Annual Report 2019-2020 | UIC Barcelona School of Architecture by ArchitectureUIC

Annual Report

2019-2020

uic.es/architecture

Universitat Internacional de Catalunya School of Architecture

Annual Report

2019-2020

uic.es/architecture

Universitat Internacional de Catalunya School of Architecture Barcelona Campus Alfa Building Immaculada, 22 08017 Barcelona T. +34 932 541 800 uic.es/architecture

Contents The School

Double Degree & Mobility Programmes

Vertical Workshop

Foros

Cooperation

Accessibility

Sustainability • CEIM

Barcelona Ceramics Chair

Exhibitions

Awards

News

Credits

The School

The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture was founded in 1997 —initially known as ESARQ-UIC— and its DNA, identity and distinctive model have been evolving from that moment onwards. By DNA, we mean the subjects that make up the School’s unique model, subjects that define and reinforce its spirit and philosophy, which is based on three cornerstones: taking care of individuals, innovation and contact with industry, and a commitment to society. In other words, innovation at the service of people. Among the subjects, workshops and courses we offer, some of the highlights include the compulsory subjects on Cooperation, Accessibility and Sustainability —the latter of which was instigated by the CEIM Chair—; the Vertical Workshop, which consists of a week-long workshop at the beginning of the academic year where all students work together on a project intended to benefit the community; and lastly, Foros, a series of lectures that offer students the chance to gain first-hand knowledge of the different methods and philosophies involved in every facet of the field of architecture.

The School

Commitment to society through compulsory classes on Cooperation, Sustainability and Accessibility The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture aims to produce architects that know and care about the needs of society, the environment and people in general. It is the only architecture school in Spain that teaches compulsory modules on cooperation, sustainability and accessibility. It offers students a comprehensive approach to architectural education, improving competitiveness by encouraging multiple skill sets, teamwork, responsibility, and entrepreneurship. Individual support, guidance and coaching Individual support for students and a comprehensive approach with a focus on social impact are key elements of this programme. The University has a unique teaching method, Integrated Project-based Teaching (DIP), in which each student is tasked with undertaking a project at every step of the process. The subjects are taught in a cross-disciplinary manner to ensure that projects are worked on at every level. This means students learn to work on a project from the ground up, all the way down to the construction details. Cultural activities with international lecturers and renowned architects The academic curriculum is enriched by numerous workshops and lectures. During the Foros series of lectures, students attend various talks delivered by prestigious national and international architects. During the intense, week-long Vertical Workshop, students from all five years of the programme are divided into teams. These teams create sociallyoriented projects using models built on a real-life scale, under the supervision of renowned Spanish architects.

The School

Cutting-edge technology The School has a modelling studio filled with all kinds of tools and digital machinery (lasers, numerical control machines and 3D rapid prototyping machines), run by an expert who guides the work process. Architectural prizes Students from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture won first prize in the latest editions of the Schindler Spain Architecture Award and Premis Llum BCN 2019, as well as a number of at the Cevisama Lab international architectural competitions. Our lecturers have also won various prizes, such as Premis FAD d’Arquitectura 2019. Classes taught in English An international outlook and mobility and exchange programmes with universities abroad are some of the School of Architecture’s main priorities. Our degree programmes are eligible for recognition in any European Union country and many of our subjects are taught in English. Work placements at internationally prestigious architectural firms, with an employability rate of 85% The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture has an active work placement programme that helps recent graduates find employment in the field of architecture. In recent years, 85% of our students have found a job following graduation. The fact we have three Company-Sponsored University Chairs means there are more opportunities to work at companies in different fields of architecture.

Double Degree & Mobility Programmes Belgium Hogeschool Voor Wetenschap en Kunst / Sint-Lucas Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Université Libre de Bruxelles Université de Liège Université de Mons France École d’Architecture de Normandie École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Montpellier École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris Malaquais Université Pierre-Mendès-France, UPMF Finland Oulun Yliopisto Germany FH Münster - University of Applied Sciences Technische Universität Darmstadt Italy Politécnico di Milano Politécnico di Torino

Argentina Universidad Católica de Santa Fe, UCSF Universidad de Belgrano Brazil Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, FAAP Universidade Católica de Goiás, UCG Universidade Católica do Rio Grande Do Sul, PUCRS Chile Universidad del Desarrollo Colombia San Buenaventura Seccional Cali Universidad Nacional de Colombia Mexico Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Universidad de Monterrey, UDEM Universidad Valle Tlaxcala Panama Universidad Sta. María La Antigua, USMA The United States University of Califronia, Berkeley University of Texas at San Antonio New York Institute of Technology Boston University University of California Los Angeles Harrisburg University, Pennsylvania

Lithuania Vilnius Academy of Arts Norway Bergen School of Architecture The Czech Republic Brno University of Technology The United Kingdom Architectural Association London (AA) Dublin Institute of Technology University for the Creative Arts, UCA Canterbury University of Coventry

Doble Degree & Mobility Programmes

Through the agreement signed between the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture and the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the Universidad de Belgrano (Argentina), students from the two universities are able to study aninternational double degree (PMDT) and obtain two degrees, thus enabling them to work both in Argentina and Europe. In addition, the qualification from the Universidad de Belgrano is accredited by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the most prestigious international architecture institute in the world. This accreditation will ensure that students are eligible to study at a postgraduate level or work in the United Kingdom. The School also has exchange programme agreements with several universities worldwide.

Australia Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, RMIT Japan Chiba University Kazakhstan Kazakh Leading Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering, KazGASA Syria Arab International University South Korea Seoul Women’s University United Arab Emirates Manipal University Dubai

Vertical Workshop

The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture’s Vertical Workshop is held over approximately ten days, starting in the first week of the academic year. It has been one of the School’s most important and iconic events since it was first launched in 1997. The Vertical Workshop at the School of Architecture brings together students from 1st through to 5th year studies, who are then mixed up into different teams, each led by a pair of renowned young architects from Spain. The teams then work to create a real architecture project based on social aims.

Vertical Workshop

Vertical Workshop 2019: “Silent walls. Reusing the Capella de la Misericòrdia” From 3-7 September, Architecture students in years two through five went to the Capella de la Misericòrdia, or Chapel of Mercy, in the Barcelona district of Raval, to design ephemeral architectural projects that highlighted the site’s significance to the district’s residents. This new edition of the Vertical Workshop, entitled “Silent Walls: Reusing la Capella de la Misericòrdia”, was directed by Ricardo Gómez Val and coordinated by Íñigo Ugalde, both holders of a PhD in Architecture and lecturers in the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. The main purpose of the workshop was for the students to reflect on the Capella de la Misericòrdia in order to, on the one hand, devise new uses for the site that preserve its historical relevance and, on the other, offer solutions to the multiple challenges currently surrounding it. “In the midst of the discussion regarding the future use of the chapel, we want to offer a new perspective on the site, recovering the site’s historical relevance as a place of gathering and reflection for people from the neighbourhood”, explained Ricardo Gómez Val. This year’s Vertical Workshop was sponsored by the companies URCOTEX and SIKA, as well as the Jordi Capell Architects’ Cooperative. The jury this year was made up of Ricardo Flores, founder of the architecture studio Flores&Prats; Kathrin GoldaPongratz, architect, urban planner and lecturer at UIC Barcelona; and the prestigious sculptor, photographer and designer Javier Viver.

