-Cloud 9
Taking into account this new described world and playing with the aims of sustainability, we are encountered with the media model building in Barcelona: the Media-Tic. It pretends to be an emblematic throne of the digital world and a vehicle of diffusion of new technologies. A new advance and concept in our society has been put to challenge and green architecture has taken a step forward towards our future.
Media-tic is probable to have quite an impact in its natural habitat in Barcelona and in the world at large. Its structure, its singular space, how it communicates and its energetic efficiency are concepts all relatively new to every one of us.
“Is this building a Mac, or a PC?”
- Asked by interviewer at a conference held in Madrid.
“I would say the building is a Mac because it is compatible with its surroundings: nature, people, innovation, future… It is a Mac because it is more powerful than the rest of its kind.”
-Response by Architect José Miguel Hernández Hernández
Even though opinions vary, I believe that Media-Tic is indeed different. It has a cubical form made out of steel and is covered with plastic, inflated bubbles, which due to their transparency, allow viewers to admire the internal structure of the building. These interesting bubbles regulate light and temperature all around. Media-tic saves up to 20% of electrical energy every year compared to other constructions. All its facades are different and the ETFE used in the building begins a new era in Spanish architecture. The ETFE serve as solar panels. To top-up the amazing inventories Media-Tic holds, its walls are painted with a special paint that absorbs the light during the day, allowing the building to illuminate itself during the night. How amazing is that?!
The building was designed as a socially open civic area. It is the nucleus connecting the space between the Media and the other constructions of the 22@ Barcelona district. It also serves as a meeting point and exhibition location. The building is an incubator for new businesses. It offers a base of work for many different companies all along six of its floors. This also means a great lot to our architectural population, because it gives all sorts of groups a chance to pursue their dreams and design. This is why Media-Tic is said to be socially open; it is a structure and service designed for the public, for the professional and the interest use of the people. It is open for anybody, even for first year university students like us.
Media-Tic communicates with everything and everyone. There are many critiques to its external appearance and its social posture. For example, Maitiú Ward, an Australian Architect/magazine publisher questions himself about the real significance of this building:
“Is Cloud 9’s new Media-TIC building in Barcelona the prototype of the building of the future, or just wondrous bespoke fancy?”
The answer to this question and theory is given by the point of view of each one of us as an individual. However, we can all agree that we somehow find ourselves identified with at least a minimal part of its structure or concept. I feel identified by its concept; the concept of using crazy ideas to construct buildings that sustain themselves and that respect their surroundings and nature.
Society grows by the minute and becomes more demanding, making Media-Tic the first model of many creations yet to come. It has been a cultural boom both negatively and positively, capturing the attention of some and not of others. It is what I personally refer to as: A True Innovation from the Future. Enric Ruiz Geli (architect of Media-Tic) stated in one of his speeches:
“Media-Tic is a big machine. A machine of the future.”
References:
My personal notes from visit
9, C. (Dirección). (2011). Edificio Media-Tic [Película].
Barcelona, E. C. (2011). VISITA DE OBRAS EN EL CUBO DIGITAL PARA LAS ACTIVIDADES TIC. Recuperado el 07 de 11 de 2011, de http://www.22barcelona.com/documentacio/pdfcaste.pdf
Bennets, P. (s.f.). Media-Tic Building Barcelona. Recuperado el 15 de 11 de 2011, de http://www.peterbennetts.com/project/index/category/architecture
Geli, E. R. (2005). Media-Tic. Barcelona: ACTAR. (BOOK)
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