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Tokio es la ciudad más poblada del mundo con 39 millones de habitantes. Foto: Istock

Does technological innovation help improve urban comfort?

By Constanza Cabezas Ruiz, Arquitects. According to the latest United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs report published in May 2018, 55% of the of the world's population of more than 7 billion live in cities and this figure is expected to increase to 68% by 2050.

75% of the BBConstrumat exhibition space has already been booked

The 21st edition of Barcelona Building Construmat (BBConstrumat), which will take place between 14 and 17 May in the Gran Via venue, looks like being one of the best in recent years. With only 4 months to go, 75% of Fira de Barcelona's construction fair exhibition space has been booked, which is a 50% increase compared to the square meters booked in the same period for the 2017 edition.

Interview with Ione Ruete, Director of Barcelona Building Construmat “We want to hold a BBConstrumat in which innovation once again plays a leading role”

BBConstrumat (Barcelona Building Construmat), Fira de Barcelona's construction fair, will celebrate its fortieth anniversary in 2019. Since the first event in 1979 until the twenty-first, set to take place at the Gran Via venue from 14 to 17 May next year, it has demonstrated the importance of construction, a fundamental industry for the Spanish economy. In this interview, Ione Ruete, the Director of BBConstrumat, previews next year's fair. Ruete is a senior architect, a graduate of the ETSAB of the UPC and has an official master's degree in Architectural Technologies, specializing in rehabilitation and restoration, and an EMBA from the ESADE Business and Law School.

European Bim Summit Barcelona 2018
European Bim Summit Barcelona 2018. CAATEEB Fotos

The levels of digitalisation in the construction industry

Licinio Alfaro Garrido, Head of the Sustainable Construction Department at the ITeC. CEO of Smart Care Technology. Associate Professor at the UPC. The large amounts of data produced by our cities provide an opportunity to improve construction processes. This data, if properly analysed, enables us to begin to define new types of management of the construction process. Furthermore, if we relate this digitalisation process to new methodologies such as the application of the Life Cycle Analysis and BIM (Building Information Modelling), we'll obtain the basic information required to define more sustainable actions, we'll build with less of an impact and we'll control the essential environmental indicators that cause our constructive activity.

Render de la torre de 350 metros prevista para el año 2041 en Tokyo. Imagen © Sumitomo Forestry.

Can it be made of wood?

By Antonio La Gioia, architect. Wood is in fashion. Glasses, watches, bicycles and the oddest accessories: we want everything to be made from wood. So it's not surprising that we want buildings made of wood as well. Perhaps this is the main reason for the success this material is enjoying in the construction sector, so much so that there is already talk of "the century of wood", following the centuries of steel and concrete.

An award for authentic architecture

By Andrea Pala. In recent years, the winners of the Pritzker Prize have shown a desire to refocus architecture on the human dimension, and to draw attention to its capacity to create environments centred on society.

Frau Architekt_Colaboradoras del estudio Ingeborg Kuhler de Manheim, 1986 | Cortesía: Deutsches Architekturmuseum DAM

Building the future

By Silvia Pujalte. On the occasion of the celebration of International Working Women's Day on March 8, numerous initiatives and tributes took place to increase visibility of the difficulties faced today by women in the architecture profession and other technical construction fields.