The Vertical Workshop has always been an important event that represents the spirit of the school, and over recent years it has consolidated and extended its innovative nature.

Vertical Workshop

The installation “Llum sobre el Raval”, or Light over Raval, directed by lecturers Eduardo Delgado Orusco and Àlex Martínez, was the project selected by the jury as the winner in this edition of the initiative. The core element in this installation is light, symbolised by steel turnbuckles that, like light, enter the church through a new stained glass window towards the top. The light, as it hits the floor in the chapel’s central nave, also symbolises the urban layout of the Raval district. “The silenced chorists sing again” was the project chosen as the winner by the public. It is a sound installation that talks directly to spectators, urging them to reflect on where they are: a chapel that, in the past, provided a home for the city’s orphan girls. The project consists of two parts: in the first, a group of people in the middle of the nave depict the current dispute between the MACBA, the CAP Raval Nord platform and the residents of Raval. In the second, a group of girls and nuns situated in the choir personify the location’s past. As the spectators approach the installation, the choir begins singing, and children’s voices start to ask who the people arguing over the chapel are and urge them to set aside their differences. Other submissions in this initiative include “Only unity can heal the community”, which also reflects on the need to iron out differences and move past the current conflict surrounding the future use of the chapel; “Casal del Raval: La Taronja”, which proposes converting the chapel into a social centre for residents by planning a series of social and cultural activities; and “Passage”, which considers the need to improve the connection between the Capella de la Misericòrdia and the square in front of the MACBA, modifying the tunnel that leads into the chapel with a view to making it more visible, accessible and welcoming. 15

Foros

Foros is part of the academic teaching programme at the School. It is a subject that involves debate and reflection on current architecture and consists of a series of lectures that are open to the public. The main objective of the subject is to exchange knowledge, approaches and different views between students and lecturers, and it acts as a tool to understand and perceive the discipline of architecture, as well as a platform for events relating to theory and criticism of the work of architects. Through open lectures given by nationally and internationally renowned guest lecturers, our Foros series aims to provoke questions and discussions on topical issues as well as reflect and debate matters of vital importance to architects.

With support from:

Foros

The 2019/20 edition of Foros featured the following speakers: Klaus (Klaustoon) is an architectural cartoonist permanently active on the internet. The launching of Klaustoon’s blog in 2009 marked his self-re-fashioning as a tireless critic of the architectural status quo. His work is a general satire of the architectural world: from contemporary events to the architectural star system, and the multiple facets of architectural culture, theory, and history. Klaus is also Luis Miguel (Koldo) Lus Arana, architect (ETSA Universidad de Navarra, 2001), Master in Design Studies (Harvard GSD), and PhD (ETSAUN). He currently teaches as a senior lecturer in Architectural History and Theory at the School of Engineering and Architecture (EINA) at the University of Zaragoza, and his main lines of research deal with the interactions between architecture and mass media and the urban visions of the future in architecture and visual arts. MADOLA. Maria Àngels Domingo Laplana, “MADOLA”, is a ceramist, sculptor, painter and multi-faceted artist, established in Premià de Dalt. She studied ceramics at Escola Massana. She also has a degree in Sculpture and a doctorate from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona. Since 1966, she has held individual and collective exhibitions in Spain and internationally and has won numerous awards, including the Special Ceramics Prize from Sotheby’s London or the grant from Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Mallorca. Since 1988, she has created large format works for public spaces. MADOLA is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics in Geneva, and the World Crafts Council, part of UNESCO in Paris. She is also member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona. Carme Torrent studied architecture at the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Architecture of Barcelona (ETSABUPC). In parallel, she has developed her career in the field of dance, through her own work as well as developing projects with other artists. As a result of her interest in Min Tanak and Hisako Horikawa’s “Body Weather” project, she travelled to Japan, where she worked from 2000 to 2009 with the company Tokason, directed by Tanaka. Between 2012 and 2016 she worked with the choreographer Xavier Le Roy, on work for exhibition spaces, which included Retrospective (Fundació Tàpies, 2012), Untitled, 12 Rooms (Ruhrtriennales Essen, 2012 Festival), 13 Rooms (Sydney, 2013) or Untitled (ImpulsTanz, Vienna, 2016). She currently teaches workshops in the MACAP Master of Scenic Arts Girona-Ljubljana-Dartington and within the Master’s programme E.X.E.R.C.E. in Montpellier.

Maroje Mrduljas. Architect, critic and curator, he has authored and edited books on architecture and design. Since 2017 he has served as editor-in-chief of Oris magazine. Maroje has been published in leading international journals including A+U, Archithese, Bauwelt, db and Domus. He curated and contributed to various international exhibitions in art centres such as MoMA (New York) DAM (Frankfurkt), MUO (Zagreb), the Venice Architecture Biennale or Kunstlerhaus (Vienna). Maroje is an independent expert for the EU Mies van der Rohe Prize for Architecture and member of the Committee of Experts of the European Prize for Urban Public Space. Jill Magid is an American conceptual artist, writer, and filmmaker. Magid’s performance-based practice “interrogates structures of power on an intimate level, exploring the emotional, philosophical, and legal tensions that exist between institutions and individual agency.” Magid has frequently worked by forming personal relationships with governmental systems of power, including police and intelligence agencies, questioning these structures of authority on a human level by embedding herself within them. Other projects intervene at contested sites of corporate control, bureaucratic process, and the law. Nicole Aschoff is a sociologist, writer, and editor. She is the author of The Smartphone Society: Technology, Power, and Resistance in the New Gilded Age and The New Prophets of Capital. She holds a PhD in Sociology from Johns Hopkins University and is currently an editor at large at Jacobin magazine and managing editor of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. Elsie Owusu OBE is an architect and urban designer. Her projects include the UK Supreme Court and London’s Green Park Station. She was runner-up for the RIBA Presidency in 2018, being re-elected to RIBA National Council. Current projects include: a studio/ residency complex for the artist Yinka Shonibare CBE in Lagos; a low-energy home in Sussex an ecodevelopment in Takoradi, Ghana. She is a director of JustGhana, which promotes inward investment and good governance in Ghana with a special focus on environmental education for children and young people through the creative industries. In 2003, she was honoured by the Queen for services to architecture as Founding Chair of the Society of Black Architects.

Cooperation

The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture aims to offer subjects with a clear commitment to society, both on its Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture and on its Master’s programmes. For this reason, we offer compulsory Cooperation I and Cooperation II subjects to 4th year students. The Master’s Degree in International Cooperation: Sustainable Emergency Architecture, part of the Erasmus Mundus Urbano consortium, is an advanced master’s degree programme that prepares architects to develop and rebuild communities affected by rapid urbanisation, poverty, conflict and natural disasters. It is delivered jointly by four European universities: Technische Universität Darmstadt (TU-Darmstadt) — as the coordinating university for the consortium—, Université Pierre Mendès France (UPMF), the Universita degli Studi Roma Tour Vegata and the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture.

