MEDIA HOUSE

Barcelona. Spain. 2000

With Metápolis, MIT The Center for Bits and Atoms, 12CAT

Elisava Master Interface

The Media House Project is the fruit of a strategic alliance between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab’s Consortium, things that think, the Metápolis group from Barcelona and the Fundaciò Politècnica de Catalunya, with the collaboration of the consortium I2CAT and the Elisava Design School. The purpose is to unite their respective potential in order to build a prototype of an informational house.

This Project enables the testing of the progression of information Technologies beyond that of computers and integrates them into everyday life, literally looking to build computers from the components of buildings, in such a way, that the logical intelligence of a structure can grow with its physical form.

The Technologies that Media Lab are developing include techniques to distribute the work of some central servers to a Wide number of small micro servers, to dramatically reduce costs and also de complex task of equipping them with Internet access, so that it is possible to integrate them into the simplest of the existing elements in “intelligent spaces”.

The Metapolis Architects have developed an informative structure, which incorporates in just one element the physical structure, the electrical network, and the data network, which enables a dynamic and configurable link between the entities (people, objects, space, limits, networks and contents) and that which create an inhabitable environment.

The house is the computer, the structure is the network.

Credits:

Date: 2001
Site: Mercat de les flors, Barcelona

Metapolis:
Media House Directors: Vicente Guallart, Enric Ruiz-Geli, Willy Müller
Structure: Max Sanjulián
gRAm: Susana Noguero
Structural typologies: Maurizio Bonizzi, Giovanni Franceschelli, Silvia Banchini, Roberto Secchi
Nodes and integration: Michel Oltramare
Housing X-Ray: Laura Cantarella
Furniture concepts: Mekhala Otramare
I'm a robot: Sophie Cornanguer
Web: Jorge Pasalagua
3D models: Rupert Maurus
Web interface: AREA•, Federico Joselevich, Chema Lungobardo, Sebastián Puiggros, Elisa Lee, Manel Ruíz
Data visualization: innothna, Julio Hardisson, Daniel Bravo, Carles Ballvé
Lighting: Toni Rueda

Project Consultants:
Architects: Robert Brufau, Jaume Adreriu
UPC: Ramón Sagüesa
Bert Bongers
Kitchen and Garden: Paco Guzmán
Chromotherapy: Mónica Alonso
Videoconferencing: Jana Leo

MIT Media Lab:
Massachussets Institute of Technology
The Center For Bits and Atoms:
Director: Neil Gershenfeld
Microservers: H. Shrikumar
Interfaces RS 485: Matt Hancher

Elisava
Director of the Interfaces masters course: Nuria Díaz
Play place: Jaime Colom
New Baby: Karina Cocho
New kid: Marina Turró
Web house: Fabiola López, Joao Esteves, Marta Pimienta
Humanhouse interface: Enric Gili
Media Kitchen: Marcos Gonzalez, Susana Juan
Self editor: Yoel Lenti
Chromaroom: Ignacio Mondine, Miguel Sola
Chromotherapy: Estela Ocampo
Project tutors: M. Angeles García, psychologist; José Manuel Berenguer, Orquesta del Caos; Sergi Jordà, UPF; Carlos Silva, TechnoMedia; Sergio Schvarstein, MM Factory

I2Cat, Internet 2 a Catalunya
Director: Sebastià Sallent
UPC: Artur Serra, Rosa María Martin, Anna Agustí, Josep Paradells
Prous Science: Josep Prous
UPC: Jesús Alcober, Cristina Cervelló, Josep Mangues
Prous Science: Jesús Salillas
Hospital de Sant Pau: Pablo López