Active Public Space // MAA Introductory Studio Midterm Presentations

Last week the students of the first year of the Master in Advanced Architecture went through the Mid-term presentations of the three Introductory Studios of the current Academic Year.

Introductory Studios Mid-term Presentations

The Introductory Studio Anthropocene Landscapes, led by the Senior Faculty Claudia Pasquero and Carmelo Zappulla, with the assistance of Maria Kuptsova, looks at the city form a non-anthropocentric point of view.

The starting point of the course is to realize that in our contemporary global world it is impossible to trace a clear distinction between nature and artifice, between landscape and city and ultimately between the Biosphere and the Urbansphere.

Starting from the scientific acknowledgment of the Anthropocene, the studio is currently liaising with multiple disciplines which vary from biotechnologies, to computation to craftsmanship which will enable the students to design future Anthropocene Landscapes.

Introductory Studio – Anthropocene Landscape

The Introductory Studio Machinic Protocols, led by the Senior Faculty Edouard Cabay with the aid of the Computational Expert Rodrigo Aguirre, addresses the urban public space: a complex environment in which numerous dynamics converge and coexist.

Methodologically, the studio relies on experimental drawing and performative physical modelling as means to explore notions of control and chance in space and time, targeting the most important modification to the Eixample’s regular gridded urban fabric in Barcelona: the suppression of cars within some of its neighbourhoods.

Introductory Studio – Machinic Protocols

The Introductory Studio Social Energies, led by the Senior Faculty Javier Peña and the Expert Jonathan Minchin, with the assistance of Oriol Carrasco, aims to explore the ambiguous links existing between energy and society.

Each group of students is building a machine capable to manage sunlight while activating new social spaces, strategic engagements or community-making processes.

Introductory Studio – Social Energies