The Institut Català del Suro Foundation has collaborated with theInstitute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) in the framework of the seminar "Introduction to Robotics" of the Master in Advanced Architecture for the manufacturing structures from 3D printing with biomaterials.

This seminar aimed to invite students to exploring cork-based composites using robotic 3D printing components applied to non-planar facades. To do this, a robotic arm with six-axis potential was used.

From the ICSuro, an introductory lesson was given to the students so that they knew the material, its properties and its possible uses before developing the prototypes, which were presented last March 4 in a seminar that put the 'emphasis on the opportunities that robotic 3D printing from cork composites can have for architects and designers.

Other collaborations

ICSuro also worked last year with IAAC with a second-year student of the same master's degree, Gizem Demirkiran, who led the project “bark”, which was the winner of the Santiago Zapata Award 2023 of the Chair of Cork Studies at the UdG.

The goal of the research project was to use the potential of 3D printed cork as a sustainable solution to combat the global problem of noise pollution and its adverse effects on people's health and well-being. The result was the development of a chair that not only has a utility within the world of design, but also contributes to reducing noise in interior spaces.