Skills:

S.1. Manage and disseminate innovation

S.2. Innovate and value innovation

S.3. Knowledge of the design and behavior of new materials, systems and machinery.

S.4. Analyze, control the quality and define the maintenance conditions of the innovative techniques adequate for each building typology.



Learning outcomes:

L.O.1. Describes and assesses innovative techniques, systems and materials used in contemporary architecture

L.O.2. Implements innovative manufacture and building techniques in a building design.

L.O.3. Assesses the possible evolution of building materials, components and systems based on their manufacture features.

1. Innovative building envelopes

2. Innovative materials and products (Composites, Plastics, Smart glass, New structural materials, Smart materials, Ecologic materials, etc)

3. Biotechnology, Nanotechnology

4. New manufacture, assembling and building processes

5. Design with new technologies

The course includes short lectures given by the teacher and most of the face-to-face time will be dedicated to develop projects, in groups or individually.

We will follow the Project Based Learning methodology in order to achieve the learning objectives (L.O.1. Describes and assesses innovative techniques …; L.O.2. Implements innovative manufacture …; L.O.3. Assesses the possible evolution of building materials…)

Students will research a case-study of their interest and will present to the rest of the group details of the innovative technologies included and general design considerations. A written report will be also delivered.

Other projects consist in designing building component prototypes and manufacturing them making use of the schools fabrication laboratory through laboratory practicas sessions.

This course specifically includes the use of ETSA-AGET laboratories for the development of part of the teaching content and the work of students will be supervised in part by the lecturers. For the development of the subject, students are provided with appropriate material for their projects, as far as possible. For the development of the work it is necessary the support of technical laboratory personnel.

For an appropriate learning process about new materials it is essential to get in touch with production processes, companies and on site procedures. That’s why students may visit a manufacture plant and/or building site. Besides, companies and specialists could be invited to present products and technologies through seminars in the School of Architecture. These seminars will be open to the rest of students, teachers and researchers of the School.

During face-to-face time (lectures, other student’s presentations and seminars), students will actively participate following the discourse, contributing with questions and comments, filling different types of tests and writing reports.

During homework-time students will elaborate, deliver and prepare a presentation of their research topic and the course projects.

The subject will follow a continuous evaluation including the case-study research and other practical exercises assessment, the student’s career and the participation during lectures, workshop sessions, seminars and visits. This evaluation method requires a maximum attendance of the students.

The final evaluation of the subject will be obtained through of a weighted mean of the former assessments. It will be indispensable to fulfill all the deliveries to pass the subject.

Assessment guidelines:

L.O.1. (Describes and assesses innovative techniques…) Level of understanding, clarity and detail of the analysis of case-studies through presentations and written reports.

L.O.2. (Implements innovative manufacture...) Complexity and adequacy of proposals, quality of prototypes.

L.O.3. (Assesses the possible evolution of building…) Qualitative assessment.

Students who can’t attend the lectures and workshops during the course due to justified reasons will have the possibility of proving the abilities and competences related to the subject through a final evaluation. Thus, any student who wants to renounce the ordinary call (continuous assessment) must deliver a written notification and justification to the teacher during the first month of the course and will have the possibility for a final evaluation consisting on the following three parts:

1. Delivering the exercises developed during the course

2. Written exam consisting on 10 questions and one problem.

3. Oral exam

De igual manera, aquel estudiante que quiera renunciar a la evaluación y ser calificado como no presentado, deberá notificarlo por escrito durante el primer mes del curso.

Basic bibliography

Translucent building skins : material innovations in modern and contemporary architecture / Scott Murray. Murray, Scott

Charles

Fachadas : cerramientos de edificios / Ana Sánchez-Ostiz Gutiérrez ; prólogo Alberto Campo Baeza

Façades : design, construction & technology / Lara Menzel

Plastics : in architecture and construction / Stephan Engelsmann, Valerie Spalding, Stefan Peters.

Material design : informing architecture by materiality / Thomas Schröpfer ; with a foreword by Erwin Viray ; and

contributions by James Carpenter ... [et al.].

ETFE : technology and design / Annette LeCuyer ; with contributions by Ian Liddell, Stefan Lehnert and Ben Morris.

Transparent plastics : design and technology / Simone Jeska.

Fibre cement : technology and design / Jan R. Krause.

Construction materials manual / Hegger ... [et al.].

Material Revolution 2 : new sustainable and multi-purpose materials for design and architecture / Sascha Peters

Moritz Hauschild, Rüdiger Karzel. DETAIL: practice: Digital Processes: Planning, Design, Production. Munich: Birkhäuser,

2011.

Ruairi Glynn, Bob Sheil. Fabricate: Making digital architecture. Canada: Riverside Architectural Press, 2012

Neil Leach, David Turnbull, Chris Wiliams. Digital tectonics. Great Britain: Wiley-academy, 2004.

Branko Kolarevic. Architecture in the digital age. New York: Spon Press, 2003.

Alex Ritter. Smart materials in architecture, interior architecture and desing. Birkhäuser Architecture; 1 edition (November

21, 2006).

Sylvia Leydecker. Nano materials in architecture, interior architecture and design.

Blaine Brownell. Transmaterial 1, 2 and 3. Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (December 29, 2005).

In-depth bibliography

LeCuyer, A. ETFE Technology and Design. Germany: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, 2008.
Moritz, K. y Rainer, B. Construcción con recubrimientos de ETFE. DETAIL Praxis: Materiales Translúcidos, 2004, p.70-80
Oesterle-Lieb-Lutz-Heusler. Double-Skin Facades. Integrated Planning. Prestel Publishing (July 2001).

Journals

Tectonica
Detail