Monday 7th Jelle Feringa, Hyperbody team member and founding partner of EZTC , had  a lecture for the Open Thesis Fabrication students at IaaC. Jelle presented part of his PhD research titled ¨Design by Simulation¨, a thesis that is focusing on the close coupling of advanced simulation methods with evolutionary computing methods.

In recent projects, as Jelle presented them to us, EZCT Architecture & Design Research investigated the potential of simulation applied towards architectural conception.

Emergence and complexity are some of the key points of the projects that Jelle works on, where a complex model arise from condensing knowledge in a simple rule. Technology, computation and robotics have a central position in his research.

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Michael Sorkin visited Barcelona last week while he was invited for a lecture at IAAC and as a jury at WAF 2011 . Sorkins  lecture at IAAC was part of the añual IAAC Open Doors Event, a special day of the year were the public has the opportunity to meet the institute.

During his lecture Michael Sorkin presented to the audience the work that is being developed at his office while he communicates to the audience his special interest towards green architecture in different scales. An interest that is visible in both practical and theoritical approaches.

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The students of the MAA presented their first assignment of the Digital Fabrication class. The Digital Fabrication introductory course is intended to initiate students in the use of advanced digital design methods and fabrication processes in an integrated way, to make physical things from virtual data. It will focus on the design, development of construction of full scale prototypes in a variety of materials, focusing on the transition between computer modeling and materialization.

The MAA students during their first assignment, leaded by Eduard Cabay, had the chance to explore the potential of fabricating with the use of a CNC laser cutter, as they designed and produced lamps in one to one scale using different materials, developing their skill in conceiving a design through the language digital fabrication.

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Andreu Ulied, CEO of MCRIT S.L., had a special session with the MAA students, as part of the Energy class seminar, concerning the mobility systems, as an introduction to environmental impacts and resources consumption related with mobility in buildings and cities. The session had the carecter of an open debade with the students.

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On Monday Michael Knauss from DFAB ARCH ETHZ during his lecture ¨Designing Processes¨, presented the research that is being developed at Gramazio & kohler DFAB ARCH and the projects that thay have constructed. Materiality is one of the key points of their research and throughout their processes one could tell that the complexity of the final result is arousing from a certain simplicity delivered from the design. Technology has a central position at DFAB and KUKA is the ¨right hand¨of the researchers.

Michael Knauß is an architect and researcher based in Zurich. He studied Architecture at the ETH Zurich and the University of Stuttgart. Michael is a founding partner of ROK, a design and consulting office located in Zurich providing services for architects and engineers. As a researcher at the Professorship for Architecture and Digital Fabrication at ETH Zurich he headed several teaching and research projects in a national and international context. His research work at ETH focuses on digital design and fabrication strategies and their implementation in the architectural design process.

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Last Friday Abha joshi Ghani that heads the Urban Development and Local Governement Practice in the World bank´s Sustainable Development network had a lecture at IAAC under the title : ¨Urbanization- a developmental perspective on equitable, inclusive and green growth¨. During her Lecture Abha underlined the need for a sustainable urbanism in our times.

Abha joshi Ghani oversees the World Bank’s work on Urban Policy and Strategy and Knowledge and Learning. She is also Head of the Global Urbanization Knowledge Platform, a multi- partner initiative of the World Bank. The Urban Practice provides advisory services to the World Bank’s regional departments and country clients on key urban themes such as Cities and Economic growth, Urban Housing and Land, Urban Planning, City Management and Municipal Finance, Urban Environment, Cities and Climate Change, Urban Poverty and Inclusion, Cultural Heritage and Local Economic Development. She led the World Bank’s Urban Strategy in 2009.

Ms. Joshi-Ghani has worked primarily on infrastructure finance and urban development at the World Bank . Her experience in the Bank includes countries in South and East Asia , Africa and the Middle East . She holds an M.Phil from Oxford University, UK.

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The GIS ( Geographic Information System)  class is part of the Many Slow Cities into a Smart City Research Studio of the first term. GIS is the merging of cartography, statistical analysis, and database technology  and is tutored by Ioanna Spanou (Landscape Architect) and Margerita Neri (Landscape Architect). Through the GIS analysis tool, students are able to insert the information and data collected in each case study and generate diagnostic complex maps and new relations by overlapping and crossing information.

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