ZUSÄTZLICHES STUDIENANGEBOT

MCH has included in some editions of its program the possibility to qualify as LEED Green Associate. 

Energy Certification Systems are the official face of sustainable design practices. Although it offers a reductive approach to energy and architecture through checklists —such as those provided by LEED Certification Systems— it is recommended for participants for at least two reasons: 

1, It can be helpful to find a job; 2, To be critical with certification systems, you need to know them first hand.

There are multiple certification systems currently being used (BREEAM, Minergie, Calener, Líder, etc.). However, the American LEED —which stands for Leadership in Energy Environmental Design— is internationally the most well-known, which makes us chose LEED as a reference. 

The LEED seminar, led by instructor Daniel Martín. He is a LEED® Faculty™, being one of the 93 professionals —only two of them are based in Europe— trained by the USGB to teach their official higher level LEED workshops.

Since 2020, MCH Participants have 8 3D Printers available for their exclusive use at the MCH Workspace. In order to use this technology in a meaningful and appropriate way, the MCH Program includes a 5 days seminar about this topic.

The first three days of the HYTAC seminar are developed online, already in December, with all participants connecting from their origin countries. The two main goals of those three days are to learn how to optimize the 3D printing workflow, so that it benefits the architecture produced, and to learn how to optimize the previous 3D modelling too, in order to avoid inaccuracies in the final result.

The second part of the program is developed in a face-to-face format in Madrid, where our ETH Professor Jonathan Benhamu, responsible for HYTAC at ETH Zurich, guides our MCH participants through the use and maintenance of the 3D Printers.

The hardware used are the Prusa i3 MK3S printers, and the material used in this case is PLA, one of the most sustainable materials for 3D printing, because it is biodegradable.

Most common printing/modelling problems are tackled, as this is key to avoid wasting time and material.

Through this HYTAC 3D Printing seminar, MCH participants learn how to use 3D printers for many kinds of models, from Urban Design big scale models, thought volumetric architectural pieces, to façades with textures or sections of the final architectural typology.

Participants will have to deliver a master’s project, which will have a portfolio format and will include a selection of the projects produced during the year. It will act as their new portfolio, which adds on to their previous projects.

One of MCH publications, the MCH Papers 2011, is a compilation of participants’ results during that edition.