' LEARNING FROM NATURE TO CHANGE THE WORLD'



Nestled in the heights of Collserola Park overlooking Barcelona lies an experimental fablab that is one-of-a-kind:Valldaura, the self-sufficient Green Fablab.



Valldaura is a life-sized experimental laboratory dedicated to self-sufficiency. The building, which was acquired in 2008 by IAAC (Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia). The Green Fab Lab works towards the creation of a self-sufficient habitat and research centre at Can Valldaura. Located in the Collserola Natural Park, in the heart of the metropolitan area of Barcelona it has laboratories for the production of energy with the **EnergyLab**, food with the **FoodLab** and things with the **GreenFablab**, and develops projects and academic programmes in association with leading research centres around the world. part of the Fab City network.

As part of IaaC’s commitment to promoting and advancing habitability in the world on the basis of ecological principles and to making the fullest use of all available technologies and resources, we have created a research centre focused on the idea of self-sufficiency, with a view to providing a worldwide point of reference. The Green Fab Lab offers an opportunity to learn directly from nature in order to bring that understanding to the regeneration of 21st-century cities.



EnergyLab


EnergyLab is a real-life test of the Energrid Research Project. Each Valldaura building both consumes and produces energy. All are connected to a self-managed local network that optimizes the balance between production and need. Water is the subject of the HydroGrid project: each type of water (potable, rain water from the roof, from the terrace, grey water, etc) is measured, stored and used separately in order to optimize resource management. Valldaura tries to apply this process to all its materials and resources. The lab is also interested in creating homemade bio-photovoltaics (BPV) solar panels which uses the natural process of photosynthesis to generate electrical energy.

This mossvoltaic panel can charge a cell phone. Moss Voltaic is a project of IaaC lead by Elena Mitrofanova.



FoodLab


FoodLab is dedicated to making Valldaura self-sufficient in terms of food through raising livestock and agriculture that mix traditional and modern techniques. The lab collaborates with the global Slowfood movement, inviting renowned chefs to cook with local produce according to the « zero-mile diet ».



GreenFablab


GreenFabLab is a classic digital fabrication fablab that works with Fablab Barcelona, distinguished by its dedication to using local resources (biomaterials, wood, mushrooms, earth, etc) whenever possible and creating materials (glass, bricks, etc) for its fabrication projects.

Some of the Green FabLab Machines

Mycotecture is a project of IaaC

Wikihouse project under construction