some of the proposals presented included energy generative prototypes using moss or vibrations as an energy source, additive and subtractive manufacturing with a series of natural materials, as well as smart materials focussing on conductivity and refraction.

This research describes a studio experiment developed by Iker Luna, under Luis Fraguada, inside the Open Thesis Fabrication program, in the research line of Smart Urban Elements. The project aims of exploring the bio receptivity of ceramics taking advantage of the porosity of the material that allows it to retain water and using natural fibers as complement elements to benefits other properties.

It is known that species like moss and other organisms have the capacity to grow in diverse typologies of surfaces, in particular surfaces with high levels of moisture and acceptable pH levels. Ceramics, such as roof tiles, become suitable places for the reproduction of this organism, providing even more benefit to the material performance in terms of thermal and acoustic parameters, not to mention, photosynthetic organisms help to improve air quality, and to alleviate urban heat island effects.

Material limitation

It is important to understand that materials suffer different physical changes depending on the environment and climate conditions. Moss and other plants can also be responsible for increasing the moisture levels and, with temperature rise; water can significantly damage a normal ceramic piece.

Testing Material Phase 1 [TM1]

A first phase of research was dedicated to a comprehensive framework on previous work in ceramic fields taking in account components to test different levels of porosity and roughness. By nature of its microstructure, traditional ceramic material can function as a buffer for both heat and moisture. The use of bentonite white clay was chosen as it has been proven that the material offers an equilibrium moisture content of 13 percent under 50 percent standard humidity conditions, whereas the equilibrium moisture content of kaolinite under the same conditions is only 0.7 percent.

Introducing porosity into any material will improve the thermal insulating characteristics (decreasing the conductivity) of the material. Porous materials consist in a solid matrix containing gas within the pores. Their good insulation properties are achieved due to the reduced thermal conductivity in gases, in comparison with solids or liquids. Pine sawdust was therefore incorporated in different proportions, as well as chamotte to produce a rough finish helping the growing process.

Moss growing acceleration [MGA]

Botanically speaking, mosses are non-vascular plants in the land plant division Bryophyta. They are small (normally a few centimeters tall) herbaceous (non- woody) plants that absorb water and nutrients mainly through their leaves and harvest sunlight to create food through a process of photosynthesis. They differ from vascular plants in their lack of water bearing xylem tracheids or vessels. As in liverworts and hornworts, the haploid gametophyte generation is the dominant phase of the life cycle. This contrasts with the pattern in all vascular plants (seed plants and pteridophytes), where the diploid sporophyte generation is dominant. Mosses reproduce using spores, not seeds and have no flowers.

Since moss gametophytes have no vascular system to transport water, through the plant or waterproofing systems to prevent tissue water from evaporating they must have a damp environment in which to grow, and a surrounding of liquid water to reproduce. They also require enough sunlight to conduct photosynthesis being autotrophic. Shade tolerance varies by species, as it does with taller plants. In most areas, mosses grow chiefly in damp shady areas, such as wooded areas and at the edges of streams; but they can grow anywhere in cool damp cloudy climates. Some species are also adapted to sunny, seasonally dry areas like alpine rocks or stabilized sand dunes. Since life cycle moss can take couple of months to stabilize, the method chosen was of mixing different components in order to accelerate the growth.

Near infrared/ Normalized Difference Vegetation Index [NIR/NDVI] 
In order to analyze the bio receptibility of the BCS the NIR NIR and NDVI technology was used to see and detect first evidence of living moss in the ceramics. This allows observing which samples are more suitable for growing the photosynthetic organism in controlled conditions. This process was developed using a modified digital camera, in this case the Canon A810, by replacing the original filter from the lens and adding a specific blue filter (1). This new filter captures near-infrared and blue light in the same image, but in different color channels. Images are processed with a code (2) designed in Studio R, a language designed for processing images and Quantum Gis a open source geographic information system.

Once the multispectral photograph of the materials is taken, it is possible to post-process the images, compositing the infrared and visible data to generate new images which display the healthy moss, photosynthetically active areas as bright regions. In this case QGIS1 was used to analyze regions, but a grasshopper definition was also generated to explore new potential data. Near-infrared photography has been a key tool for planning at the industrial and governmental level: it is used on airplanes and satellites by vineyards, large farms, and even NASA for sophisticated agricultural and ecological assessment.

(1). Filter created by Public Lab / http://publiclab.org/

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.

CRICURSA was founded in 1928 with the intention of bringing form, material and processing into high technology glass bending, in order to explore the possibilities of bent glass as a decorative element. After more than 8o years of experience, now offers architectural glass, curved and flat interior and exterior glass, and is present in many of the most famous architectural works around the world.
introduction of new glass-made solutions. Passionate about architecture, creativity and innovation, their aim is to continue inspiring the best engineers and architects in the world, in close collaboration with Facades and installers and all professionals, partnering CRICURSA to the efficiency and capacity to deliver ideas and concepts of the designers.