On 21 March, UIC Barcelona School of Architecture welcomed a delegation of architects from Seville – most of whom are lecturers at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Seville – invited by Gradhermetic to learn about the research project on industrialised foldable balconies (BIP).

Vicenç Sarrablo, lead researcher at the Laboratory for Technological Innovation in Industrialised and Sustainable Building (LITEIS) and inventor of the BIP balconies, presented the patent and hosted the visiting architects: Juan Manuel Rojas (Hombre de Piedra Arquitectos), Carlos Carbajosa (Ámbito Arquitectura), Rodrigo Carbajal (Estudio Carbajal), Juan Carlos Venegas (Bnamics), José María Jiménez (Trianera de Arquitectura), Víctor Moreno (lecturer at ETSA Seville), Josep Colom (CMO at Gradhermetic), and José Andrés Pérez (CCO at Gradhermetic).

Vicenç Sarrablo guided the architects and Gradhermetic representatives through the School of Architecture’s facilities, where they attended project presentations by students from various academic years. Later, in the Saló de Graus, Sarrablo presented his research lines as applied to different companies in the construction sector, with a particular focus on the BIP balconies – a patented design licensed by Gradhermetic and currently being developed through a research project set to last approximately two years.

Last November, the Catalan company Gradhermetic, which specialises in technical and decorative solutions for solar protection, metal ceilings, and cladding, obtained the patent licence for the industrialised foldable balconies (BIP) from researcher Vicenç Sarrablo.

Driven by research excellence, UIC Barcelona is currently conducting a hundred competitive projects and holds 12 patent families. The University has 16 business chairs, 5 business classrooms, 5 research institutes and 3 university clinics.