Advanced Architecture Group
ABOUT
The Advanced Architecture Group (AAG) is an interdisciplinary research group investigating emerging technologies of information, interaction and manufacturing for the design and transformation of the cities, buildings and public spaces.
Big & small data, responsiveness, smart energy systems, artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced materials, and additive manufacturing are few of the key topics developed by the AAG and applied to novel visions and solutions for the architectural and urban fabric. Through innovative educational programs and a hands-on based methodology, AAG works on redefining the paradigm of design education in the Information and Experience Age.
Through the realisation of professional projects, AAG works on real-scale pilot projects and real-world situations merging basic and applied research in collaboration with the industry and a series of multidisciplinary experts.
Within the current critical environmental, economic and social framework, and at a moment of a novel intersection and crossing between bits (digital) and atoms (physical), AAG explores how technologies can contribute in activating, socialising and establishing new responsive inhabitation models.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
The Master in Robotics and Advanced Construction (MRAC) seeks to train a new generation of interdisciplinary professionals who are capable of facing our growing need for a more sustainable and optimised construction eco-system. The Master is focused on the emerging design and market opportunities arising from novel robotic and advanced manufacturing systems.
In Barcelona, IAAC offers an international Master programme in Advanced Architecture (MAA). The MAA is oriented towards architects, engineers and designers from all over the world, eager to imagine the future of our cities and societies and committed to building it in the present.
The Open Thesis Fabrication programme is a 6-month long intensive applied research in the field of additive manufacturing of sustainable architecture. Between the use of advanced technology for construction and the desire to develop a holistic design approach to architecture, we engage with different areas of research that include robotic manufacturing, material research and performance-based design.
As a dynamic center for education, investigation, innovation and dissemination in Barcelona, the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), which already proposes a varied educational offer – advanced and self-sufficient architecture, design, robotics and urbanism – will now provide a top-level PhD program pioneering in the fields of Advanced Architecture & Urbanism.
The Master in City & Technology (MaCT) is a unique programme which is orientated towards training change makers that city administrations, governments, industries, and communities need, in order to develop projects for the transformation of our cities in the era of big data.
The Master in Advanced Computation for Architecture & Design – MaCAD is a unique online programme training a new generation of architects, engineers and designers with the skills that the industry of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) demands nowadays.
The programme provides expertise in the application of the latest digital softwares for design simulation, analysis and optimization of digital data in architecture,offering a broad and advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of computational design.
EUROPEAN FUNDED RESEARCH
EU Project BUILDS – Building Urban Intelligent Living Design Solutions (2019-2021) Description “BUILDS” aims to fill the gap in the biotechnology sector applied to smart architecture and design by bringing intelligent living solutions for cities to the market through research, education, entrepreneurship and industry leaders cooperation. EU Call Erasmus + Total Funding 999,072 € IAAC…
EU Project Creative Food Cycles (2018-2020) Description “Creative Food Cycles” enhances innovative and creative practices between food, architecture and conviviality in a transnational and European perspective. EU Call Creative Europe Programme Total Funding 198,000 € IAAC Department Advanced Architecture Group Partners Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover (Germany), Universitá Degli Studi di Genova (Italy) Website https://creativefoodcycles.org/
EU Project KAAU - Knowledge Alliance for Advanced Urbanism (2015-2018) Description KAAU group works for the sensitive integration of ICT in cities, taking in consideration cultural heritage, environmental and social dimension issues. This project aims to promote an innovative understanding of "Advanced Urbanism" that requires changing traditional design and urban planning practices towards more open, collaborative…
EU Project Active Public Space (2015-2017) Description Active Public Space (APS) is an initiative focused in the transformation of city public spaces into active and dynamic ones by fostering people interaction with flows of energy, materials, services and finances in order to catalyse sustainable economic development, resilience and high quality of life. EU Call Creative Europe…
EU Project URBiNAT (2018-2023) Description URBiNAT focuses on the regeneration and integration of deprived districts in urban development through innovative Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) - an Urban Inclusive Nature - ensuring sustainability and mobilising driving forces for social cohesion. EU Call Horizon 2020 Total Funding 13,019,300 € (to be confirmed) IAAC Department Advanced Architecture Group Partners…
EU Project InnoChain (2015-2019) Description The InnoChain ETN network aims to expand, synthesise and consolidate knowledge into computation-informed building design practice across academia and practice. This initiative has a strong inter-sector focus and connects emerging and established research environments in academia and professional practice from architecture, engineering, design software development and fabrication. EU Call Horizon 2020…
EU Project Public Play Space Description Public Play Space EU-funded project attempts to provide with innovative and pioneering practices, in a transnational and European perspective, for the co-design and implementation of the process of placemaking, with the ultimate objective to foster inclusive and sustainable public spaces. EU Call Creative Europe Culture Sub-Programme Cooperation Project Total…
Project CO-MIDA: Green urban elements for the co-production of food and energy (2020-2021) Description CO-MIDA is an intelligent vertical modular system for the cultivation of edible plants, co-designed together with the citizens which, thanks to the bacteria present in the earth, also produces the necessary electrical energy for its own operation and monitoring. Call BIT-Habitat,…
PUBLICATIONS
The InnoChain journal #4 showcases material research results and reporting of the Second year colloquium organised by IAAC, as well as the presentation of the research exhibition “Prototypes”, focusing on direct full-scale testing of defined design criteria against real-world methods of realisation and production, and its integration with the industry. The InnoChain network is a shared…
This initial issue of the Innochain Network journal introduces the network, the partners from Industry and University as well as the projects of the 15 Early Stage Researchers. The network is a shared research training environment, examining how advances in digital design tools challenge building culture enabling sustainable, informed and materially smart design solutions. The…
IAAC coordinates the EU-co-funded project ‘Active Public Space‘ (APS) with the aim of developing knowledge on public space throughout Europe as a means of engagement and interactive platforms for citizens. The projects are developed and enhanced by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, together with CCEA (Centre for Central European Architecture in Prague) and UAAV (University of Applied…
The Creative Europe Programme co-funded initiative Active Public Space (APS) Catalogue, coordinated by IAAC, has issued the "State of the Art" catalogue aimed at detecting and mapping existing successful examples of active-smart public spaces in terms of design, technology, management and occupancy by citizens. The case studies were collected through an open call for paper and academic…
‘From Now to Then: Between Man-kind and Robot-kind’ is an IAAC publication developed with the collaboration of global think-tank and research institute The Why Factory, led by world-renowned Dutch architect Winy Maas, and elaborated by IAAC students from the Master in City and Technology 2016/2017. This publication aims to bring together visionary ideas and revolutionary…
