01

22@ is an experimental district with a powerful, distributed and accessible, energy

load. Part of the Districlima network, where new business values are intangible. It is
NOT based on the availability of natural resources such as water, oil, gas, sugar, silk
nor do real estate values come into the equation. The companies have SOFT values such as

Media-ICT broadcasting rights (Mediapro), patents (Indra), intellegence (T-systems), programming

(Cysco) and interaction (such as Reactable by Sergi Jorda, from Universitat Pompeu
Fabra), it is a district in the words of Artur Serra from I2CAT and the 22@ team that
by Enric Ruiz Geli respresents a Living Lab.

Wired
and Leonardo from MITPress, 22@ is SOFT,
and today SOFT is HARD. Green Smart
Media_TIC
City City
Media-ICTs architecture is
an environment where SOFT becomes HARD.

00 When the public design competition for the Media-ICT project was
announced, at Cloud 9 we thought this building was in ALIGNMENT with
our knowledge.
02
22@ is a city model where residential zones and clean new industry coexist: this

We were extremely interested in this digital city model based on ICT (information and
communication technology), with the idea of a city where what matters is knowledge,
added value and patents, in short, where the objective is for your architecture to be in
sync with your own values.
This project transpired after VillaNurbs, Spek, Aviario Zoo Marino Bcn, Media-House,
Forest, and other projects that involved concepts such as:
digital manufacturing processes, ubiquitous technology, cloud computing, off grid, self
sufficient energy, distributed intelligence, ...
and has a multi-media museum, Internet awareness workshops, as well as the UOC
institutes that are the fruit of this fabric; it is a place where the convention hall is a shared
space for foreign companies.
MediaITC incubates and fosters exchange.
We felt that this building should not be a public or private building, or a corporate or
company-oriented building, it should not be academic or businesslike, but it should be a
hybrid programme.

Experts call this type of model GGG - Global Green Growth

This is a large building based on the idea of sharing, where all the green spaces are shared.
Before, one way or another, you had to have those spaces available, now you can share
them, the building has some 15% dedicated to shared spaces.
(see Floor Plans)

This is a distinct possibility in this city, where the urban experimentation of compact
density as conveyed by Oriol Clos, the head architect.

VillaNurbs ETFE detail, VillaNurbs

NB: Strategy Synthesis Output

03 Media-ICT is a Parametric Design application
As architects of parametric architecture, what should we do? We think in
terms of modules: the structure is a 5m x 14.7 m module; false roofs are
04 STRUCTURE
We presented the project to the Quality Committee of Barcelona City Council and
one of their questions was: Architecture is often connected to certain physical,
vegetable and animal states. If this is the case, what animal does this architectural
structure represent? It was an interesting question ...
module, the 300cm radius faade sensors and so on and so forth.
We have studied the programme for the building and its possible floor plans using are several bodies, there are several individuals.
Autocad software linked to Excel and a script programmed in Cloud 9. It is a programme that creates a system and a structural typology.
We have been in the Maravillas Gymnasium by Alejandro de la Sota.
In this way we optimise: This is our background, it is our starting point.
> 36 m evacuation distances in case of fire.
> the maximum area of the programme with natural lighting, X. In the 22@ district there have always been these metallic structures, and when they are
> the flexibility of floor distribution, 7,26. constructed on the streets, they have been expressed outwards.
> the ratio of m2 distributed with regard to constructed m2.
We wanted to convey these structures as knowledge platforms expressed outwards,
For example, we study the minimum impact of the vertical communication cores in terms creating a sense of dialogue with the city.
of the m2 of the distributed programme (such cores are generally between 18-20% of the Other examples are the Chocolate Factory and the AEG Turbine Factory by Peter Berens,
total surface area). This is a building with a low ratio; we stand at 8%,which means that who began with architecture and structure, but ended up creating the SYSTEM.
there is 10% available and you have more meters to be used by the people (almost
2,000m2), which is just like gaining a floor. You enter the data and Excel constructs the With Agust Obiol of Boma we discussed
building. In the end, it is Excel that creates this extremely dense information byte that What is a structure like in a DIGITAL environment?
includes everything. It is not about gravity, or mass, or tectonics, it is about connectivity,
links - it is TENSILE, with ties.
The result is a very COMPACT, very dense and very efficient element.Media-ICT is NOT a
CUBE but an information BYTE: 40x40x40m. Our construction is built from the top and moves downwards, becoming transparent,
References: Ford Foundation in New York, by Kevin Roche (please see diagrams). anti-gravitational, almost liquid at the bottom.
Thus, its impact on the street is minimal, about 8% mass with respect to the 1500 m2 floor
30 cm
false ceiling surface area.
50 We decided to invest 40% of the construction budget in the structure of the building
rasied floor
(instead of the normal 25% or 30%).
150
glass faade
screen
door An inhabitable truss, which is similar to living surrounded by the NETWORK,
fluorescence
a network, a structure that supports the building but comprises TRANSLUCENT spaces,
220 flexible spaces, open spaces.
artificial light
If we take into account that the structure is a suspended structure and the pillars are not
300
office room
50x50 pillars, but 12x12 or 15x15...
faade sensor
This voltage cable network is distributed with large 14x5m dimensions.
500 The ground floor does not have pillars; public space invades the building with 36m x 40m
structure
of free space.
700
natural light
(see Pictures)
A public architectural structure dedicated to public space in line with a Situationist
1400
macro structure perception.
3600 THE STRUCTURE OF THE Media-ICT ACTS AS A NETWORK.
macro structure
fire exit distance
A distributed not centralised structure.
Distributed computing, distributed networks...
40000
byte
building
Centralised networks cause breakdowns, distributed networks do NOT.
There are 18 different sections of tubes to optimise the kilos of steel.
There are 120 types of FLOWERS to solve the complexity issue.
05 My wish for the CONSTRUCTION is to think, believe that the Media-ICT is
on a par with the balance and complexity that we have learnt from Gauds
La Pedrera.
Therefore, it is not a calculation of a peak stress point nor is it based on a standard
solution, there is no unique steel solution for the entire structure, but hundreds of
distributed calculations for all points, and bars.
In other words, everything is nonstandard (such as the Pompidou Centre exposition,
curated by Frdric Migayrou).
(see Diagramms)

