OrientatUA: Mobile Application to guide visual disabled people at the University of Alicante

This paper shows an iOS application to guide visual disabled people in the campus of the University of Alicante by voice indications. The user interface is adapted to visual disabled people, using a bigger visual typography and a bigger area for the tactile buttons. Moreover, the application provides voice indications when users touch any of the elements in the interface, telling them where they are and how they can reach destination.

Thermal Decomposition of Mobile Phones

Paper submitted to the 31st International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Compounds (Dioxin 2011), Brussels, Belgium, 21-25 August 2011.

A Unique Prestressed Concrete Pedestrian Bridge in Spain

This paper describes the so-called Kiss Bridge. This structure resembles a kiss, a subtle touch of structures. The beams have been structurally designed to adapt the Japanese art of paper folding called "origami." The material used for constructing the floating beams is white reinforced concrete in the form of folded shells. The two geometrically different parts have distinct structural behaviors. The length of the main pathway of both structures is over 60 m. The pedestrian bridge crosses an artificial rainwater channel with a skew of 45° with respect to the referred channel. The joint between the cantilever structure and the Y-shaped one is located over the middle of the channel. Each stretch has different transversal sections. The pedestrian bridge is made with prestressed self-compacting reinforced concrete of 60 MPa. The foundation is shallow, comprising footings and footing beams made of 25 MPa conventional concrete. The cantilever structure with its foundations is designed as a semi-integral bridge whereas the Y-shaped one is an integral structure. The dynamic behavior of the structure was carefully studied to ensure that the dynamic loads generated by pedestrians do not cause excessive vibrations, especially to the cantilever structure, which could present dynamic interactions with the pedestrians walking. The bridge was recognized, in the 2014 edition of the fib Awards for Outstanding Concrete Structures, for having made a valuable contribution to the image and promotion of concrete structures.

Aprehender dibujando: los dibujos de Luis Borobio

Este artículo es una contribución al entendimiento del dibujo como aprehensión de su objeto, en general, y de la arquitectura, en particular, es decir, como definición de lo tangible que luego se materializará en la obra. Para ello, tomamos como referencia algunos dibujos de Luis Borobio (1924-2005), arquitecto y catedrático de Estética, poeta y caricaturista, que ilustran sus libros y cuyo valor, como apuntes a mano alzada, es el de dar a entender, de manera sencilla y eficaz, aquello que representan. De este estudio se desprende su capacidad para la transmisión de conocimiento, el sentido del boceto como metáfora y de la caricatura como crítica, herramientas con las que la mano llega a conocer y dar a conocer su objeto. Se añade una reflexión final sobre Mi árbol, verdadero manual de expresión gráfica, idóneo para contribuir a esclarecer la dialéctica entre masa y espacio que es propia de toda arquitectura.