The IAAC is an international centre of education and research that focuses on architecture understood as a discipline that encompasses different scales, ranging from territorial analysis, urban development, architectural projects and digital fabrications to informational environments.

Located in Barcelona, one of the international capitals of Urbanism, the institution develops a multidisciplinary program that explores urban and international territorial phenomena, placing especial emphasis on the opportunities that emerges from developing countries and the cultural, economic and social values that architecture may contribute to society.

The IAAC offers a three-term Master programme in Architecture and Urbanism jointly organized with the Fundació Politécnica de Catalunya and directed by Vicente Guallart, Willy Müller and Marta Malé-Alemany. The programme proposes an innovative format that allows the students to create their own academic agenda in an open structure of studios and seminars, based on territorial, urbanistic, architectural and parametrical approaches to design research.

Besides the educational program Iaac develops its research program in collaboration with external experts, invited architects, researchers and former participants of the master program.

Some of the most important projects and publications done by Iaac recently are Hipercatalunya (a research about the territory of Catalonia) The Media House (a project developed with the MIT's Media Lab) and the Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture.

In addition to research programmes and international projects, the agenda is completed with lectures, excursions, exhibitions, publications and competitions.