14 MAEBB

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MAEBB

Materials - Waste Pine, Waste Wool, Waste Beech
Dimensions - 9000mm x 3000mm x 3000mm

In 2025/26 I completed a Master’s in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities (MAEBB) at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC). The course is based at Valldaura Labs, a former monastery located in the Collserola Park overlooking Barcelona. Each year, a group of students from different backgrounds work collaboratively around a set brief, developing and constructing a final full-scale prototype.

The programme is innovative in its approach to architecture, and places particular emphasis on timber use and the holistic nature of material sourcing. During my time at Valldaura, I learnt about subjects ranging from soil health and food production to material sourcing, timber processing, construction and architectural theory.

The programme brought together many of my existing interests and provided an opportunity to further develop and expand my knowledge and skill set. My background in food production, cooking, furniture design, carpentry and forestry made the programme feel like a natural progression, while the architectural focus offered a way to explore a long-standing ambition to work at a larger scale.

Throughout the year I developed new skills such as creating large 3D models in Rhino, architectural drawing, designing timber structures and building systems, including water and electrical infrastructure. I was the only student out of a chohort of 18 with professional carpentry experience. When the resident carpentry manager unexpectedly left during the year, this provided an opportunity for me to take on greater responsibility. I managed and led the construction of the final project, overseeing inventory, machining, assembly, deadlines and the coordination of people throughout the build.

Although I have focused this section of my website on our final prototype, the course covered a broad range of subjects. The first term centred on participatory design, working with students from a local school to design outdoor seating. The second explored urban mining and the process of dismantling an existing building and reusing its materials to adapt another. The aim was to consider buildings as material banks for the city, creating opportunities for circular construction while contributing to wider social change.

Forest Shepard

Our final prototype was made from waste materials. The brief was to design and construct a moving exhibition showcasing research and projects developed by IAAC and our student cohort. The exhibition would be presented on Las Ramblas, Barcelona in August 2026.

During early research and concept stage, the idea emerged to create a quiet and peaceful enclosure within one of the busiest parts of Barcelona. This developed into the prototype shown on the following pages.

For the structure, we were given glue laminated Pine, which had previously been used for another structure. We re-machined the timber and used it to create the CLT floor and roof, and used the glue laminated Pine for the structural columns and beams and facade. The slatted roof is made from Beech that had been discarded because of its low commercial value as it had warped and twisted.

The beech dowels visible throughout the structure were used to plug screw holes and fixing points in the reclaimed timber. They also became the attachment points for the wool cocoon.

The cocoon began with sourcing wool from a farmer in Catalonia. The wool would normally be burnt because of its low commercial value. The wool was cleaned, washed, picked and felted into five large sheets. We invited people to take part in workshops where we collectively carried out this process. The resulting felt was then cut and sewn together before being suspended from the timber structure.

We also developed a system that allowed the facade panels to be removed from the structure and be transformed into exhibition display panels. This was one of the more technically complicated aspects of the project, requiring the structure and exhibition system to work as one. The system functioned successfully and was demonstrated in front of a live audience on Las Ramblas during the opening night in August 2026.

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