UIC Barcelona has just relaunched the HARQware Platform Chair for Business thanks to support received from Simon and TdB Arquitectura. The chair takes part in the activities undertaken in the Laboratory of Technological Innovation for Industrialised and Sustainable Building (LITEIS) at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, and is directed by Dr Juan Trias de Bes.

The main research objective of the Chair is the creation of a digital platform to promote the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into the building and urban habitat industries. This aim behind this, on the one hand, is to ensure shared access for users to multiple services and, on the other, to obtain information to optimise energy consumption in buildings. According to statements by Juan Trias de Bes and Alessandra Curelli, director and coordinator of the chair respectively, “The ultimate aim of our research is to improve the design of the most used everyday living spaces, such as the home and the workplace.”

“Business Ecosystem”
The HARQware Platform Chair aims to promote the humanisation of digital technologies, placing them at the service of communities, with the aim of improving people’s quality of life and well-being, while reducing the environmental impact of construction. The Chair is set up in the form of an “business ecosystem”, a conceptual and organisational structure that provides the ideal technological environment for research work, with an emphasis on the application of results through pilot projects and real cases. 

Simon is a company that is at the forefront of an industrial group specialising in technological solutions for lighting, light control, connectivity and electrical equipment and contract projects (in retail, hospitality, and workplaces) as well as residential projects.  In all these spaces, there is a firm commitment to design and innovation, and this has led Simon, in the year of its first centenary, to win the National Design Prize awarded by the Spanish Ministry for the Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. It has positioned itself as a leading company in the Spanish market, and has consolidated its presence in more than 90 countries. 

TdB Arquitectura is an architectural studio that was founded in Barcelona in 1992. The studio has developed its professional trajectory in the field of building and urban planning, contemplating the practice of architecture based on the importance of urban integration, the values of constructive tradition, and the wish to serve society. Its main office is currently located in Barcelona and it also has an office in Madrid.