The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) is a center for research, education, production and outreach, with the mission of envisioning the future habitat of our society and building it in the present.
IAAC follows the digital revolution at all scales (from bits to geography, from micro-controllers to cities, from materials to the territory) to expand the boundaries of architecture and design and meet the challenges faced by humanity. IAAC is an experimental and experiential center where one learns by doing, through a test methodology that promotes real solutions.
IAAC is open, independent and radical; inspired by the values of Barcelona, the capital of architecture and design, where urbanism was invented and where a local high quality and innovation-oriented research is connected to an international network of excellence in technology, architecture and society fields.
IAAC, beyond its educational and pro-research work, is an interdisciplinary and multicultural stable community that seeks permanent contact and cooperation among the hundreds of teachers, researchers, institutions and companies that have worked with us or that pursue the objective of provide solutions to the great challenges of humanity.
IAAC is Education, with the Master in Advanced Architecture, the Master in City & Technology, the Master in Advanced Interaction, the Open Thesis Fabrication program, giving the next generation of architects and changemakers the space to imagine, test and shape the future of cities, architecture and technology. This is also possible through the Fab Academy, a distributed educational model aiming to introduce anyone to Digital Fabrication. Not to mention the workshops and the short programs, implementing global agendas developed through local solutions, such as the Global Summer School.
IAAC is Fabrication, with the Fab Lab Barcelona, the first and most advanced digital production laboratory in EU, and the Green Fab Lab, the first digital fabrication laboratory oriented to self sufficiency: two places where you can build almost anything. After hosting the FAB10 in 2014, the 10th annual worldwide Fab Lab conference, Fab Lab Barcelona has consolidated his role within the Fab Lab Network as one of the worldwide leaders of the Digital Fabrication Revolution as well as the Coordinator of the Fab Academy Program.
IAAC is Research, thanks to a series of projects and research funded by the European Union and developed in collaboration with public and private partners from all Europe, oriented to explore the role of technology in our societies and cities, giving it sense.
IAAC is Self-sufficiency, with the Valldaura Labs, a self-sufficient research centre located in the Collserola Metropolitan park, 20 minutes from the centre of Barcelona and surrounded by 140 hectares of forest, where a series of laboratories are implemented for the production and testing of Energy, Food and Things.
IAAC is Outreach, through lectures, publications, exhibitions and competition. Thanks to initiatives like the IAAC Lecture Series, or the Advanced Architecture Contest, IAAC promotes its values in the discussion about architecture, cities, society and technology, facing the nowadays worldwide challenges.
