Design with Nature

The Design with Nature Research Studio, led by Javier Peña and Rodrigo Rubio, with Oriol Carrasco, in the Valldaura Labs, was held on the 16th of June. There to discuss the proposals were IAAC Academic Director, Areti Markopoulou, and Academic Coordinator, Silvia Brandi; as well as Josep Mascaró, head architect of the Collserola Park; Elena Rocchi, Taliesin Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture; Maria Jose Marcos, Magic Arch; Relja Ferusic, Sala Ferusic; Jonathan Minchin, Green Fab Lab Coordinator; and Alexandre Dubor, Digital and Robotic Fabrication.

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The many project proposals consisted in:

MethLAB – Giuseppe di Domenico, Nada Shalaby, Philip Serif, Yasmine Hamza – Proposes to use food waste for Anaerobic digestion, the process of degradation of a substance in the absence of oxygen in 4 major steps:Hydrolysis : the cleavage of chemical bonds by adding water; Acidogenesis: products of the hydrolysis to fatty acids; Acetogenesis: bacteria consumes precursors and produce acetate; Methanogenisis: break down of acetic acid to produce methane gas; finally proposing the Methanecus Wormacus.

Aeon – Maria Alexandra Poliakov, Raissa Pertierra, Wilton Neves – a system that promotes sustainability since it targets environmental, social and economic factors. Environmentally, through the increase in plant and animal biodiversity, natural resource use, and pollution prevention . Socially, through the promotion of a healthier lifestyle, education and community interaction. Economically, through cost savings and research/development.

Mycology – Silvia Oliva Marco – proposes a metabolic cycle that integrates multiscalar processes creating a interaction between people and nature, an evolutionary design strategy has been used to incorporate material cycles with architectural program cycles through time based adapt-ability, grow-ability and decompose-ability.

The System – Ekaterina Levkina – a system proposal for water filtration taking advantage of algae properties.

BioHydro UpCycler – Samuel Shapiro – This biophysical water purification machine relies on simple technologies to upcycle greywater for reuse. Compact and adaptable, it is designed to be integrated into a domestic setting, unlike most water purification systems, which operate at larger industrial scales.

Agro-Connectivity – Francesco Maria Massetti – proposes a public mobility system through micro-algae.

Meta-Genesis – Felipe Agudelo, Neel Kaul, Shashank Shahabadi – proposes to use biomimetics to create a breathing skin system allowing to control indoor temperatures.

Finally we visited the Design with Nature Kitchen, a collective project where all the proposals were actuated.