SMiA research group believes in an educational program that involves lots of hands-on experience. It is through activities such as laboratory and in-company work where students can learn and develop the skills they need to meet the challenges and demands of tomorrow’s work place. The main objective is introduce students to the conceptual and practical world of lightweight structures with the end goal of having the students develop their own lightweight-structural model that solves a real-world problem. They will gain an understanding of the behaviors of these complex structures using both physical models and software. Comprehensive introduction to the subject of tensioned buildings, deployable structures, tensegrity, reciprocal and tree-form structures and enable students to develop an architectural proposal for a small tensed covering such as a tent, shade, or pavilion, etc. The idea is to apply didactic strategies for comprehension and learning of design and structural concepts. Two different modes of application are implemented in classroom sessions and in structures workshop: First. a Theoretical class and Second. a Practical class.

SMiA Team.