Is this a shock?
The industry is ready for this digital revolution.
Cloud 9, together with Boma, have designed this structure to be built using CADCAM
digital processes.

We work in 3D with Rhyno, 3D Max and MicroStation, and they work in 3D with CAD. But we will leave this to the experts such as Daniel Giralt Miracle so that they can make
The economics must be sustainable. We can only build complex Gaud-like structures with judgments and criticise.
very fast software and manufacturing components.
Our work process to create these skins has been program-structure-skin.
And this skin is an expression of energy.
We constructed the building from the bottom up, while they elevated it and then put it in
If we think about Gauds La Pedrera, it is a construction system that projects a landscape
place.
towards the city.
It seems that we are winning the battle against gravity.
It is the building that must have a dialogue with the city.
This is the second time that this operation has been carried out in Europe,
here in Barcelona.
We need solutions. How do we find these solutions?
The system was the deserved winner of the 2009 EUROPEAN AWARD FOR STEEL
Lets take a scientific look at urban landscape, lets make it a performance, lets make it
STRUCTURES, of the ECCS (European Convention for Construction Steel work).
performative, with energy as its script. This is the project.
This process is called CAD-CAM, we are CAD-CAM process architects.

This is Media-ICT: meeting energy criteria through beautiful, performative,

communicative, urban landscape, which is educational, opening peoples
A light element that unifies the whole structure ...
eyes, so that they are aware of key problems such as energy.
Jeremy Rifkin argues in his third industrial revolution that if construction is the main
cause of climate change, lets also make construction the solution to the problema: instead
of a problem, it becomes the solution.

With this objective, we can convert buildings into power plants, into energy factories, that
are OFF GRID, that are not in the network and that are fully self-sufficient.
Here, in the Media-ICT, at a conceptual level, we take a look at certain elements, such as
bioluminescent painting.
What we do is to treat the entire tensile digital structure with this bioluminescent paint.
This makes the framework visible, but it does not consume, it is self-sufficient.
This years edition of the Nobel Prize in Physics is also dedicated to bioluminescence.
The collaborative work of Cloud 9 with Euroquimica has led to this innovation,
this patent that is compatible with achieving class RF-120 resistance.
06
ENERGY EFFICIENCY of the Media-ICT:
ETFE SKIN.
The mayor, in his speech the other day, talked to us about green cities.
If we consider Jeremy Rifkins theory, buildings represent 35-40% of the climate change
problem.
As architects, we are the main cause of climate change...So we need to take it seriously ...
In the European Union there is talk of a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. Some
20% of our buildings energy will be clean energy with regard to what we consume.
 Media-ICT targets an achieves: C The ETFE skin enables us to build these design values:
1-20% Co2 reduction due to the use of District Cooling, clean energy. SA Solar factor open 0.35
2-10% Co2 reduction due to the photovoltaic roof. SA Solar factor closed 0.25
3-55% Co2 reduction due to the dynamic ETFE sun filter. CAC Solar factor without fog 0.45
4-10% Co2 reduction due to energy efficiency related to smart sensors.
CAC Solar factor with fog 0.10

Total 95% Co2 reduction, the Media-ICT is a NET building almost a net zero
building.
As an example, if the building code demands a factor of 0.45, thanks to the new systems and see pp. 214 and 215
Take a look at the CAC faade SF with fog value of
patents in this building, we can achieve a target of 0.10. 0.10, in other words 4 times more effective than
Another example is the photovoltaic roof that produces about 29,000 kWh/year, which the TBC.
represents some 18.8 tonnes of savings in atmospheric CO2 emissions.
D Results:
Basic building energy balance.
ETFE building energy balance and ETFE open.
The Media-ICT is this new wave of green architecture, with energy as ETFE building energy balance and ETFE with fog.
its principal argument.

