Fab Lab Solar House - Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia

FAB LAB SOLAR HOUSE

The Fab Lab House Project lead by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, the Center for Bit and Atoms of the MIT and a worldwide network of fab labs have been chosen as one of the participants in Solar Decathlon Europe competition, which will take place in Madrid in June 2010.

THE FAB LAB HOUSE PROJECT:

The prototype is understood as a result of the negotiated consensus of the sum. More than a closed design, more than a description of an object, the prototype defined here is presented as a combination of a series of intentional strategies and the realisation of a series of affirmations that we intend to defend.

Basic Conditions of the Proposal:

The first argument is based on a distinct industrialisation model. Set against the industrialisation of mass production, digital design techniques and the new technologies of personalised fabrication, CAD CAM and that which is closely linked to design and fabrication, we offer them vast possibilities of adaptation between real needs and specific answers. It is based on this point that we propose the international network of Fab Labs as a base of production for prototype development.

The second argument is based on the extended definition of technological efficiency. We intend to add to the concept of efficiency a factor of accessibility and apply these values to all the design categories of the prototype, from the structure to the finishes. We propose to measure, for example, the efficiency of a photo-sensitivity material not by its energy efficacy, but by the relation of its price, availability, complexity / technical opacity, possibilities of use, adaptation transformation assembly facility and maintenance – and its energy-collecting efficiency. Through this change of viewpoint, we intend to make the user an agent of participation and a transformer of the space they inhabit.

The third, the emergent logic of the component and distribution of intelligence. Set against the opposing sum of elements originating from different technical fields, set against the typical “box + panel”, we argue in favour of the distribution of intelligence. Each component of the prototype contains the same technical, energy and structural level, etc – as the rest. The logic, in its entirety, is found in each of the parts and not in its entirety.

Finally, the prototype presented here is the result of an open evaluation process of different prototype options, subjected to formal criteria as well as constructive logic and energy efficiency in which all of the agents that have actively participated will form part of their subsequent development.