THE FUTURISTIC CUBE

WALKING NEAR MEDIA-TIC…

After visiting the Agbar Tower and have walked few meters from it, we found this futuristic, green looking building that we did not know what it was done for.

There are many buildings that grab people’s attention while walking along 22@ district and Media-TIC is one of them. The area of Poblenau in the city of Barcelona is changing a lot nowadays as many buildings are being constructed there at the moment for the same purpose: working with hi-tech and media. Due to this fact 22@ district is turning to be the “area of new technology” in Barcelona.

The district of innovation 22@ Barcelona reaches all the goals in terms of urban, economical and social and cultural development with the plan of the territory, the location of scientific-technological companies and the extension of public spaces and green zones among others.

FROM THE EXTERIOR…

Being outside Media-TIC and seeing it for the first time it is impossible not to stop and stare at this building as its bright green color and its spectacular façades make it be very noticeable. Media-TIC is a cubic shaped building sustained by a metallic structure which can be mostly appreciated from the outside. A high percentage of its weight is put upon the four beams at the top of the construction which leaves very wide spaces in the interior of the building.

Each façade of Media-TIC looks different from the others:

The entrance face is composed by triangular figures with circles on them which are made of three plastic layers that form a chamber that is automatically blown when sunlight is detected. When this happens the circles close themselves so that light cannot get through.

The second façade is completely covered by glass due to the fact that the sun does not impact directly this part of the construction. With this the daylight is able to illuminate the interior of the building.

The back façade displaced the basis structure of the construction so its design can be appreciated from the exterior.

The last face of Media-TIC is covered with two layers of ETFE (a new material used in construction) which regulate the light coming into the building by inflating a deflating themselves. Artificial smoke is provided to pump the ETFE which is extracted from an engine placed underneath the building. The engine receives this energy from the solar panels situated on the top of Media-TIC.

MEDIA- TIC: SUSTAINABLE or EXPENSIVE?

All four façade are joined to evaluate the main goal of sustainability. This has cause many political debates in which have been discussed the reasons behind the budget being relatively high for the construction of Media-TIC. People have defended the ideas that even though the budget goes over the price of the normal edifices, it will serve its purpose in the long run.

In my opinion, as petrol and other sources of energy used nowadays are reaching their end point, the concept of this project of saving energy and using natural resources will be the concept imitated by the constructions in the future trying to make them all as sustainable as possible.

REFERENCES

Books:

· AA.VV: Media-TIC, Barcelona, Ed. Actar.

DVD:

· Andrés Hispano (director), Alicia Reginato (productor), Benet Román (director of photography). Media-TIC, 2010. La chula productions.

Website:

· http://www.22barcelona.com/

Images:

· Images taken by me editated in PhtoShop.