What is the ETFE?

see pp. 216 and 217

ETFE is very light; there are no frames; it is highly resistant (1,500

kg); it is perfect for fire escapes; and is an interesting material for public spaces.
E
Dragados has managed to accurately assemble ETFE and the structure, thanks to the use of
3D topography through 3 mm resolution scanners for a 40m faade.

We now turn to the technical data:

see pp. 218 and 219

A Study of shade and ratio of urbanity.

see pp. 210 and 211

B Calculation of solar energy according to the

orientation of the faades:
On the north faades there are 2.000 watts per hour.
On the south faades there are 6.500 watts per hour.
This is a difference of 300%.
Who governs this?.
The building creates and coordinates a vertical cloud to filter the sun, the building creates it
and repeats it over and over again.
see pp. 212 and 213
 Thus, the DISTRIBUTED INTELLIGENCE, there
are more than 500 sensors in the Media-ICT.
according to how many people are in the lobby.
The faade sensors connected to the Iguzzini lighting
metres of the faade (TBC).
Finally the 104 sensors, within the black box, connected
to the ETFE cushions makes each cushion, each
construction element of the faade intelligent.
07
Eden, London
ETFE Sketch
The director of the Cit dArchitecture in Paris Francis Rambert said we are standing before
the Barcelona Pompidou Centre.
Distributed smart tech:
Each inflatable having an IP address, using Arduino soft this enables the building
not only to close or open all the curtains, which not only activates the patches of
clouds and decides which neighbour produces what shade, but the building also
modulates and responds like a reactive skin, with 104 IP addresses attached to such
reaction.
If the entire building is based on the idea of distribution, the computing should be
distributed. If you create a model in which there is a hierarchy with a central
computer, if this computer crashes, the entire building crashes.
I must add that we aim for the best energy
performance results.
It is still too early to disclose complex public
results but we can talk about the Honorable
mention from the Premi Medi Ambient de la
Generalitat de Catalunya in 2009 (R&D and
Innovation Projects), aimed at sustainable
construction, and research in ETFE used in the
Media-ICT architecture.
INNOVATION
There are four buildings in the world with ETFE:
Eden in London: the transparent ETFE cladding creates a microclimate.
Arena in Munich: the EFTE covering complete with lighting creates an icon.
Beijing swimming pools: the EFTE cladding with its double illumination creates another icon.
And now the Media-ICT: ETFE with three layers, with intelligence, without lighting, not an
iconic style of architecture, meant for the media, but certainly energy performative architecture.
Arena, Munich Beijing Swimming Media-ICT, Barcelona
And I would like to emphasise it is not about media architecture or a
This is the first ETFE building in Spain.
 In the industrial age, solar solutions were
physical, mechanical, hydraulic...
Take the Arab World Institute by Jean Nouvel
in Paris as an example.

But the digital world moves with particles,

with simple elements, with steam, air with
atmospheric and gaseous worlds.

As Terry Riley says of our architecture in the catalogue of the MOMA

exhibition: . . . we carry out Performative Architecture

Media-ICT represents performative architecture.

Milestone: a cloud of nitrogen.

The building creates a vertical cloud of fog, increasing the density of the air of the ETFE
cushions with nitrogen particles, the SF (solar factor) of the building goes from 0.45 to 0.10.

particles so that the sunbeam is broken down and the solar factor is lowered? Yes we can.

80% of the fog is composed of nitrogen particles.

Results:
These two patents are created:
ETFE Diaphragm, ETFE Fog.
Our buildings should be performative. Architecture is no longer on/off, a/b, it is a dynamic
architecture.

We have to make architecture as similar as possible to these natural plant processes

pursuing and performing, what activates its photosynthesis, its physics, its chemistry,
its inner material.

08 ECONOMY
According to Jeremy Rifkin, we are heading towards a New Humanism, with
architecture that empathises with the Environment and towards a new economy.

There is talk about the GREEN SHOOTS of the economy ... this building is one.
It is in total ALIGNMENT with the objectives that the Consorci have talked
about: technical and economic rigour, competitiveness, sustainability, . . .

This building has cost 24,5 million euros and has a ratio of 1,234 euros per m2 above
ground level.

In this way money will not be excuse not to fulfill the GREEN NEW DEAL.