BARCELONA, Spain — The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), a center for research, training, production, and communication, located in Barcelona, has finished a project that challenged them to design and manufacture a functional, eco-friendly workshop in four months. 

The objective of the project was to create a dedicated space to house and operate this 6-axis milling industrial robot that the campus will use for future projects. With a wooden structure, skylights, and a refined atmosphere, the space subtly echoes the presence of a cathedral. As a tribute to both craftsmanship and technology, the new building has been named CORA, the acronym for Cathedral of Robotic Artisans.

The project features a pre-constructed, self-sustaining timber framework supported by seven branching columns that represent tree trunks. These joints were fabricated from CLT panels produced at Valldaura Campus Labs. 

Traditional joinery techniques, such as half lap or mortise and Tenon, were combined with digital fabrication methods to construct the junctions of structural columns and beams, which are made of solid wood. The four sides of the structure were pre-assembled offsite, then craned into position within the four brick walls, and finally securely bolted to the ground by professional construction workers.

The project's challenge has been to establish a dialogue between the old brick structure, built in the 19th century and originally used as a stable, and a new wooden structure representative of 21st-century design. The new structure was designed to be self-supporting, incorporating appropriate spaces, amenities, and infrastructure for both robotic operations and human interaction.

To learn more about the project and IAAC, visit iaac.net.