Cooperation

UIC Barcelona helps build a children’s park in the area of Peru devastated by the coastal El Niño Students from the Official Master’s Degree in International Cooperation: Sustainable Emergency Architecture took part in an international workshop aimed at restoring public spaces in the town of Pedregal Grande (Peru), an area devastated by the flooding of the Piura River during the coastal El Niño phenomenon over two years ago. The workshop was organised in cooperation with the University of Piura with support from NGOs that have been active in the region since 2017. The aim was to develop a pilot project to restore a public space in El Pedregal. Together with local authorities and residents, the decision was made to construct a children’s play area as an initial step towards creating the so-called “Parque de la Memoria del Niño Costero”, a park to remember the victims of the coastal El Niño event. The 26 students from UIC Barcelona worked hand in hand with 14 architecture students from the 22

University of Piura (Peru) and five students from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology-RMIT (Australia). “Before travelling to Piura, we worked with our students to analyse the area’s territorial system and ecological conditions, mobility and accessibility criteria and socioeconomic reality”, explained Carmen Mendoza-Arroyo and Raquel Colacios, director and assistant director of the master’s programme. The final project involved building a children’s “parkrefuge” with recreational equipment designed to promote the psycho-motor activity of the boys and girls from El Pedregal, while also creating a highground refuge as part of a hypothetical evacuation route.

Cooperation

Architecture students submit plans to improve accessibility to Montjüic for the neighbourhoods surrounding the mountain Students from the Master’s Degree in International Cooperation: Emergency Sustainable Architecture took part in a local workshop, whose main objective was to transform Montjüic into a more inclusive and diverse green infrastructure for the city of Barcelona. The workshop forms part of the master’s degree’s academic programme and is inspired by the objectives outlined in the Montjüic Action Plan (20192029) developed by Barcelona Regional. The workshop was led by Carmen Mendoza Arroyo, director of the master’s degree; assistant director, Raquel Colacios and lecturers Marta Benages and Apen Ruiz. Thanks to this initiative, students had the chance to work on the ground and devise plans to improve accessibility for the many neighbourhoods that border Montjüic. “Montjüic has become a tourist attraction thanks to its museums, gardens and the facilities and stadium built for the Olympic Games in 1992. However, these urban design projects that were launched as a marketing strategy to help the city to grow, have accentuated the economic and physical gap and overlooked the possibility of more egalitarian urban developments that take the adjacent neighbourhoods into consideration”, explain Carmen Mendoza and Raquel Colacios. Students presented their proposals later on and outlined the barriers, spatial vulnerabilities, facilities and cultural and civic activities they had detected along four routes leading into the Montjüic park. In response, they proposed a series of strategies that would allow for greater connectedness between the city and the mountain. 23

Accessibility

One of our subjects that encourages commitment to society is Accessibility. The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture is a national pioneer in terms of incorporating this subject into the curriculum of the Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture as a compulsory subject for 3rd year students, and as a working area for student’s Final Projects. The initiative is led by renowned architect Enrique Rovira-Beleta, who also directs the Postgraduate Degree in Accessibility: Universal Design Specialist (online). This course is the first formal academic initiative that looks at accessibility from a global perspective and within a cross-disciplinary framework.

Accessibility

Architecture students devise ways to improve the accessibility of the shops on Avinguda Gaudí Third-year students from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture presented their ideas for improving the accessibility of the shops and facilities on Avinguda Gaudí at the community centre in the Sagrada Familia district. The initiative is part of the Barcelona City Council project Friendly Trade Without Barriers (CASBA), driven by the Barcelona City Council’s Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities (IMPD) with a view to improving accessibility in the city’s neighbourhoods and streets. Altogether, the students, supervised by the director of the School’s Area of Accessibility, lecturer Enrique Rovira-Beleta, developed 24 projects for businesses on Avinguda Gaudí and the streets adjacent to this major shopping hub. Present at the presentation of the proposals was Marta Sendra, councillor for Disability and the Elderly for the Eixample district; Clara Santamaria and Maria Castells, IMPD

representatives; and Loreto Almirall, president of the Gaudí Shopping Retailers Association. “We are always willing to improve our establishments, and the students’ projects really helped us to see the barriers that our shops still hold for people with disabilities”, declared the local shop owners’ representative. The students developed their accessibility proposals inside the establishments, based on the criteria of efficiency and sustainability. According to lecturer Enrique Rovira-Beleta, “the idea is for these businesses to incorporate what we call ‘unnoticed accessibility’, that is, things that make life easier for everyone, but cannot be seen”. Since 2013, the CASBA project has helped to improve accessibility in several districts in Barcelona, including Zona Franca, Creu Coberta, Vallespir, HortaGuinardó, Sant Andreu and Ciutat Vella.

Accessibility

Accessibility is not only necessary for people with disabilities, it is also beneficial for all citizens.

Sustainability CEIM

CEIM • Sustainability

Another compulsory subject in our architecture programmes, in line with the philosophy of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, is Sustainability. This subject blends environmental commitment and links between universities and companies, bringing together students and companies from different sustainability sectors supported by the CEIM (Chair in Industrial Construction and the Environment). With support from the CEIM, the School helps to provide a cross-disciplinary approach and knowledge transfer to its studies. The cross-disciplinary approach seeks to involve representatives from stakeholders in the construction sector. Knowledge transfer is achieved through interaction between the university and manufacturing, engineering and architectural companies, as well as between the different companies themselves. The subjects Sustainability I and II cover the concepts of energy efficiency, user comfort and the environmental impact of construction.

CEIM • Sustainability

Architecture students research new uses for concrete at the CEMEX Global R&D Centre in Switzerland Ten architecture students travelled to the city of Bel/Bienne (Switzerland) to take part in the workshop Climate Concrete 4.0, organised by the Chair for Industrialised Construction and the Environment (CEIM) at UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, which took place at the CEMEX Global R&D offices and laboratories. Throughout the week the students were able to discover for themselves the potential technology offered not only by cement, but also by the latest generation of additives, and learn about the real applications being used in current research and development projects. The students were joined by the lecturers Oriol París and Andrea Masip, as well as CEMEX Global R&D experts Davide Zampini and Enrique Terrado.

The students took part in a creative workshop where they developed cement-based prototypes to see the material’s different properties such as its porosity, floatability or thermal insulation potential, as well as developing new skills sought after by industrial and research companies around the world. Climate Concrete is a pioneering initiative that seeks to bridge the gap between universities and industry, fostering multidimensional professional profiles that in turn, generating synergies across the construction sector.

Barcelona Ceramics Chair

The Barcelona Ceramics Chair at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture offers an elective Ceramics Chair subject. It provides an opportunity for meetings and engagement between architecture students and ceramics manufacturers. The goal is to undertake a research project in which students produce an innovative ceramic material that is applied to the field of architecture. At the end of the year, a jury of four prestigious architects and a representative from ASCER will award three prizes to the best projects. Meanwhile, students are also encouraged to present their work at the Indistile CEVISAMA (Feria Valencia), international competition where our School has always managed to be among the winners. Every year the Barcelona Ceramics Chair releases a publication containing a compilation of our students’ work.

