Between stands with all kinds of technological advances, the spaces that the Mobile World Capital Barcelona has within the fair are a return to basics. In an environment made with 100% natural and local materials, technology is more present than ever, but it does so in order to express the five senses that we sometimes forget to possess when being abducted in front of a screen.
To do this, a gamified experience has been created that starts with the creation of the visitor's own avatar. It is not a stick figure, but rather uses facial recognition techniques to identify the user's features and automatically generate a photorealistic avatar that can be accessed via a unique QR code. From there, a sensory journey begins that is detailed in the following pages of this supplement. With the physical and virtual world intermingled without knowing to what extent it is one or the other, smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight are put to the test through solutions based on disruptive technologies such as the metaverse, immersive reality and artificial intelligence. The activities begin in the MWCapital space at the MWC and continue at 4YFN and Beat Barcelona, all within the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via venue.
In all three places, a commitment has been made to create special architectural designs in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC). The architects Vicente Guallart and Daniel Ibáñez have been directly involved in transferring the dialogue between the virtual and physical world to the design of some stands whose central axis is the city of Barcelona. The space of the Beat Barcelona, informal and outdoors, recreates the coastline from Besòs to Llobregat. For its part, the MWC stand, surrounded by technological giants, represents the coat of arms of the Catalan capital if viewed from above. Seen from below, Gaudí, Dalí and Puig i Cadafalch are clearly honored.
This nod to the past is combined with the most futuristic construction techniques. The IAAC has opted for the use of parametric digital technology, robotic construction and digital manufacturing using 3D printers within the show itself. In a certain way, the construction of the stands is already the result of a combination between humans and robots. And all of this is impregnated with a model that is defined “by and for sustainability”, where local materials such as wood prevail.
