Respected architecture school ETSAB chooses SureColor SC-T5000

In addition to putting an interactive projector in the conference room, and installing a large-format printer for printing projects and an A3 scanner for digitisation of documents, ETSAB will receive support from Epson as part of a Collaboration Agreement that includes an exhibition of the best final projects and a prize for the project with the best capacity for communication.

Over the past few years, technology has played a decisive role in nearly every area of life. Technology has become an essential tool for any professional architect, whether they are actively working or training the next generation. If we compare the work of an architect 20 years ago with today, they look nothing alike. The presence of screens, monitors and printers, together with specific software, has made the work of architects much easier, giving them ever more options and resources available for their work.

ETSAB is one of the most widely recognised and respected architecture schools in the world. Technology is an ever-present part of everyday life in this centre, where drawing and calculation programs are used constantly. ETSAB is known as a school that properly addresses the integration of technology into an architect's daily working life. For example, other institutions insist that students start their drawings by hand, but ETSAB aims to prepare its students properly for work by training them to use the relevant software, not just a pencil, ruler and set square. The reason is simple: students come without knowing how to draw, because of bachelors' degrees that have created an illiterate population from a graphical standpoint.

In architecture, images are tools that are not just important – they are essential. ETSAB recently purchased various Epson products to improve its experience with images: both in the creation of projects and within their own teaching and internal organisation.

Among other things, it is now much easier to print projects in large format with higher-quality results, thanks to Epson's SureColor SC-T5000 large-format printer – an improvement on the previous equipment.

“The Epson large-format printer is a much better resource than what we used to have. It's available to students and allows us to obtain more professional results,” said Ferran Sagarra, director at ETSAB.
 

As a result of the agreement with Epson, ETSAB has been able to rely on a range of tools and resources: printers, scanners and interactive projectors. Final year students have also been provided with the opportunity to exhibit their final projects to the public, in an exhibit printed with Epson technology. The principal motivation for the exhibition, with a prize for the best work, was to assess the presentation criteria for projects from a visual and communications perspective. The quality of Epson inkjets, in this case, provided an ideal partner for achieving the best possible results.

The end result was a very attractive, creative display of final projects that the students see each day, that has had a great impact on local media and other centres of education.
 

ETSAB also installed an interactive EB-475Wi projector in the main conference room. This interactive model means the teaching staff can hold video conferences to exchange ideas and practices and arrange meetings with other centres, as well as sharing content on screens dotted around the different areas of the faculty and interacting via them. Its use in seminars, as well as in internal meetings, has also turned out to be very practical because – as Sagarra tells us – meetings can be more dynamic and the participants can record or share conclusions and annotations on the spot.

“We are absolutely delighted that we can rely on Epson's interactive projection technology. It is used more and more often in classes and helps make our meetings more dynamic, and we are learning how to make the most of it for sharing conclusions and improving our video conferences,” added Sagarra.
 

A little over a year ago, Epson carried out a study and a subsequent round table on the topic of the future of architecture, with the title “Vision 2020 Architecture”. It was held in London, with the participation of architects from various European countries. Among the principal conclusions, they spoke of the architect as “the new humanist”, a professional prepared to solve problems with a broad vision and a great amount of preparation.

For Ferran Sagarra, the current level of students, or “architects of the future”, is very good. He firmly believes that ETSAB is one of the major architecture schools in Europe, despite currently experiencing difficult times from an economic standpoint due to cuts in public funds. Sagarra pointed out that architecture provides a very well-rounded education, with professionals prepared to work on concrete projects with great rigour and by applying a variety of variables: civilisation, history, psychology, adaptation to the environment, etc. Architects are able to resolve conflicts, and students may end up being the best at mastering other disciplines after finishing their architecture studies. This explains why, despite the crisis, ETSAB continues to be well-populated with students, including many from other countries. It is a truly international school.

The exhibition “Best Projects, Best Practices” by Epson demonstrated that the academic level of ETSAB is very high and the preparation of its students is equally so. The projects exhibited a high level of quality combined with excellent display and communication skills. On top of this, using Epson ink and paper, together with types of mounting that are not generally seen in this type of exhibition, caught the eye of other students and caused a great deal of buzz in the press and on social networks.