Barcelona Ceramics Chair

The 16th Ceramics Chair focuses on the use of ceramic products for solar control in buildings This year’s event was based on the theme of solar control and the Architecture students’ work was centred on the development of projects with ceramic prototypes that reduce glare and overheating in buildings with a significant amount of glazing on their facade. As part of the session, 26 fourth-year Architecture students presented the projects they had been working on for the last few months to the panel. The members of the jury for the 16th year of the awards were Fermín Vázquez, from b720 Arquitectos, Antoni Barceló, from Barceló&Balanzo Arquitectes, Silvia Brandi, from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Pedro Bronchal, representative of INALCO and Eve Pedrajas, head of business communication of the Spanish Association of Tile Manufacturers (ASCER). The director of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Josep Lluís i Ginovart, and the director of the Chair, Vicenç Sarrablo, were also present, alongside the coordinators and lecturers Cristina Garcia-Castelao and Jordi Roviras. The award for the Laminatges (“Laminates”) category went to Valentina Risemberg for her project, Ojiva (“Ogive”), which the jury considered showed the 34

“adequate systematisation of a building design that is very consistent through all its stages of development.” “Orizuru” by Nino Mgeladze, was the winner in the Plegades, doblegades (“Folded, doubled”) category, because “it is based on a complex idea in terms of concept and form, taking the idea of origami as a starting point, with a result that is poetic and real at the same time”. Lastly, in the Volumètriques (“Volumetrics”) category, the prize went to Olivia Sarrà Gómez’s project “Versus”, which the jury highlighted “achieves a rich and flexible piece based on an economy of means, and generates a lattice system applicable to other projects”.

Barcelona Ceramics Chair

Students from the UIC Barcelona Ceramics Chair once again win prizes at the CevisamaLab awards This is the 16th consecutive year in which Architecture students from the Ceramics Chair have been awarded prizes at the prestigious ceramics design competition. The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture has once again left its mark at the prestigious ceramics design competition. Students from the Ceramics Chair, directed by Vicenç Sarrablo, along with lecturers Jordi Roviras and Cristina García Castelao, were repeat winners for the 16th year in a row. Student Marc Farrés won first prize in Category A, “Ceramic products shaped by semi-dry pressing”. The winning project, Hèlix, involves the creation of a system of ceramic pieces to filter light inside glass buildings. The jury highlighted the fact that it “is a rational and functional application of ceramic elements, a flexible system that allows pieces to be changed or modified over time, creating various aesthetic patterns, as well as filtering sunlight in different ways”.

Student Guillermo Marfà won first prize in Category B, “Ceramic products shaped through other means”. His project, Greenbrick, is a multifunctional piece that, in his own words, “is as much a lattice, as it is a covering for a façade, a weight-bearing wall or a planter”. This is the third year in a row that Marfà has won a prize in this competition. Finally, student Lucciana Viteri won second prize in Category B for her project ‘Estalactita’. The jury highlighted the fact that “the reinvention of a traditional extruded piece creates an aesthetic interplay that can be adapted to all types of façades to regulate sun exposure, according to the wishes of the designer”.

Exhibitions

Throughout the year, the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture participates in and organises exhibitions in well-known venues throughout the city, promoting the social transfer of architecture to wider cultural environments and opening it up to society. Through projects developed in classrooms and then exhibited, the institution supports the central role played by schools of architecture in reflecting on cities and contemporary landscapes. This also confirms the School’s commitment to exhiting its students’ projects beyond the realm of academia.

With support from:

Exhibitions • Hybrid Urbanism. Designing Complex Territories as Social Condensers, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona

Architecture students defend their Final Degree Projects (TFGs) addressing the new urban definition of the industrial estate Carretera del Mig (Hospitalet de Llobregat) In July, 5th year students from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture defended their Final Degree Projects. The students’ projects intervened in the Carrer del Mig industrial estate, located in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, a clear example of an urban perimeter characterised by obsolete industrial activity and is in need of a contemporary approach to rethinking the role of infrastructures and integrating the countrycity duality from an ecological perspective. To this end, the students proposed new uses for the area ranging from the conversion of old industrial buildings to collaborative housing, the freeing up of industrial land and the recovery of agricultural uses or the generation of a new network of cultural facilities. The director of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Josep Lluís i Ginovart, opened the event, ifor which the jury was made up of TFG teaching staff, architect Iñaki Alday, dean of Tulane School of Architecture (New Orleans), Duna Bellmunt, member of the Board of Governors of the College of Architects of Catalonia (COAC) and Justo Orgaz, president of the Green Building Council Spain. CEIM Sustainability Awards For the 8th successive year, the CEIM Sustainability

Awards were given out, organised by the Chair in Industrial Construction and the Environment and aimed at promoting sustainability and innovation in the construction sector. The first prize went to student Cristian Lopez for his project “I walk too”, the jury stressed, “for a profound development of various sustainability issues, in this case especially of energy efficiency and the ability to incorporate it into architecture in a comprehensive way”. Student Ariadna Rodríguez de San Gregorio won the second prize for her project “AgriCultural”, of which the jury highlighted “her contribution in the field of social sustainability”. Schindler Accessibility Awards As part of the defence of the Final Degree Projects, the 8th Schindler España Accessibility Awards were also made, which are awarded to the three best projects that, due to their quality, innovation, originality and creativity, highlight the solutions facilitating universal mobility and accessibility. The first prize went to student Héctor Muñoz Andrés, for his project “Mobility Buffer”. The second prize went to student Cristian Lopez for his project “I walk too” and the third prize went to student Manuel Gomis for his project “Stitching Bellvitge Together”.

Once again, the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture has taken on the role that schools and faculties of architecture must play in reflecting on the contemporary city and landscape and has reaffirmed its commitment to displaying work by its students outside academic circles. 38

Hybrid Urbanism. Designing Complex Territories as Social Condensers, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona • Exhibitions

Exhibitions • Hybrid Urbanism. Designing Complex Territories as Social Condensers, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona

This publication includes the work carried out during the 20192020 academic year at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture in the workshops for projects by final-year students. It analyses the concept of “Hybrid Urbanism. Designing Complex Territories as Social Condensers”. Lecturers: Iñaki Baquero, Álvaro Cuéllar, Ferran Grau and Miquel Lacasta.

