Aro

Biography

Since its inception in 1987 as the Urban Division of Santa & Cole, Urbidermis has comprised professionals from various disciplines: architecture, design, engineering, programming, electronics and agro-environment, amongst others. A diverse group of people ready to collaborate and generate new elements and urban uses. Our team amasses holistic knowledge of the urban space. From its beginnings in the Urban Division and thanks to the town planning overhaul of Barcelona for the '92 Olympic games, it has collaborated and grown with notable national and international firms, applying the Santa&Cole know-how to the demanding, changing urban space. These collaborations take place with architecture, landscaping and lighting design studios as well as with public administration bodies and private clients. Plaza de las Glòries in Barcelona; Parque Cuña Verde de O’Donnell in Madrid; Plaza Costa del Sol in Torremolinos, Málaga; Marktplatz in Karlsruhe, Germany; Piazza Garibaldi in Naples; Parc Explor Wendel in Petite-Rosselle, France; the Genipa Shopping Centre in Martinique; the Greenwich Peninsula in London; and the Underline in Miami are some of the results. We have a team with experience and skills in the current product types: lighting, furniture, microarchitecture and vegetation. Knowledge focussed on improving durability and resistance to climate, minimising installation and maintenance costs, the use of low impact, better quality materials, improved comfort and efficiency.To meet the technological needs of cities, the Urbidermis team is developing connected IoT solutions to offer digital services that provide new features, cost reductions or the production of energy, and also sustainable solutions to bring in vegetation elements that are adapted to the urban environment. We also offer consultancy services in forestry and design in relation to the urban space the world over. Our goal is to share our knowledge to boost the transition towards more sustainable, social and technological cities. The Urbidermis team have combined their professional careers with the academic world through numerous universities, speeches, tribunals and professorships; ELISAVA, EINA, ETSAB, IED, IAAC, UIC, ESADE, ENSAM. They also actively collaborate with associations such as the European Forest Institute, Barcelona Global, Landscape Architecture Foundation, the FAD and the BCD, in congresses and exhibitions. The huge paradigm shift that forms the basis for the sustainability model of cities has inspired us to participate in the projects of the United Nations Global Compact and the Sustainable Markets Initiative Terra Carta. The Arne projector (2013) and the Arne S projector (2018), the Aro bench and the Aro border (2020), the Persol pergola (2021), the Palladio canopy (2020) and the Humo ashtray (2007) are all designs by the Urbidermis team. Know more