RESULT

INTRODUCTION

Poblejoc, an interactive installation conceived during the Active Public Space workshop, has been designed as an Urban Game with the aim of activating public space. Poblejoc was created in the framework of the Superilla (Super-block) workshop, a pilot project of the Superilla plan for Barcelona, that was developed in the Sant Martí district. The plan aims to close traffic in a part of the city’s roads, allowing to use these new pedestrianised areas as public space.

The SUPERILLA project claims the occupation of the public space by the people, to subvert the leading role that cars have had over the last 50 years. The project is part of the new Plan of Public Space and Mobility of District of Sant Martí, promoted and approved by the City of Barcelona.

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and Confederation of Architectural Workshops, In collaboration with NOUMENA, took part to the Superilla-pilot project. The Horizontal Action was born in the framework of the Superilla project, with the aim of studying new forms of public space occupation. It started on September 5th, where different groups of students have designed and produced items from recycled materials, to encourage citizens to exercise their recovered rights in the public space. The Horizontal Action took place in the superblock comprised between carrer Tanger, Badajoz, Pallars and Llacuna, during 5th to the 22nd of September involving Atta33, Transfolab, Nodo and Fab Lab Barcelona workshops amongst other. – Within this event, we organised the Active Public Space Barcelona Workshop, focusing on the principles, implications and applications of ICTs for urban space; Poblejoc, an interactive installation, has been designed as an Urban Game with the aim of activating public space. – All the urban furniture modules of the Poblejoc installation were developed during a one-week workshop tutored by NOUMENA & IAAC , where 16 international students designed and fabricated the wooden structures. A bench incorporating a tree, an urban orchard, a market stall, a ping pong table and a screen, all mobile (on wheels), are the elements that were positioned in the Sant Martí district. They can be moved by the users creating different configurations, reflecting the citizens’ desires in terms of design superblock public space, hence activating it.

The space configurations are mapped through the use of a NERO Drone, in order to extract data on the space dynamics.

The installation has been developed in the framework of APS Active Public Space, an EU co-funded project with the aim of developing knowledge on Active Public Space, in collaboration with Hyphen Labs, Atta33 and NODO.

DESIGN

The design is defined by the base of the station and its capacity of drones, where programmed agents define a structural flow from the drone-ports towards the base. The path of these agents is rationalized into straight linear segments with predefined directions, which connect on distributed points in the 3d space, the nodes. The lines are materialized in 312 wooden sticks and the nodes in 87 unique modular press fit joints, in way to create 5 different kind of installations able to interact with the public space.

Screen: 40 kinds of nodes, 148 sticks, 4 panels.

Bench: 19 kinds of nodes, 59 sticks, 3 panels.

Green Pods: 21 kinds of nodes, 66 sticks, 26 panels.

Play Ground: 40 kinds of nodes, 104 sticks, 3 panels.

Trading Market: 33 kinds of nodes, 93 sticks, 7 panels.

Prototyping and Fabrication

In the last decade the logics of generating robot paths have totally shifted the approach from the conventional way used by the industry. Fabrication in architecture has computationally brought the process of automation to integrate principles of manufacturing in the design exploration.

To produce the urban furniture modules of the Poblejoc installation, we have been introducing architects to design custom fabrication processes and machine control protocols, presenting how these advanced machine capabilities expand the interface between design computation and physical materialization. The architectural manufacturing challenge of the course focused on the concept, design and fabrication of the joint for a previously developed contemporary wood design construction. The training agenda involved the production of these robotically prefabricated building elements through the adoption of a multitasking process employing external custom effectors.
After the participants passed through the introduction of manual control exercises and the fundamentals for understanding the robot kinematic system, the path programming was then the main subject for the code generation and running of the robot arm. Manipulation of parameters like speed and type of movement where the topics treated on this session, all conformed according to the robot reach and its boundary limits.
The production phase was looking separately on the node connection from the jointelement. On one side, the nodeconnection have been fabricated using a CNC laser cutter, where the investigation focused on an efficient nesting of 1245 separate pieces, with accurate tolerances considered for a pressfit assembly.
On the other side the jointelement have been fabricated using the multitasking robot process focused on fabrication strategies of a linear mortise and tenon joint.
The advanced optimization of time in production leaded the course to conclude with the fully designed prototype realised in 1:1 scale, assembled at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, fabricated at Atta33 and exhibited in Superilla, PobleNou District in Barcelona for the opening of the event.
 
Augmented Reality
 
As part of the BCN SUPERILLA POBLEJOC installation, an augmented reality application was developed which was used to digitally overlay information about the activities and functions of the installation.

Using a QR code, the users can download the application, which is freely available for Android and Apple phones, and use it to get more information on each module of the installation. By pointing their phone cameras to the physical markers of each module, digital information is overlayed on them regarding the program and location of different activities related with the installation, as well as related general information about the city.

By introducing this digital layer to the installation, the aim is to further engage the public in both the physical and the digital layer and to provide a second level of interaction, through information and social media.

Data visualized _ A.R. data visualizations

Screen tag: general info on the project; 3D model of the superilla.

Bench tag: twitter feeds with the #Superilla hashtag.

Pods general tag: info on urban agriculture in Barcelona.

Pods specific tags (one tag per plant): nutritional value and days to grow for cauliflower, lechuga, enciam, beans.

Table tennis general tag: map with sports locations around the area.

Table tennis specific tags: calories burned, optimum temperature and relevant time of the day to practice for swimming, cycling, running, table tennis, volleyball.

LECTURES

Areti Markopoulou
Tomas Diez
Chiara Farinea
Mathilde Marengo
Yvette Vasourkova
Karin Grohmannova
Bernhard Sommer

PARTICIPANTS

APS STUDENTS:

Michaela Solnicka
Katerina Pazourkova
Erina Filipovska
Federica Ciccone
Rossella Previtera
Carmela Basile Rognetta
Iskhak Enikeev
Karina Davlertyanova
Learta Stavileci
Giusy Terranova
Greta Solari
Alessia Borgia
Elisa Tozzi Juan
Valentina Ragno
Viki Sandor

more info at: activepublicspace.org,  #superilla, iaac.net .

PROJECT TITLE

Superilla/PobleJoc

YEAR 

2016

LOCATION 

Barcelona

PARTNERS

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC)
FabCity
APS Active Public Space
Hyphen Labs
Atta33 
NODO

CREDITS

Computational Design
Aldo Sollazzo

Digital Interaction
Angelos Chronis
Ece Tankal
Cristian Rizzuti

Design and Fabrication
Chirag Rangholia
Efilena Baseta
Laura Civetti

Aerial Mapping
Chirag Rangholia

Graphic and Photos
Federica Ciccone

Videos
Matteo Lomaglio

PRESS

The New York Times
El Nacional
El Pais
The Guardian
El Periodico
La Vanguardia
El Mundo
El Diario
CatalunyaPress
Ara Cat
Planetizen
Cities of the Future
BCN SmartCities
BBC news