Everyday life at the Institute for advanced architecture of Catalonia
Carlo Ratti had a lecture at IAAC the previous week under the title ¨Senseable cities¨. During his lecture he presented to the audience the last projects that his office is developing and he gave us an idea about the research developed at the Senseable City Lab that he directs in MIT. Carlo Ratti is specialy interested on how a city could fuction in real time, were the physical could be responsive to the real time information.
The IAAC project for the ENDESA Pavilion is now fully constructed. The Pavillion is situated at Moll de la Marina in Barcelona and is part of the Smart Cities Expo.
The endesa Pavilion is an IAAC project designed by IAAC with chief architect Rodrigo Rubio. ¨We built a solar house with solar material. Wood is a living material that grows in the sun. It is an inexhaustible material produced in culture. Is a soft, accessible, easy to work, adapt and join. It’s a warm material, which provides high thermal insulation.¨
The system that is proposed is designed to be fabricated by CNC machines, that provide high execution speed. In fact, the pavilion has been built in one month term. This is possible thanks to the production of parts that are defined in digital format string and cut into very quickly, even if they are completely different from each other. In addition, we expect that wood is a material easy to cut and carry.
The photovoltaic energy capture is housed in the facade from the south and on the cover. The inclinations of these panels vary depending on the main orientations.
The presence of Lucy Musgrave during the introductory studio class, this week, started a debate based on the projects of the students, exploring matters of energy, intelligence, adaptability and general interdisciplinary strategies for urban space that could have local and global effect.
Julian Vincent, was a guest tutor for the Theory seminar class of the MAA the past days. Julian during his lectures clarified the projects that are concider to be biomimicry projects opposing to the ones that are just myths. Julian highlighted the significant role of hierarchy in the systems of construction as it appears in nature. Technology solves a problem quite differently than biology having as an attribute of being able to act in much shorter period of time.
Julian Vincent is a biologist. At the University of Reading he studied the mechanical properties of plants and animals. He then moved to the University of Bath where he became a Professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering, transferring functions from biology to engineering. He is Scientific Advisor to Swedish Biomimetics 3000, an independent company, and consults on biological inspiration for architectural design. Biology suggests both form and function. Form is attractive but can be expensive. Function can offer both lower cost and better design.
