Following the 15th anniversary from the first edition of the Master in Advanced Architecture, the Barcelona based Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) announces that from September 2017 it will be offering a new master program in Advanced Interaction, consolidating its reputation as one of the best centers for international architectural education.
“Today’s advances create a scenario where technology has started to be embedded in our everyday life in such ways that it is becoming part of our bodies and surrounding environment, hence overcoming the desktop era,” said Areti Markopoulou, IAAC Academic Director. “The Master in Advanced Interaction is a project for exploring how technologies of interaction can support in activating, socializing and establishing new responsive inhabitation models. At the same time IAAC’s goal is to contribute on redefining the paradigm of design education and practice within the Information and Experience Age.”
To complete the existing academic offer currently structured around the Master in Advanced Architecture (MAA), the Master in City & Technology (MaCT) and the Open Thesis Fabrication (OTF) program, IAAC will officially launch a nine-month master oriented in training professionals in the field of Advanced Interaction and accredited by the School of Professional and Executive Development at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).
“Today we communicate and interact with smart devices, physical and virtual environments, the Internet of Things. User-generated content mixes with professional contributions,” said Klaus Obermaier, MAI Co-director. “In our Age of Participation, mostly driven by social media and gaming but also by interactive arts and performances, passive recipients turn into active participants, becoming creative players. Interactive environments go beyond the passive reception by creating an immersive, communicative and social experience.”
“All fields of study and practice require the skills to make meaningful use of available and forthcoming technologies. This is mainly due to the increased adoption of technology in our daily lives,” follows Luis E. Fraguada, MAI Co-director. “Data and Information now encompass a sort of Metadata Layer which crosses all aspects of our existence. The Master in Advanced Interaction questions the limits of this contemporary technological phenomena and prepares candidates to be the key actors capable of making connections between disciplines where none were possible or even considered before.”
The new Master in Advanced Interaction (MAI), co-directed by Luis Fraguada and Klaus Obermaier, will be oriented to graduates wishing to move to Barcelona and develop their design research skills exploring creative uses of technology for experimental and practical purposes.
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia has evolved from an institution for questioning architecture and territory, to a place where new architectures are conceived. There is a space between the built environment, the territories we inhabit, and the technology we confront, that nowadays needs to be addressed. Therefore, after the successful pilot-program of Advanced Interaction in 2012, the Institute officially launches the Master in Advanced Interaction, as a natural evolution of the domains it is looking to further explore.
IAAC is today a center for research, education, production and dissemination, which follows the digital revolution at all scales, to expand the boundaries of architecture and design. The Institute is an experimental and experiential center where one learns by doing, through a test methodology that promotes real solutions and the contact with the industry.
Over the last fifteen years, IAAC has been home to over 1000 students from more than 70 countries, who made the Institute an exceptionally international and multicultural place.
IAAC Alumni Community is an active and dynamic network of visionary professionals distributed around the world, promoting principles and applications of Advanced Architecture, exploring new academic and research initiatives, leading award winning practices or working for internationally acclaimed firms and institutions, such as Foster + Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects, Carlo Ratti Associati and NASA.
The applications period for all the master programs will open on the 7th of November 2016 and next IAAC Open Day on the 2nd of December will give to candidates interested in pursuing their postgraduate studies in IAAC the chance to discover the Institute, allowing guests to visit the various departments, explore the learning facilities, receive a presentation about the programs and meet the Faculty and Alumni.