Hybrid Urbanism. Designing Complex Territories as Social Condensers, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona • Exhibitions

Exhibitions • LlumBCN “Feria Climática”

Architecture students take part in the Llum BCN Festival with an idea based on energy self-consumption UIC Barcelona School of Architecture has again participated in this year’s Llum BCN festival, organised by the Barcelona City Council Institute of Culture. Over the three days, a total of 57 locations were transformed with light, digital technology and moving images. In the festival’s 6th year, visual artists from around the world took part, and as many as 17 art, design and architecture schools from across Catalonia. Thirteen UIC Barcelona School of Architecture students, tutored by lecturers Marta Garcia-Orte

and Iñaki Baquero, created the installation “Feria Climática” based on reusing materials and the principle of energy consumption. The lecturers explained how “it’s an interactive game that allows users to uncover a series of messages on the subject of the environment and the fight against climate change. A recycled stationary bicycle transmits energy to an electrical circuit, which triggers different lines of light that run across the building’s façade. The messages are displayed as a result of the effort made by participants, in an installation that is entirely self-sufficient”, explained the teachers.

Hopscotch, learning Architecture in 20 jumps • Publications

“Hopscotch, learning Architecture in 20 jumps” commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture How many years fit into twenty years? The answer to this question would not be the same if answered by a geologist, a musician, or a politician. When we pose the question in architectural terms, it seems that time has an elongated behaviour, which often stretches when the deadline to deliver projects arrives. The same happens with the memories that make up our experiences, which are somehow invented each time we recall them.

Hopscotch, learning Architecture in 20 jumps covers the twenty years of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, highlighting the interactions between people, ideas, and projects in relation to time and scales. It is inspired by the book Cosmic View. The Universe In 40 Jumps, by Kees Boeke, by the

documentary Powers of Ten written and directed by Charles and Ray Eames, and of course, by in Julio Cortázar’s Hopscotch, a book that invites the reader to various different and complementary readings, “jumping” from one chapter to another. By questioning the scales of human interactions intertwined with different kind of connections, we are also asking “What are we? Where do we live? Who are our neighbours?” not only as architects, but mainly as co-inhabitants of places in which other human and non-human agents negotiate their agency, and their right to exist.

Awards

Over the years, students, alumni, professors and lecturers from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture have been honoured with numerous and prestigious awards from both the national and international scene. The School celebrates each of these achievements and regularly publishes projects that demonstrate the creativity and talent of its community.

Awards

Archikubik Dipòsit del Rei Martí

Arquitectura-G Empordà Masia

TdB Arquitectura CDS1 House

Blur Arquitectura Concéntrico 01 Caja Mágica

Pich-Architects Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau Research Centre

UIC Barcelona School of Architecture LlumBCN, Verd Botella

BCQ Arquitectes Joan Maragall Library

UIC Barcelona School of Architecture XII BEAU Research Awards “Examinarse en el Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña”

Vicenç Sarrablo + Jaume Colom La Llena Horse Riding

Archikubik Parking Saint-Roch

Blur Arquitectura Catedral restaurant

Agora Arquitectura Refugio para fin de semana

Awards

Flexo Arquitectura Existing Housing Pavilion

Barcelona Ceramics Chair “Barcelona Ceramics” exhibition

Arquitectura-G Luz House

Kathrin Golda-Pongratz “Autoconstrucción. Por una autonomía del habitar“

Agora Arquitectura Caballero House

Jorge Vidal + Victor Rahola + Marcos Catalán Alegre House

Victor Bergnes + Marcos Catalán Mariano House

Addenda Architects Bauhaus Museum Dessau

Albert F. Jové Hestia Brick

BCQ Arquitectes Plaça de Madrid

José Ahedo Wheelwright Prize 2014

UIC Barcelona School of Architecture Urban Plunge: Floating Water

Agora Arquitectura Remodeling of plaza Europa in Santa Olivia

Awards

Student Sandra Bravo and former student Francesca Palandri win second prize in the European architecture competition Together with the architect Anna Gutiérrez, the students presented a project that updates the traditional Catalan farm masoveria system, based on self-management of the land. Their project sets out the creation of five micro-residential units formed by a main building, the traditional Catalan farmhouse or mas, shared spaces and facilities, as well as private homes located in the metropolitan town of Sant Climent de Llobregat. The group of buildings will be laid out around productive land for the exploitation of natural resources, solar energy and reuse of rainwater. Each unit includes one hectare that the residents themselves can use. The challenge posed by the organisers of the EUROPAN prize focused on how to create residential areas that boost the productive sector and adapt to social and urban synergies. The project submitted by the team formed by the students and the lecturer Anna Gutiérrez was valued for the development of productive and social landscape.

Alumni José Luis Cisneros and Joan Casals take home the silver Emporia Award Former students José Luis Cisneros and Joan Casals from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, and founders of the studio Ágora Arquitectura, have won the silver Emporia Award for best assembly of an ephemeral, portable and travelling exhibition with their project, PRONAOS. This installation was designed by UIC Barcelona’s Alumni & Careers management team for the 2019 Promise events. The project is a metaphor for the struggle faced by recent graduates who are trying to access the job market. The creation is made from a platform that features 170 vertical black tubes and was inspired by the vestibules to gain access to Greek temples, known as pronaos. “At first glance, the structure looks completely impenetrable”, explain the architects, “then when you look a bit closer, it seems to reveal its entrance with floating words that remind us of the values we learn during our formative years”.

Awards

Jordi Costa is ex aequo winner of the annual Association for Sustainability and Architecture competition with his restoration project for Ca l’Illa His project, called “Barcelona Fashion Foundation”, puts forward an idea for the restoration and extension of the large textile building called Ca l’Illa in Barcelona. He was named ex aequo winner of the “Restoring neighbourhoods. Restoring cities” competition which is held annually by the Association for Sustainability and Architecture (ASA). The proposal for tackling this building, which was built in 1930 in the Poblenou neighbourhood, was developed as part of a Final Degree Project (TFG) by UIC Barcelona School of Architecture graduate, Jordi Costa, along with lecturer Mauro Manca. The proposal involves the restoration and extension of this industrial group of buildings from the beginning of the 20th century and its return to the fashion sector. In their resolution on the project, the jury for the ASA competition underlined the “excellent mix of usages, reconversion of a heritage site, productive ambition and the inclusion of transformational concepts”.

Nerea Amorós Elorduy wins the 2020 Alumni Awards for Best Social Transformation Project Nerea Amorós Elorduy, a 2010-2011 graduate from the Master’s Degree in International Cooperation: Sustainable Emergency Architecture, has won the 2020 Alumni Awards in the category for Best Social Transformation Project for her project “Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD)” in Rwanda, which began in 2011 with the support of the Government of Rwanda and the NGO UNICEF. The former UIC Barcelona student worked for UNICEF Rwanda developing the building standards for new early childhood development centres. She designed the prototypes, prioritising a holistic approach to children’s development and basing her designs on a study of the country’s traditional construction methods, accessible building materials and specific building regulations for earthquake zones. The first ECD prototype was built in Nyabiondo in 2011. Over the next four years, Nerea Amorós Elorduy helped build a total of 28 centres, which daily help over 450 children between 0 and 6 years old.

