Enol Vallina

Architect + Urban Designer

Intro

I am an Architect and Urban Designer. Since fall 2015, I am a Master in Design Studies Candidate, doing the Technology concentration, at Harvard Graduate School of Design.

After graduating in Architecture at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona, I have expanded my academic background by doing a Master in Urban Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College of London. Several years practicing Architecture and Urban Design in influential studios such as ‘Thomas Heatherwick’ and ‘Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’ made me to actively participate in the design of a wide range of urban regeneration projects around the world.

These experiences aroused a distinct interest in how a technologically driven society is changing the way that the Urban Environment is perceived; and especially, it raised the question of how the implementation of emerging immersive technologies can inform the design and planning of open spaces. Today, this interest has become the main theme that drives my explorations at the school.

Urban Thinking

Design

Technology

Experiences

Immersive Urban Analysis

Harvard GSD | Master in Desing Studies: Technology | Final Thesis | 2017

The Project in a Nutshell

Immersive Urban Analysis (iUA) is a research project in the form of a software prototype. Framed in the urban design field, this project explores alternative methods for the integration of the data gathered from social networks into the urban analysis.

Today, these social platforms have become a fundamental part of society by defining a much richer spectrum of human associations and activities that ultimately influence the perception of the urban environment. Therefore, the intention behind this project is to provide a tool that could allow the designer to share an interpretation of the analyzed context and to give an opportunity to the citizen to be immersed in the analysis from his or her individual perspective. The goal of this interaction is to create a space for collaboration and for public awareness between the agents involved in the new urban developments and the future users of those environments: the citizens.

iUA is an attempt to explore new forms of urban analysis in which social networks will inform this process; consequently, its intention is to create an integral image of the context and to unveil opportunities thanks to individual participation. Finally, as a contribution to the field of urban design, the project inherently raises the importance of social and behavioral analysis in addition to other forms of context analysis and suggests a re-definition of the role of the urban designer.