EN
Select location and language
Select location
Ubicación global
ACTIU Berbegal y Formas, S.A.
Actiu collaborates in an innovative project that studies how to build with flexible materials

Actiu collaborates in an innovative project that studies how to build with flexible materials

OCTOBER 2013 | 3 minutes

Let's imagine. We imagine a building that adapts to the needs of the user as a living organism. We imagine a little more, we imagine a total city...

The Architectural Association School of Architecture (London), is one of the most prestigious worldwide architectural schools. Recently in collaboration with Actiu, the first edition of AA Visiting School Madrid took place, an International workshop on trans-computational membranes, where studying flexible materials (flexible textile materials) applied to construction and in which a select group of 30 architectural students from around the world participated.

AA Visiting School Madrid proposes a radical change in the design of spaces and it is therefore necessary to promote an important social change.  So far the spaces have been working as a static element, completed; a building, a room that has been built, furnished and finished. As of now, nothing is finished, everything is flexible, materials, space, buildings, cities…. everything changes and adapts to the needs of the users, to the needs of society, thanks to the application of flexible materials, such as lycra or other textiles, for construction.

This forum pretends to demonstrate that it is already possible to construct dynamic time-based systems throug via the development of instant spatial networks, creating a symbiotic spatial context that examines the new demands of our time. The objective of the meeting was to design, plan and build a multifunctional space from the 21st century., an experimental and hyper advanced 1:1 scale, designed throug the use of advanced computation and using lycra as flexible material.

The workshop was carried out at the headquarters of the Official College of Architects in Madrid (COAM), by tutors from the Architectural Association and the European University in Madrid (UEM), specialising in technical simulation and computational design and assisted by experts in textile materials.

For the ten days of the workshop a cycle of conferences were developed in parallel where they addressed topics relating to dynamic architecture, adaptation and experimental systems on spatial development patterns.

Furthermore, of all the work carried out, a winning work was selected from a proposed challenge by the organization. Actiu formed part of the jury, along with the teachers and the organisers of AA Visiting School Madrid and UEM, Manuel Jiménez, Roberto García, José Luis Penelas, María Olmos, Antonio Guijarro, Vicente Soler and invited architects José Ballesteros (director of the magazine Pasajes), Ángel Alonso (director of the magazine Arquitectura COAM), and Pedro Pablo Arroyo director of Department of Architectural Projects at European University School of Architecture. Special guest Andrés Perea, the renowned architect attended, author of representative works such as Biblioteca Pública Rafael Alberti in Madrid, the Administrative Building for the government of Andalucía in Almería, Fuenlabrada Hospital (in collaboration with L. G. Sterling), the pavilions 12 and 14 in Trade Fair of Madrid (IFEMA), or the New Airport in Palma (with R. Torrelo).

Other sponsors of the event were the European University of Madrid, the Official College of Architects in Madrid (COAM), Philips, The British Embassy, Comertex and Archirutas.