The IASlab is born, a pioneering laboratory for transdisciplinary research and artistic creation in Europe

The IASlab, multiple laboratories in one

The IASlab is a university laboratory designed to take another step in the integration of teaching, research, innovation and culture. The new unique La Salle-URL has spaces conceptually grouped into structured creation rooms, maker spaces, production spaces and workshops, city labs, exhibition rooms and agoras. All of these are points of debate and conceptualization of ideas, in which students, researchers, companies and entrepreneurs interact from the basis of learning by challenge that characterizes the training of La Salle-URL and the Rapid Tech Tansfer, the innovation model from La Salle Campus Barcelona.

The central space of the IASlab is its immersive room, a laboratory for 360º visual creation and projection, with spatial sound (generates a three-dimensional experience) and interaction technologies (lidar lasers and depth cameras). It is, in turn, an innovative space for training, creation, exhibition and experimentation that responds to the boom in immersive experiences that has been experienced in recent years in cities around the world, with applications not only artistic, but also medical and to improve the lives of people in their daily lives.

The new room is also an artistic residency space in which projects that merge technology and art are created, and collaborative projects are developed with researchers, companies and institutions that want to experiment with new applications of immersion. The IASlab also includes a laboratory that allows research in areas such as AI applied to art, procedural animation techniques (which allow generating realistic movements in real time), use of augmented reality and virtual reality to create digital and interactive artistic experiences, etc.

In addition, the equipment is completed by a laboratory for research on robotics and its relationship with people, with special emphasis on the field of health, and a reverberant chamber (designed to cause high sound reverberation) and an anechoic chamber, where waves sounds propagate without reflecting anywhere, key to research in acoustics, audio and digital arts. An example of use is supporting startups in the development of their products.

A sustainable and energy efficient building

At the IASlab, bioclimatic architecture techniques have been applied to minimize energy consumption and optimize comfort. The rehabilitation of the building, instead of demolishing it, has made it possible to optimize the use of resources by improving energy efficiency and the performance of the materials used. The use of wood in interior dividers and walls has also been key to reducing waste, accelerating construction deadlines and contributing to energy efficiency. In addition, the new equipment has solar panels that provide almost 70% of the energy required by the building and 120 biological batteries to save water, compensate for heat and generate energy thanks to the activity of microorganisms in the soil. It also has a 250 m2 gallery on the south façade that captures radiation in winter and protects from excess sun in summer.

Openings for the campus community; institutional with administrations and companies; and open to the city

Between October 23 and 24, nearly 500 people were able to learn about the IASlab in three opening events aimed at various audiences: the first, for the community of educators and students on campus; the second, of a more institutional nature, with administrations, top-level companies, civil society institutions and organizations from the country's cultural and audiovisual scene; and the third, open to residents of the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district and the entire city of Barcelona.

During the events, tours of the facilities were carried out, which allowed attendees to see the laboratories first hand and learn about many of the research projects that are already being carried out. They have been able to discover the construction process of the building, and all the sustainable actions that have been carried out, with the help of the chief architect of the work, Josep Ferrando, Director of the School of Architecture and Building Engineering La Salle. They have also enjoyed the multisensory possibilities of the immersive room, where works by students and researchers from the campus have been projected and also by the three resident artists at the IASlab in the initiative shared with MIRA: Portrait XO, The Glad Scientist (Daniel Sabio) and Marta Minguell (Soulstice).

Various authorities participated in the institutional inauguration ceremony, explaining what the IASlab implies for the city of Barcelona, ​​for Catalonia and for the Universitat Ramon Llull. Thus, the Rector of the URL, Josep Rom, has assured that "this new installation is not only a space, some walls, a simple building. Today, what we are celebrating is the future. La Salle will continue to lead the challenges of the audiovisual sector together with the industry and its professionals". On the other hand, Anna Bröll, Head of the Department of Science and Innovation of the Barcelona City Council, has congratulated La Salle-URL "for this magnificent space" and has assured that "Barcelona is the Spanish capital of the audiovisual sector, a sector with a future, which we are building together". Finally, the General Director of Research of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Joan Gómez Pallarès, has applauded how La Salle-URL "builds the future at the IASlab based on the past and the present" and on the work of the campus and the laboratory, he added: "Everything that is being done represents an important part of what Catalonia hould be."