Interview with Javier Serra

We hope you enjoy this interview with Javier Serra. The interview is in Spanish, but we've provided English subtitles for you.

Today: Interview with Luis Maldonado

Hello! Today we've interviewed our center's director: Professor Luis Maldonado. For those who are so inclined, we've included the interview below.

Unfortunately, the interview is in Spanish and we couldn't post it in English, but this seems as good an opportunity as any to learn our beautiful language :)

3D Modeling at 300%

As you can see from these pictures, the creation of our wonderful 3D renders requires a lot of effort and even more resources. Here we can see Nacho working with three computers simultaneously on 3D Studio, thanks to the V-Ray plugin and Rhino3D!!

Cibeles Runway at the TeamSPAIN Studio!

Here at TeamSPAIN, we have become true fashionistas! We are in the middle of choosing our official uniform for the Solar Decathlon 2009 Competition! We are deciding on the cut, the fabric, the color and design.

So far, we have decided that we will be wearing two kinds of outfits: a suit and a more casual uniform that we will be wearing while assembling the house and doing hard labor during the Competition! The suits are for when we freshen up and show off our fantastic project!

Take a look at some of our Decathletes trying on our snazzy new suits!

Guess Where We are From?!

Our flag for the competition has just arrived! Now everyone at the Mall will know where we are from!

TeamSPAIN has arrived, and it's here to stay!

PS: In the picture, you have two of our Decathletes holding up the flag... Notice that the Decathlete on the right is Gabriella... from Potenza, Italy... but she is totally feeling the Spanish Spirit and is waving our flag with pride!!! (she better be, because otherwise...)

TeamSPAIN

Tubes & Cables

It is really magnificent to see how the elements of water and electricity, although different in nature, come together to form the installations essential for the everyday needs of a house.
The B&W's installations are not so different from those of other houses, except for the fact that they are massively more complex.
Electric wiring fits better, but results in a chaotic frame in the kitchen. Plumbing installations require big water tanks and careful positioning, and no matter how much we obsess over the details and play tetris with the tanks, the whole system still takes up an entire room by itself.

But we've got our creativity hats on and are continuously coming up with new solutions to space management.

TeamSPAIN

Shopping for "The B&W House"

We are preparing our house with all the furnishings that a cosy home needs. Paula, Irene, and our personal shopper Rául, popped into an Ikea store. They spent the whole afternoon there and were able to get most of the items from our list.

TeamSPAIN

His Royal Highness and... The Black&White House

We have fantastic news!!!

We are so, so, SO THRILLED to have received this news today: His Royal Highness, Príncipe Felipe, has agreed to be the Honorary President of The Black&White House!!!

This is a true honor and privilege for us, but it is also yet another sign of the impact that The Black&White House project is having in Spanish society, the media, and in promoting new trends in the building industry.

Now we're off to celebrate this momentous occasion!

TeamSPAIN

Wacom Boy

What’s up docs?

This is my little space where I draw all the funny stuff that you find in our Newsletters. I like to draw in Photoshop with my preciousssss, the Wacom Intuos Tablet.

Today I’ve finished drawing a new comic strip that will appear soon in the Fifth Newsletter.

So... stay tuned!!

***SPOILER ALERT*** (((Up!)))

Luis

How Wide is Your Angle?

Dear Followers... who says we can't do two things at once?

Today Jon was having lunch while interviewing the Decathletes for a video. At that same moment, he was also setting up a Twitter account, while taking outside shots of the School of Architecture. David was keeping him company along the way, except for that lunch part. Everything is going according to plan, and on Monday we will finish the interviews and start working on the graphics and art design.

It is interesting how much people change when in front of (or behind) a camera...

Lights, Camera... Action!

Yep! We are preparing another video, making it the third that we are currently working on.

This time we are filming a "B&W House Video Presentation." In this video, we will introduce you to our big bosses from the University and to members of the Spanish government, and all the members of TeamSPAIN will introduce you to the features of The B&W House. The goal is to make this video be something that we can show on the Internet, on TV, and at the Mall in Washington, too!

We have just finished writing the script, and we will start filming tomorrow. Some of our team members are feeling a little nervous about getting in front of the camera, but they are brave people and we are confident they will do a good job ;-)

In the meantime, there is a conference being held at the Ritz Hotel in Madrid, at which the Vice-Chancellor of our University will be introducing The Solar Decathlon competition. A group of decathletes will also be visiting the construction site of our House pretty much every day, in order to make sure that everything is running smoothly there.

Lots of action is happening here… not bad at all!

Newsletter Issue Number 4

Hello Everyone!

We have just released our Fourth Newsletter, filled with articles about SIMA, our presentation in Rivas, information about our sponsors, a brand new comic strip, and much more! We are already working on the next issue, but you can enjoy this one in the meantime.

TeamSPAIN

Comic Strip

Who said Decathletes don't have a sense of humor! Check out this week's comic strip:

If you want to see all of our comic strips and find more information related to the TeamSPAIN B&W House project, subscribe to our Newsletter at: http://www.solardecathlon.upm.es/

Latest TeamSPAIN meeting

Hello there!

We've just had a really important meeting concerning safety procedures and contest strategies. The conclusions that were reached at this meeting are totally confidential, so we've had to modify the image to preserve the confidentiality of the meeting.

By the way: these meetings are now taking place twice a week! We've pumped up security in case you were thinking of sending in your spies :)

TeamSPAIN Goes for the Oscar

Hi Everyone,

We have just finished the storyboard for our "House Tour Video." Some of us will be acting, others directing and producing, so this will be a fun experience for us. It'll also give us a bit of a break from the measurements, deliveries, and finishing touches that we've been putting on The B&W House.

We've got very refined cinematographic tastes, so we're very picky about who we will allow to direct our video, though here's two candidates who may be up for the job:



Yeah, we wish...

More from us soon!

TeamSPAIN