CORA selected for the ArchDaily 2026 Building of the Year Awards

Set within the forested landscape of Valldaura Campus, in the heart of Barcelona’s Collserola Natural Park, CORA is a vaulted timber prototype that explores the intersection of robotics, digital fabrication, and material ecology.

Developed entirely by students, the structure operates as an architectural hypothesis: how can craftsmanship evolve through digital tools? How can local, irregular timber be shaped robotically without erasing its character?

Each element of the vault was milled from 100% site-sourced Aleppo Pine, using a KUKA KR-210 robotic arm. Not to standardize, but to vary—each piece is computationally designed to fit a unique geometry, following both material constraints and architectural intent.

Spanning 12 metres and standing 4 metres tall, CORA is the largest structure ever built at Valldaura Campus. It reflects IAAC’s hands-on, design-by-research approach—where students don’t just imagine futures, they build them.

The entire process was led and developed by the 2023/24 class of the Master in Ecological Architecture and Advanced Construction, under the guidance of a multidisciplinary team of architects, researchers and makers.

Your vote can help highlight the value of architectural education based on making, ecology and innovation. By supporting CORA in the ArchDaily 2026 Building of the Year Awards, you also celebrate the students who made it possible.

Vote now on ArchDaily

• Direction: Vicente Guallart, Daniel Ibañez and Michael Salka
• Valldaura Executive Director: Laia Pifarré
• Developed by: The students of the Master in Ecological Architecture and Advanced Construction, 2023/24 class: Alexander Tamazov, Toni Javor, Emma Rodriguez Berghmans, Neeshi Doshi, Lamprini Makarona, Diana Ruzanska, Alfred Ziad Aramouni, Anushreya Kondapi, Juan Sebastián Batallas Cueva, Marianna Santos Fujii, Varun Sreenath, André Arruda Navarro, Mustafa Teksoy, Oliver Needham, Alireza Shayan, Alkiviaids Avarkiotis, Maya Shoavi, Sharvari Sharath, Sveta Sathyanadhan, Vanessa Marie Alvarado Barrios, Helen Girma, Karla Velarde Sandoval, Kristina Schüssler.
• Project Management: Esin Aydemi
• Expert Staff: Bruno Ganem, Marielena Papandreou, Lorenzo Salinas, Viorel Cazacu
• Staff: Pilar Fontanals, Laura Sanchez
• Advised by: Miquel Rodriguez, Elena Orte, Guillermo Sevillano, Ignasi Caus, David Valldeoriola, Silvia Burés, Toni Arola, Ionut Cosenco, Carles Enrich, Firas Safieddine, Arturo de la Maza
• Sponsors: Tallfusta, Alberch, Montpart
• With the support of: Parc de Collserola, Ajuntament de Cerdanyola del Vallès
• Photography: Adrià Goula
• Communication: Pati Nuñez Agency