STUDIO ITINERANTE ARQUITECTURA SL

Their core work

SIARQ is a Barcelona-based architecture SME that works at the boundary between spatial design and smart technology integration. Their documented work covers two distinct but related directions: smart architectural surface materials (luminous electronic tiles that embed lighting and electronics directly into building components) and solar-powered urban infrastructure (self-contained smart city hubs combining solar energy, lighting, and digital information systems). They bring architectural design competence into technology-driven consortia — a relatively rare combination that allows them to translate R&D outputs into deployable built-environment products. Their value to a consortium is bridging the gap between electronics or ICT engineers and the physical, spatial context where those technologies actually get installed.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

SIARQ entered H2020 as a participant in a digital/ICT project focused on smart building materials — specifically electronic tiles that embed luminous functionality into architectural surfaces. By 2018 they had shifted toward urban-scale infrastructure and took on a coordinator role for a project combining solar energy, lighting, and smart city information systems. This trajectory shows a clear move from component-level product innovation (a tile) toward integrated system-level thinking (an urban hub). The shift also reflects growing project leadership confidence, even if the second project was substantially smaller in budget.

SIARQ appears to be moving from smart building-component R&D toward coordinating integrated urban infrastructure products — suggesting future collaboration opportunities in smart cities, building-integrated renewables, and IoT-enabled public space design.

How they like to work

SIARQ has experience in both partner and coordinator roles, which is notable for a two-person-scale SME. Their consortia are small — 6 unique partners across two projects — suggesting they work in focused, lean teams rather than large multi-partner programmes. Having coordinated their second (and more recent) project indicates willingness and capacity to lead, though they did so under the lower-risk SME Phase 1 instrument. A future partner can expect an engaged contributor who understands both the technical and spatial dimensions of a project.

SIARQ has built a small international network of 6 consortium partners spread across 4 European countries over two projects. The network is modest in size but genuinely cross-border, reflecting standard H2020 consortium requirements rather than a deep established partnership web.

What sets them apart

SIARQ occupies a rare niche as an architecture firm that actively participates in EU research and development — most architecture practices do not engage with Horizon funding at all. Their combination of spatial design expertise with hands-on experience in ICT-integrated building products and urban infrastructure makes them a credible bridge partner between technology developers and the construction or urban planning sectors. For a consortium building a smart city or smart building product, they offer what most engineering or ICT partners lack: the architectural and spatial context in which the technology must actually function.

Highlights from their portfolio

• LUMENTILE
  The largest project by EC funding (EUR 322,291) and an ambitious concept — embedding electronics and luminous functionality directly into architectural tiles — placing SIARQ inside a serious ICT research consortium as the architecture specialist.
• THE SOLAR URBAN HUB
  SIARQ's only coordinator role, demonstrating that this SME can lead an EU-funded project independently, even if the SME Phase 1 grant size (EUR 50,000) reflects an early-stage feasibility scope.