News

The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture is often a protagonist on the current national and international architectural scene, thanks to its teaching body, students and alumni. Exhibitions, projects and awards, lectures, interviews: all of this is reflected on a regular basis on the School’s website, which contains a selection of the most important news throughout the year. Follow @ArchitectureUIC for daily updates:      architecture.uic.es

News

WELCOME VISITS

AGREEMENT

First-year Architecture students visit the COAC and ITeC headquarters

Each year UIC Barcelona will host up to 25 first year Architecture students from the USA

New students at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture visited the headquarters of the Official Association of Architects of Catalonia (COAC) and the Catalan Institute of Construction Technology (ITeC). Throughout the day, the 59 new students were accompanied by the School’s director, Josep Lluís i Ginovart.

UIC Barcelona and Tulane University (USA) have recently signed an agreement that offers 10 to 25 first year students from the North American university the chance to complete an introductory semester at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. The students arriving from the North American university will be able to transfer the credits they gain during their stay at our university to Tulane University, where they will continue their own Architecture programme.

UIC Barcelona and the COAC sign an agreement to establish joint lines of work in the field of architecture, urbanism and the environment

Duna Bellmunt, a member of the COAC’s Board of Governors, was tasked with welcoming the new students to the association. “This is your home. Remember that we are here to help you throughout your academic and professional career”, she asserted. Following the visit to the COAC, the UIC Barcelona students were taken to the headquarters of the Catalan Institute of Construction Technology, where they were greeted by its chairman, Francisco Diéguez. There, they had the opportunity to listen to talks by the Institute’s head of Innovation Projects, David Sabatés, and its technical director, Ferran Bermejo. Both discussed new methodologies and tools currently being developed in the construction industry in efforts to create more sustainable urban settings.

The exchange agreement, which will be honoured for the next 5 years, was signed on 13 January by the rector of UIC Barcelona, Xavier Gil, and the Senior Vicepresident of Academic Affairs and Provost from the Tulane University, Robin Forman. During their stay at UIC Barcelona, these students will have access to a rigorous academic programme that includes learning Spanish, history of art and architecture and mathematics. It is an introductory programme that incorporates other parallel activities designed to help students immerse themselves in the world of Catalan and Spanish architecture.

UIC Barcelona and the Official College of Architects of Catalonia (COAC) signed a collaboration agreement in which both institutions commit to establishing joint lines of work in the field of architecture, urbanism and the environment. The two institutions will work side by side to initiate collaborative research and technology development projects, cooperate on training programmes and launch awareness campaigns. “Architects have the chance to transform our cities with a view to facing local and global challenges and improving residents’ quality of life”, said the COAC dean; “the only way we’ll achieve this is by harnessing great expertise and focusing on innovation”. Josep Lluís i Ginovart, director of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, also pointed how “complex the profile of a 21st century architect is: they need to manage their professional practice, participate in teaching and do research. Therefore, signing this collaboration agreement with the COAC represents an essential step in helping us construct this professional profile that is so necessary today.”

News

ANNIVERSARY

BIENNALE

GOLD MEDAL

UIC Barcelona celebrates the 4th International Conference for Biodigital Architecture and Genetics

UIC Barcelona hosts an extension to the 2019 Latin American Architecture Biennale

Josep Lluis i Ginovart receives a Gold Medal at the European Cum Laude Forum

UIC Barcelona hosted an extension to the 2019 Latin American Architecture Biennale (BAL) organised by the Association for Strategic Reflection on Architecture (AREA) in cooperation with Pamplona City Council, the VascoNavarro College of Architects, the University of Navarra, the Government of Navarra and the Ministry of Development. This event, held at UIC Barcelona, was organised by the assistant director of Institutional Relations at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Íñigo Ugalde.

The director of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Josep Lluis i Ginovart, was awarded a Gold Medal at the European Cum Laude Forum in Oviedo.

This year’s conference was held online, and was chaired by the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture lecturer, Alberto T. Estévez. Around 50 researchers from around the world took part in the event, which was followed live by nearly 700 people. The conference dealt with, among other topics, bio-learning and machine-learning in architecture, parametric and algorithmic design, big data, new methods of biodigital creation and production and the latest developments in the field of smart cities. Lecturer Alberto T. Estévez noted, “This 4th three-yearly conference coincides with marking of the 20-year anniversary of the foundation of the Genetic Architectures Research Group & Office and the Master in Biodigital Architecture. These times, even under the pressure of the current pandemic, have proved to be those of greatest scientific solidity and output of our research group. We must thank those who have put their talent and efforts, loyally and sincerely, at the service of the objectives that have been achieved.”

The Peruvian studio Llona was in charge of opening the series of talks. Subsequently there was a talk by architect Joao Paolo, a representative of the Brazilian studio OBRA Arquitetos, Horacio Cherniavsky then took the floor as a representative of the Paraguayan studio Equipo de Arquitectura. The Argentinian architect Luciano Intile, representative of IR Architecture studio, continued from there. The series of talks ended with Mexican architect Marcela González, who runs Oficio Taller studio.

The European Cum Laude Forum is an initiative set up by well-known public figures in civil society, and its aim is to create environments that are suitable for the exchange and dissemination of ideas between representatives of the business, political and cultural sectors. Since 2015 the institution has annually awarded these medals to institutions, liberal professionals and public figures who stand out due to their professionalism, Europeanism and humanity, or their entrepreneurship and leadership. “Receiving this medal is a double recognition. Firstly, for personal work, but also for institutional work which reflects the international outlook and scope our school is achieving”.

News

PEDRO CASARIEGO

CARMEN MENDOZA-ARROYO

ALFONS PUIGARNAU

Pedro Casariego, nominated for the Bernt Johansson Award for his contribution at the 2019 Nordic Steel Conference

The participation of local communities in the process of refugee integration helps to combat discrimination against refugees

Alfons Puigarnau proposes an urban phenomenology based on cinematographic suspense

Pedro Casariego, assistant director of Academic Affairs and Teaching Staff for the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, was recently nominated for the Bernt Johansson Outstanding Paper Award by the Committee assembled for the 2019 Nordic Steel Construction Conference, in Copenhagen (Denmark). The paper, entitled “Compression behaviour of cold formed steel trapezoidal sheeting with transverse corrugations”, analyses press-formed structural arches made from corrugated, cold formed steel sheeting. These arches are made by press-forming thin sheets of steel (between 0.6 and 1.2 mm thick) and can cover spans of up to 9 metres. They are highly efficient, as, once manufactured in the factory, the arches can be transported to the work site and fitted directly atop the main roof beams, eliminating the need for joists and reducing both material and labour costs. The arches are self-supporting, easy to install and highly economical.

Building social and physical perspectives into policies for urban integration of refugee and immigrant populations. This is the thesis posed by the study “Strategies for the urban integration of refugees: changing the emergency approach to more permanent solutions”, developed by the assistant director of International Relations of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Carmen Mendoza-Arroyo and which forms part of the area of research she heads up at UIC Barcelona, “Post-emergency Community Resilience”. Carmen Mendoza-Arroyo explains, “the community has a key role in urban transition. Therefore, we must prioritise the social cohesion of refugees with the rest of the community, in order to prevent discrimination and marginalisation. In short, we must seek to address the integration of refugees in a permanent and sustainable form, not as an emergency situation or of an exceptional nature, to avoid refugees being perceived as a social and economic burden on the city that takes them in”.

