X-URBAN DESIGN
Senior Faculty: Willy Müller & Manuel Gausa
Faculty Assistant: Camila Álvarez
Advisoring:
BIG PICNIC EU PROJECT, CRITICAL FOOD & MERCABARNA BIOMARKET MED COAST & AGROCITIES TEAM / GENOA UNIVERSITY
AgroCities.com can be a useful tool for:
– encouraging public bodies to integrate new actions and innovative practices during the phases of drafting plans or processes of territorial governance, already showing their use and functioning in other similar contexts;
– to help private bodies and/or companies by clarifying any doubts about the use of new technological systems and good practices, suggesting what can be the best strategies and the competent companies with which to collaborate;
– facilitate partnerships between institutions, universities, companies, local authorities and associations by promoting participation in European and international calls;
– provide a showcase for new research, experiments and patents of universities, companies or private groups, publishing information, development and updates on the results obtained, encouraging global sharing and the possibility of arousing the interest of funding bodies;
– encourage the collaboration of scholars and companies dealing with common themes and/or researchers who experiment with similar practices or technologies in different research centres;
– collect information and data, useful for understanding which topics are of most interest to users.
Learning Objectives
The development of the course is around the “circular design” applied in three large-scale architectural types:
• the new concept of botanical gardens as constructed structures of renewed interest. The new fab labs in agriculture.
• the new k0-linked market programs, the biomarkets: new structures for new activities.
• a large-scale vision for the 21st century: the food highways. the XXl version of an activity that relates production, marketing, packaging and consumption in urban environments, with local and proximity logics.
Exercise
• study of the conceptual strategies for the development of new programs of activities related to the production of food in urban areas.
• conceptual study of architectural types of large size for a new way to produce, market and consume k0 products.
• study at the design level of new large-scale mobility structures relating the consolidated urban centers with the proximity rural areas.
Faculty
Willy Müller graduated as an architect (1984) in Argentina and pursued doctoral studies at ETSAB-UPB (1986/88). He is a co-founder of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) in 2001, becoming its Development Manager in 2004. He established his own office in Barcelona WMA, Willy Müller Architects in 1996, a recognized architectural firm achieving several international awards in competitions as well as with built projects, featuring his work in numerous exhibitions.
He is the co-author of several books, including Sociópolis, Media House Project, the Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture, and the Self-sufficient Housing. “Müller himself is a professional of proposals, not only for buildings but also, as concepts.
– co-Founder IAAC, Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.2003
– Director Urban Sciences Laboratory IAAC (since 2015).
– Director X-UrbanStudio, Master Advanced Architecture IAAC 2003/18
– General Manager Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Master Plan. 2016/18
– Former CEO Barcelona Regional Agency, BR, 2011-2015
– Former Development Director IAAC, 2003/2007.
– Member Board of Trust IAAC Foundation (since 2003).
– Founder WMA-Willy Müller Architects SLP (since 1996).
– Visiting Professor Sci_Arc, Los Angeles, USA (since 2017).
– Director Operaçoes Urbanas Consorciadas, Fortaleza, Brasil 2017/18
Link: willymullerarchitects.com
Manuel Gausa PhD (2005 – ETSAB) by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (European Mention). Since 2014, Full Professor of Architecture and Landscape Design, DSA- Faculty of Architecture (UNIGE-Università degli Studi) of Genova.
Since 2000 Principal Partner and Co-Director of Gausa+Raveau actarquitectura, the office of architecture, landscape and urban design.
Founding Member of Actar Architecture and Actar Projects Editorials. Author of various articles and published works, such as “Housing, new alternatives, new systems”, “Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture”, “HiperCatalunya: Research Territories”, “Operative Optimism” among others. Honoured with the Médaille de l’Académie d’Architecture de France in 2000.
Camila Álvarez is an architect from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, and holds a master degree in Urban Planning and Policy Design from Politecnico di Milano. Her research master thesis was focused on the interpretation and critical theorization of governance through public transport. She has three years of experience in architectural projects, interior and urban design, urban planning and spatial analysis around several cities in Colombia, Italy, and France.
Guest Faculty
Michel Rojkind is a Mexican architect and urban planner from the Universidad Iberoamericana (1994). In 2002 he founded Rojkind Arquitectos, a firm focusing on design, tactical and experiential innovation. He has been a visiting professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in L.A., the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IACC) in Barcelona, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the Aalto University, Finland.
Rojkind has participated as juror for several international awards and competitions and has lectured in many different countries.
Alejandro Haiek is an architect, Magister Scientiarum honorific mention in Architectural Design at the Central University of Venezuela (2001). His research examines collective landscapes, post-industrial ecologies and network governability politics. His projects have been developed in an intersection between design, arts and engineering integrating scientific advances and local traditions as a sustainable approach to human, environmental and material resources.
Haiek Coll is currently a lecturer and MA Studio leader at Umeå School of Architecture.
Hernan Diaz-Alonso is the director of SCI-Arc at the beginning of the 2015 academic year. He has been a distinguished faculty member since 2001, serving in several leadership roles, including coordinator of the graduate thesis program from 2007–10, and graduate programs chair from 2010–15. He is principal of the Los Angeles–based architecture office HDA-x (formerly Xefirotarch). His multidisciplinary practice is praised for its work at the intersection of design, animation, interactive environments, and radical architectural explorations. In 2005 he was the winner of MoMA PS1’s Young Architects Program (YAP) competition, and in 2012 he received the Educator of the Year award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).