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Energy & Building Technologies

Energy & Building Technologies

The rapid and overwhelming evolution experienced by Building Technologies in the last decades as well as the manifold findings and improvements in construction materials have shifted and complicated the traditional tasks entrusted to the architect. Informed by the technological and economic situation, the architect is nowadays surrounded by a team of consultants who provide the necessary expertise in the manifold subjects that design and construction processes entail: structures, MEP systems (mechanical, electrical, plumbing), façades, acoustics, etc.

Accordingly, under such conditions of production, the architect becomes reluctant to be held as the only responsible party to contribute to the overall technical knowledge. Nevertheless, in order to successfully control the design development, architects need to understand certain concepts and to master practical skills of the different disciplines involved in the construction process. This connoisseurship becomes translated in the use of a common lexicon and technical jargon that allow architects and designers to be an active part in the process of decision, contributing precisely and in a timely manner to the professional discussion. As expected, the purpose of this department is not to shape students as specialists in any of the technological domains, but to provide them with the sufficient background as to formulate specific, valid, and efficient proposals in every field. We expect that towards the end of the academic year, the student will be confident enough as to deal with what we colloquially refer to as the technological component of the architectonic project.

Courses

 Building Technologies (Agustí Obiol, Fall Term)

The vertiginous evolution of building technologies in recent centuries as regards design and construction techniques, and construction materials, has given rise to the need for architects to surround themselves with a team of expert consultants in the various aspects involved in the design and construction process: structures, MEP systems, façades, acoustics, etc. In this scenario, the architect does not need to be able to contribute this technical knowledge but, in order to keep the design process under control at all times, some basic skills in all these areas are needed.

Energy and Sustainability (Javier García Germán, Fall Term) 

This course considers the discussion on thermodynamics and sustainability as an opportunity for architecture and urbanism to rethink its traditional apparatus: structure (spatial structure and built systems), performance (climate and use through time) and its connections and exchanges with the environment. The aim of the course is to merge the scientific and technical knowledge with its cultural contextualization; these two tracks, the technological and the theoretical, will crisscross throughout the course to transmit a critical perspective on energy and sustainability that can propel effective applications on design.

Large structural Typologies (Agustí Obiol, Fall Term) 

The buildings with few stories and short spans allow for a great variety of different possibilities at the time of designing their frameworks; as the number of floors or the span length grow, the solution for each specific case needs to be much more accurate and univocal. So, in the case of high rise buildings this is achieved by increasing the stiffness of specific structure components and progressively moving them to the perimeter as the number of levels grows. On the contrary, in long span buildings the typical strategy is that consisting on designing shapes based on compression/tension mechanisms, which are much more efficient than those working primarily under bending. This seminar aims to an approach to these domains based on the combination of analysis and induction, which is integrated by a sequence that wonders about what, how, why and where.

Materiality (Miquel Rodríguez & Manuel Ocaña, Fall Term) 

After a vast period of time where materiality of buildings seemed not to evolve radically, important changes are announced due to technology and its direct implementation in our designs. Applied research on materials or new strategies with traditional materials might transform current languages and spaces. This evolving atmosphere should become a sound grounding for more energy efficient, environmentally careful and truelly flexible, interactive buildings.

MEP Design (Joan Gallostra, Fall Term) 

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing services in buildings have a very important role in the perception that the building users will have on indoor comfort. Building services should be proposed at the very beginning of the design process, so that the active systems (MEP services) complement the passive and/or bioclimatic concepts of the architectural design. This seminar pretends to show the building services solutions that are adequate for different building typologies, and to give criteria and basic tools to be able to rightly pre-size these systems: air conditioning, electrical, safety, telecommunications, water.

Façade Technology (Miquel Rodríguez, Fall Term) 

Principles of Construction will be studied in great detail to evolve from knowledge to practice: a deep study of materials and principles will be followed by our own research and investigations in order to drive our designs into a real envelope, not only meaning a skin that can perform successfully but also a skin that can be (passively) active by interacting with exterior and interior conditions, a energy efficient skin if not energy collector as well, a durable but flexible skin and certainly, an efficient skin.