MAA Research Trips: Off To the Races

By iaac | Published: April 8, 2011

(Above- RS2 at Yas Marina F1 Circuit, Abu Dhabi. IAAC Tweet: “RS2 at Formula 1 Karts! The group had amazing loop times…”)

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This past week each explored a different part of the world. Each trip was related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

Looking back on the trips each research group spent time learning about architecture and technology through visits to various race tracks, stadiums, and automobile engineering facilities. They explored the many ways that automobiles and racing influence architecture and urban planning and development.

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MAA Research Trips: The Hong Kong Project

By iaac | Published: April 8, 2011

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This week each will be exploring a different part of the world. Each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

It is Friday and the groups are wrapping up their trips from around the world. While RS2 is returning from Dubai, RS3 will spend the weekend in Basel and Geneva.

RS1 is spending the final two days in Hong Kong conducting research projects around the city. In these projects, students will be exploring the city through five different tours which will examine: ports, waterfront development, parks, transportation systems and information networks. The goal of the research is to study urban zones with in relation to how they impact the culture of the city. Each group will create 3-5 minute video documentations of onsite information supported by graphical representation.

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MAA Research Trips: Munich Stadiums, Abu Dhabi Museums, Hong Kong Housing

By iaac | Published: April 7, 2011

(Above- RS3 at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. IAAC Tweet “RS3 studio @ Frei Otto’s Stadium, 2h tour on the canopy, walking + jumping on the 70000 m2 of cable net roof! Unforgetable experience!”)


Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This week each will be exploring a different part of the world. Each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

On the third day of exploring Hong Kong, Research Studio 1: Emergent Territories visited the School of Architecture at Hong Kong University, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, and the Terminal Cruisers Authority. Still ahead for RS1 is a gallery tour of the Hong Kong Planning and Infrastructure Exhibition and exploring the Kowloon district.

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Urban Feeds at Smart Geometry 2011

By iaac | Published: April 6, 2011


Urban Feeds Team: Olivier Gras, Elsa Wifstrand, Federico Giacomarra, Scott Leinwebe, Bernadette Luger, Dimitris Papadopoulous, Woo Jae Sung, Felipe Pecegueiro, Morten, Bulow, Luis Fraguada, Tomas Diez

Smart Geometry 2011 just finished last Saturday, after an intense week of workshops, talks and conferences, all orbiting around the mean of Data, its uses and applications into architecture and design. Urban Feeds cluster, tutored IAAC community members: Luis Fraguada, Tomas Diez and Felipe Pecegueiro, was about the Personal Data Collection and the use of it to affect the behavior of city inhabitants. The workshop was an opportunity to develop a workflow proposal, based on a more protagonist role of the data production into the design process.

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MAA Research Trips: Following the MAA Curriculum Around the World

By iaac | Published: April 6, 2011

(RS2 Self Sufficient Buildings: Students discuss sustainable urban planning in Masdar City)

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This week each will be exploring a different part of the world.

As we have mentioned, each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio. Their goal is to discover advanced architecture in action around the world and apply and expand upon these ideas in their work when they return for the final Phase of their Masters program. In this post you will see a few of the things a couple of the Studios have seen in their travels that relate to their MAA curriculum at IAAC.

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MAA Research Trips: Digital Fabrication in Zurich, Masdar City, Macau

By iaac | Published: April 5, 2011

(RS3 Checking in outside ETH, the group on foam furniture fabricated by robots)

Students in the Masters in Advanced Architecture Program are split into three Research Studios (RS1: Emergent Territories, RS2: Self Sufficient Buildings, RS3 Digital Tectonics). This week each will be exploring a different part of the world. Each trip is related to the focus of each Research and Development Studio.

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Fab Academy Update: 1st Half Complete

By iaac | Published: April 5, 2011

Every week since the beginning of January, Barcelona Fab Academy students have been working on a different assignment learning about digital fabrication tools and techniques. On this second edition, the Fab Academy has more than 50 participants from all over the world learning and sharing knowledge together through the Fab Lab Network. The students are working on a different assignment each week learning and doing projects on many different scales, from plywood press-fit structures to micro-electronics.

In the second half of the course the students are getting deeper into electronics and embedded programming, developing electronic circuits from zero and doing their first steps on C programming. Below you could see a selection of some of the work done through the first half of the course.

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