Our Critical Thinking lecturer from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Alfons Puigarnau, participated in the “Philosophy of the City” conference at the University of Detroit Mercy, between 2 and 4 October. His paper was given as part of a session on “20th Century Urban Phenomenological Orientations”, where he presented his research results under the following title “Suspense as Urban Phenomenology”. In his recent work, the lecturer aims to formulate new theoretical concepts on urban aesthetics based on critical terms expressed by French philosopher Gaston Bachelard in his essay “The Poetics of Space” (1958). In contrast to a positivist interpretation of the urban phenomenon, Alfons Puigarnau also used studies by Michel Foucault (“The Archaeology of Knowledge”, 1969) and by Christian NorbergSchulz (“Existence, Space and Architecture”, 1971). Suspense is understood to be a cognitive state of which comes close to the cinematographic notion of the city, as in the work of directors Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo, 1958) and Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, 1982).

News

GUILLEM CARABÍ

ALBERTO T. ESTÉVEZ

ÁLVARO CUELLAR

Guillem Carabí analyses the echo of the Bauhaus in the Torres Clavé Curriculum for the Barcelona School of Architecture in 1937

Alberto T. Estévez defends the role of biodigital architecture in solving the current social and environmental crisis

The lecturer Alvaro Cuellar is awarded the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize by the UPC

The cutting-edge academic group which founded the Bauhaus School in Germany could see its own reflection in the curriculum for the Barcelona School of Architecture during the thirties. This is the conclusion reached in a research project entitled “ParísFrankfurt, un cuaderno de notas de Torres Clavé y una propuesta pedagógica para Barcelona” presented by Guillem Carabí at the II Society of Architectural Historians and Urbanism (AhAU) International Conference, held in Madrid under the theme of “Bauhaus In and Out: Perspectives from Spain”. As part of his research, Guillem Carabí analysed the draft versions of speeches given by GATCPAC architect, Josep Torres Clavé, during his trip to Frankfurt in 1929 to attend the II CIAM conference (International Conference on Modern Architecture). The study also looks into the Curriculum at the Barcelona School of Architecture in 1937, as designed by the architect. The Curriculum is then compared with teaching programmes in the Walter Gropius School.

A more natural architectural model that is sustainable, more economic and even more democratic, based on biological and digital cuttingedge techniques and the use of renewable and ecological materials. This is what UIC Barcelona School of Architecture professor, Alberto T. Estévez proposes in a chapter called “Sustainable Living? Biodigital Future!”, included in the book Sustaining Resources for Tomorrow, that was recently published by Springer. In this volume, Alberto T. Estévez starts off by recognising the contradictions of capitalism, based on the impetus of the accumulation of capital and the overexploitation of our natural environment. Therefore, he warns that “the reality of our times, and this is what we must face, is that if we all continue to live the way we do in so-called developed countries, we will need the resources of two whole planets, and the fact is that in the short term we only have one”.

Dr Alvaro Cuellar, lecturer at UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, has won the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), in the field of Architecture, Urbanism and Building, for his doctoral thesis “El Bosque Habitable. La experiencia de construir ciudad paisaje en Finlandia (The Habitable Forest. The experience of building a landscape-city in Finland). In his research, Alvaro Cuellar focus on three projects developed in mid-twentieth century Finland, and analyses the rules of urbanism of the modern movement and how it was used to build residential neighbourhoods integrated with the landscape. “It demonstrates the impact of the large scale of the landscape on the urbanism of the country over half a century and discovers implicit tools showing its original project technique. In this sense, the Finnish experience offers an alternative to the current approaches to integrating city and nature”, says the lecturer.

News

FELIPE PICH-AGUILERA

MIQUEL LACASTA

V. SARRABLO, J. ROVIRAS & C. GARCIA C.

Felipe Pich-Aguilera is the winner of the 18th ASCER Ceramics Awards for his architectural project for the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau Research Centre

Miquel Lacasta releases the book Axonométrica. Paseos por el voladizo, published by Ediciones Asimétricas

The Virolai Petit nursery school, designed by lecturers Vicenç Sarrablo, Jordi Roviras and Cristina Garcia Castelao, has been published in On Diseño

The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau Research Centre was announced as the winner within the Architecture category of the prestigious annual Ceramics Awards held by the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association (ASCER). The building, which opened a year ago, was designed by the 2BMFG Arquitectes and PICHarchitects architectural firms, directed by Felipe Pich-Aguilera, lecturer at UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. The jurors valued “the innovative use of ceramics and the context in which they are used, enabling the building to blend into the environment. The façade is a permeable ceramic skin, which visually links the inside with the outside, but at the same time, has a chameleon-like property so that it merges with the outside world”. The enveloping ceramics use the Flexbrick system, developed by Vicenç Sarrablo, also a lecturer.

Miquel Lacasta, a lecturer at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, recently released the book Axonométrica. Paseos por el voladizo (Axonometrics: Walks around the Cantilever), published by Ediciones Asimétricas as part of its “The Printed Window” collection. The volume features a selection of articles about architecture that were originally published in his blog, www.axonométrica.blog which he started in 2012. It includes conversations with other architects and short essays in which the lecturer gives thought to numerous aspects of architectural theory and practice. According to Dr Lacasta, “the aim was not to prove that there is one unequivocal way of approaching architecture. It was rather a shared state of reflection that developed over the course of almost nine years. This created a sort of cosmogony of what really interests me about architecture, key issues, spaces for interaction with other disciplines and required readings -at least for me”.

The Virolai Petit nursery school designed by lecturers from UIC Barcelona School of Architecture Vicenç Sarrablo, Jordi Roviras and Cristina Garcia Castelao —alongside architect Jaume Colom— has been published in issue 393 of the specialist architecture journal On Diseño as part of a dossier dedicated to “Learning centres”. Work on this building located on Carrer Escorial in Barcelona finished in 2017 and according to the publication, showcases “a refined exercise in adapting to the terrain and a successful effort to improve the difficulties of the functional programme”. The project incorporates a system of flexible ceramic sheets called Flexbrick, a patent developed by the lecturer Vicenç Sarrablo as part of a research project carried out at UIC Barcelona.

News

JOSEP LLUIS I GINOVART

LORENZO CHELLERI

RAQUEL COLACIO & IVAN LLACH

Josep Lluis i Ginovart joins the international scientific committee ICOFORT

Business owners, governments and scientists reach an agreement for a report on 50 measures for a sustainable and resilient socio-economic transition in Catalonia

Industrialised construction extends the life of buildings and significantly reduces environmental impact

The director of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Josep Lluis i Ginovart, has become a member of the International Scientific Committee on Fortifications and Military Heritage (ICOFORT), a branch of UNESCO’s International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). ICOFORT is an international academic meeting that aims to promote scientific knowledge and encourage the preservation and conservation of fortifications, military structures, fortifications and other sites related to military heritage. “The restoration Charter on defensive architecture is currently being drafted and will form part of UNESCO’s recommendations for intervention in military heritage structures, and support the criteria for intervention in built heritage”, points out Josep Lluis i Ginovart.

