Barcelona architecture research centre specialising in urban sensing, digital fabrication, makerspaces, and robotics for sustainable cities and small-scale agriculture.
IAAC is a Barcelona-based research centre that applies advanced architecture, digital fabrication, and design-driven methods to urban and environmental challenges. They build sensor networks, robotics for small-scale agriculture, maker spaces, and co-design tools that bring citizens and communities into the planning process. Their work sits at the intersection of architecture, technology, and social innovation — turning concepts like circular economy, urban food systems, and air quality management into physical prototypes and tested urban interventions.
Core contributor in URBiNAT (healthy corridors), CENTRINNO (industrial area transformation), Pop-Machina (collaborative urban production), REFLOW (circular urban metabolism), OrganiCity, and iSCAPE (city microclimate).
Built citizen sensing platforms in Making Sense, GROW Observatory (soil/water monitoring), iSCAPE (air pollution), MINKE (ocean/coastal observation), and OrganiCity.
Contributed makerspace expertise in Pop-Machina, MAKE-IT, mAkE (Africa-Europe maker ecosystem), shemakes.eu, and RESERVIST (repurposing manufacturing for medical PPE).
Coordinated ROMI (robotics for microfarms — drones, 3D imaging, precision weeding) and contributed to FoodSHIFT2030 on food system transition.
Worked on material flow management in REFLOW (waste, packaging, plastics, water, wood), Pop-Machina (collaborative circular production), and CENTRINNO.
Developed co-creation and policy-making methods in SISCODE (science-society co-design), URBiNAT (democratic innovation), and DOIT (social entrepreneurship education).
In 2015–2018, IAAC focused on citizen sensing, air quality, smart cities, and early maker movement research — projects like Making Sense, iSCAPE, GROW Observatory, and MAKE-IT explored how communities could monitor their environment and build things together. From 2019 onward, their work shifted decisively toward urban transformation, circular economy, food systems, and makerspaces as engines of social change — with projects like Pop-Machina, REFLOW, CENTRINNO, and FoodSHIFT2030. The evolution shows a clear arc from "sensing the city" to "redesigning how cities produce, consume, and govern themselves."
IAAC is increasingly positioning itself at the intersection of maker culture, circular production, and food system transformation — expect future work on community-driven urban manufacturing and regenerative city design.
IAAC operates almost exclusively as a project partner (19 of 20 projects), joining large consortia rather than leading them — their single coordination was ROMI, a robotics-for-agriculture project that was also their most technically specialized effort. With 315 unique partners across 36 countries, they are a well-connected node in European research networks, bringing design and fabrication expertise into diverse teams. Their breadth of partnerships suggests they are valued as a versatile contributor who can translate technical research into tangible prototypes and urban interventions.
IAAC has collaborated with 315 unique partners across 36 countries, making them exceptionally well-networked for a research SME. Their partnerships span from Northern Europe to Africa (mAkE project), with particularly strong ties to Mediterranean and Western European institutions.
IAAC occupies a rare niche: they are an architecture research centre that actually builds things — robots, sensors, maker spaces, urban prototypes — not just designs on paper. Their combination of digital fabrication capability, citizen engagement expertise, and urban design knowledge makes them an ideal partner when a project needs to move from concept to physical demonstration in a city context. Few organisations can simultaneously contribute to robotics, circular economy, food systems, and democratic governance with equal credibility.