Lecturer from UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Lorenzo Chelleri, acted as scientific director for the creation of the report Propuestas para una transición socioeconómica sostenible y resiliente (Proposals for a sustainable and resilient socio-economic transition). The initiative has been launched jointly between the Catalunya Europa Foundation, BBVA, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona and Barcelona City Council. The document was published this weekend in La Vanguardia and outlines 50 transformative proposals for combating climate and healthcare emergencies from the world of business and public administration. These measures include acceleration mechanisms for transitioning towards renewable energies, changes to licenses and town planning to install electric vehicle charging stations, measures to decentralise water management systems and the creation of green infrastructures for reducing the impact of heat waves.

Industrialised construction systems increase the life of housing blocks and significantly reduce the environmental impact, both of the construction process and their subsequent energy performance. These were the findings of a study developed by UIC Barcelona School of Architecture lecturers Ivan Llach Juny and Raquel Colacios Parra, in cooperation with the Association of Manufacturers of Industrialised Concrete High-Rise Housing (VIVIALT), which forms part of the ANDECE prefabricated concrete manufacturers employer’s association. The study establishes a comparison between the traditional construction system, strongly established in Spain, and the new industrialised concrete systems. To this end, two typified housing constructions are taken as a reference – one linear and one tower-shaped – and their economic, environmental, and social characteristics are compared. Research shows that industrialised systems reduce the total cost of the process by up to 20%, by cutting down on the execution time. 57

News

STUDY

Local residents’ involvement in the reconstruction of neighbourhoods at risk of social exclusion reduces segregation

The sunlight in the buildings in Barcelona’s Eixample district could be regulated via a mobile app

The involvement of local residents in the reconstruction of big-city neighbourhoods is crucial to combat the social segregation and risk of social exclusion that affects these districts, and hence guarantee greater cohesion among their inhabitants. These were the conclusions of the study entitled “Neighbourhood reconstruction, community identity and place attachment: mixed experiences from the mass social housing complex of Sant Cosme, Barcelona”, headed by Raquel Colacios, a professor at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, with the collaboration of researchers Carmen Mendoza-Arroyo and Isabelle Anguelovski.

Redirecting sunlight in the buildings of Barcelona’s Eixample district, through the use of an app, would enable the user to improve the efficiency of natural light in their home. This is the proposal put forward by lecturers at UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Ana Cocho-Bermejo and Diego Navarro Mateu, in their study “User-centered Responsive Sunlight Reorientation System based on Multiagent DecisionMaking (UDaMas)”. The two lecturers presented their study at the International Congress held in Porto by the eCAADe (Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe).

International experts find that climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies are insufficiently integrated across European cities’ climate plans

The research project, which ended up being published in the specialist Italian Journal of Planning Practice, analysed the process of urban reconstruction undertaken in the social housing complex of San Cosme, an archetypal model of the housing estates built in the 1960s on the outskirts of big Spanish cities to house the migrant population from the countryside who were in great demand as labour for industry. 58

The proposal is based on the use of the UDaMas, a system inspired by Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which would allow the user to redirect the sunlight in their home through a system of mirror robots. The UIC Barcelona lecturers developed their proposal in the Eixample district of Barcelona, with the aim of reinstating the ideals of architect Ildefons Cerdà, who envisaged direct sunlight for all the inhabitants of the block.

A study recently published in the scientific journal Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, in which UIC Barcelona School of Architecture lecturer Lorenzo Chelleri took part, assesses the level of integration between climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in 147 climate action plans developed by European cities, from among more than 800 climate plans existing in 2017. The results of the study, entitled Integration of mitigation and adaptation in urban climate change action plans in Europe: A systematic assessment states that the maximising of the synergies and benefits of this combined approach is “key” for effectively combating the effects of climate change and finds that, unfortunately, institutions are lacking in capacity to coordinate and address this integration. This study is the result of the application of a framework for assessment of the proposed climate plans, published a year ago by authors from different universities including the lecturer Lorenzo Chelleri.

News

NEW MASTER’S DEGREE

UIC Barcelona launches a new master’s degree to train experts in artificial intelligence applied to architecture

The first edition of the Master’s Degree in Architecture and Business Design Management has now been launched

During the upcoming academic year, the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture will launch the first edition of its new Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence for Architecture & Design, aimed at architects and engineers from disciplines related to architectural design who want to train as experts in artificial intelligence (AI) processes. The programme will be led by lecturers Ana Cocho and Diego Navarro and by full professor from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Dr Josep Muntañola.

In September the official presentation of the first edition of the Master’s Degree in Architecture and Business Design Management took place at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, given by architect Maria Isabel Gabarró. 18 students from 15 different countries started the course and participated during the event in a series of team building activities aimed at making the group more cohesive. The following day, the students went on a tour around Barcelona and discovered some of the most important architectural sites in the city, such as the Barcelona Design Museum, the Pompeu Fabra University Library, Santa Caterina Market, the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Antic Teatre and the Ateneu Barcelonès.

Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the programme aims to deepen the relationship between architecture and computation in the methodological process of design, through the study of artificial intelligence and its algorithms. “Architects have arrived late to the age of artificial intelligence, but we cannot avoid the fact that this change in humanity will also affect our discipline. It therefore has become necessary to train future architects so they become equipped with AI-related skills”, explained the course directors. “In comparison to other programmes, our master’s degree takes a more technical and theoretical approach both from a computational point of view and also based on its implications in terms of universal architecture”, they stressed.

Our Master’s Degree in Architecture and Business Design Management is a programme aimed at professionals from the creative sector who want to acquire solid business knowledge so they can manage a business successfully or join companies in the construction and design sectors. The programme has three partners for each of its modules. The first one on creative ideas receives support from the BCD - Barcelona Design Center, the second, linked to a product, is supported by Santa & Cole, a design company, and the third one, focusing on the field of real estate, receives support from CBRE, an international real estate company.

Credits Publication

With support from:

UIC Barcelona School of Architecture Editors Marcos Doespiritusanto Anne-Sophie de Vargas Editorial Design Anne-Sophie de Vargas Translations and proofreading Jennifer Ellen Drinkwater Communications Department at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture Marcos Doespiritusanto

All rights reserved © Publication and texts, 2020 UIC Barcelona School of Architecture Immaculada 22, 08017 Barcelona www.uic.es/architecture © Images, 2020 Their authors Cooperation © Russell Watkins/Department for International Development Accessibility © ONCE Hybrid Urbanism. Designing Complex Territories as Social Condensers, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona © Marcos Doespiritusanto Exhibitions’ graphic design: Eva Minguella Estudi 60

The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture is committed to the intellectual, professional and personal growth of all those who form part of it. The School of Architecture has strongly invested in a teaching model based on individual attention, practical learning based on bringing in all areas of knowledge, cutting-edge technology and teaching staff with international experience in order to train architects to be able to tackle the challenges posed by society.

Universitat Internacional de Catalunya School of Architecture Barcelona Campus Alfa Building Immaculada, 22 08017 Barcelona T. +34 932 541 800

Annual Report 2019-2020 | UIC Barcelona School of Architecture

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