Reducing greenhouse gases is a key pillar of our Climate Change Strategy, which is why we design initiatives that prevent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

As part of our strategy, we have collaborated with the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) and its spin-off, LightNet Carbon Capture, to utilize a material they have developed that captures atmospheric CO2.

This material, known as CO2atings®, is a coating mortar that has been tested at one of our building projects in Barcelona.

“To date, the material had only been tested in the laboratory, which is why we found it interesting to conduct a pilot test on temporary walls within a construction environment, though not part of the actual building,” explains Eugenia Riqué, Head of Quality, Environment, and Energy for Sacyr's Building Division in Catalonia.

CO2atings® was applied to four wall facings with different orientations (north, south, east, and west), and periodic samples were collected over a month to monitor performance.

“This area had higher humidity, and with the positive results from this initial series of tests, we aim to continue with further pilot tests and explore the potential for use in a unique project,” adds Eugenia.

Nature-inspired technology

This solution uses a highly efficient technology that fixates CO2 through an accelerated ex-situ mineralization process, bio-inspired by natural mineral formations such as dolomites and evaporites.

Additionally, through Sacyr Water, we have explored the potential to extract valuable materials from brine for use in producing this CO2-capturing mortar. This is currently under further analysis.

The advantages of using this mortar include the use of abundant raw materials, resistance to cracking, durability in rain and humidity, compatibility with common construction materials such as cement, concrete, and asphalt, and the fact that it does not require energy consumption.

The analysis of samples taken from the temporary facilities provided by Sacyr concluded that the material performed well on all four facades, with the highest CO2 capture observed on the north-facing facade (up to 40% by weight compared to 30% on the other orientations).

LightNet Carbon Capture, a joint venture of ICN2 and CSIC, focuses its efforts on researching materials and solutions for CO2 capture, storage, and utilization.

ISABEL RUBIO ARROYO | Tungsteno

A head 18.3 metres high and a nose 6.4 metres long: these are the stratospheric measurements of George Washington's head on Mount Rushmore. Next to him are situated the heads of Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, towering over the beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota.

 Their dimensions would also leave some jaws agape: each of their eyes is approximately 3.4 metres wide and each mouth is about 5.5 metres across. We investigate the story behind this iconic American landmark.

Obstacles to sculpting US history

The idea to carve this iconic sculpture in the Black Hills dates back to 1923. It was suggested by South Dakotan State Historian Doane Robinson, who contacted sculptor Gutzon Borglum. The American artist decided to carve the faces of these four presidents because he felt that they represented the most important events in the history of the United States.

The project faced a number of challenges in its early days, including getting permission to carve into the mountain and acquiring sufficient funding. "For those involved, keeping the project moving forward often seemed more difficult than the actual work of carving the granite into a colossal sculpture of the four presidents," says the US National Park Service (NPS) website.

Lincoln Borglum, son of Gutzon Borglum, next to a plaster scale model of the monument. Credit: Charles D'Emery / NPS

Dynamite shaped the presidential faces

The creation of this iconic monument began on 4 October 1927 with the explosive power of dynamite, followed by meticulous carving by hand to bring the busts to life. This monumental project took 14 years to complete and involved the dedication and effort of nearly 400 workers. "The duties involved varied greatly from the call boy to drillers to the blacksmith to the housekeepers," the NPS notes.

The workers faced extreme conditions: from searing heat to bitter cold and high winds. Each day they climbed 700 steps to the top of the mountain to punch in, and then descended the wall face in a "bosun chair" supported by steel cables. The work was "exciting but dangerous," says the NPS, which notes that 90% of the rock was carved using dynamite.

Explosives were used until only three to six inches of rock remained to be removed and the final carving surface reached. At this point, drillers and assistant carvers drilled closely-packed holes into the granite in a process called "honeycombing". This weakened the rock so that it could often be removed by hand. Workers would then smooth the surface of the faces using hand tools, creating a final rock surface as smooth as a sidewalk.

Workers suspended to carve the faces of Mount Rushmore. Credit: Charles D'Emery / NPS

A hidden chamber carved into the mountain

Little did the workers know at the time that they were building a monument that would go down in history. With Borglum’s death in early 1941 and the Second World War looming on the horizon, the US Congress cut off funding for the project and all work on the memorial was halted on 31 October 1941. Over time, the sculpture has become a great icon of American history.

Today, more than two million people visit it each year, according to the NPS. Many may not know that hidden behind the giant stone heads is a chamber carved into the rock of the mountain, known as the Hall of Records, which is inaccessible to tourists.

Mount Rushmore hides a chamber carved into the mountain's stone behind Lincoln’s hairline. Credit: Business Insider

Inside the repository is a teakwood box that houses a titanium vault, covered by a granite capstone, on which the following quote from Borglum is etched: "...let us place there, carved high, as close to heaven as we can, the words of our leaders, their faces, to show posterity what manner of men they were. Then breathe a prayer that these records will endure until the wind and rain alone shall wear them away."

Tungsteno is a journalism laboratory to scan the essence of innovation.

In January of this year, the Community of Madrid approved the Cognitive Hospital project, a platform designed for the comprehensive management of hospital infrastructure. 

Sacyr leads the consortium developing this project, which includes participation from Sener Mobility, Fracttal, Cuatro Digital, Open Ingenius, Áptica, and the technology centers of Tecnalia, UPM, and CSIC.

We are already working on developing innovative pilot projects utilizing new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT, advanced algorithms, 7D BIM, Big Data, and more to transform hospital management. 

Sacyr has developed a smart platform that optimizes the building's operation and maintenance processes. Its implementation enhances energy efficiency and improves the air quality within the hospital.

Additionally, a digital twin based on the hospital's BIM model has been developed and will be integrated with the cognitive platform, enabling predictive maintenance.

Furthermore, through augmented reality, it will be possible to obtain information from any hospital facility and system, facilitating building maintenance tasks. 

Additionally, through the use of LiDAR sensors and AI algorithms, alerts will be generated to detect queue formation, aiming to reduce waiting times and improve patient care.

Sener, using artificial intelligence, processes different types of data to predict thermal behavior and the risk of disease transmission through air and water. The system will automatically adjust equipment operation to improve the quality of life for patients and healthcare workers while minimizing energy consumption. 

Fracttal geolocates the strategic assets of hospitals in real time, significantly reducing the search times for healthcare personnel. Its technology enables detailed control over the status, maintenance, and availability of each asset.
Open Ingenius, using virtual reality, creates environments for continuous staff training on occupational risks and emergencies, without disrupting hospital operations or compromising user care quality. 

Cuatro Digital leverages blockchain technology to ensure circularity by certifying the accuracy, accessibility, and transparency of data. It will collect data on construction materials, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions.

Aptica is deploying a new multi-technology communications network throughout the hospital to support all use cases. The result will be a robust and stable network that allows comprehensive connectivity across sensors, systems, and equipment, facilitating daily hospital operations.

European Funding

The Cognitive Hospital project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund as part of the ERDF operational program of the Community of Madrid for the period 2021-2027. Implementation will take place at Hospital del Henares (Coslada, Madrid), managed by Sacyr, over a period of three years (2024-2027).

This ambitious project has a budget of €6.1 million, including a €2.9 million grant from the Community of Madrid. These funds are part of the 2023 grant call to enhance public-private cooperation in R&D&I through projects with a significant "tractor" effect.
 

Elena Ferrer, bioindication and bio control tech at the Northeast Tenerife Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The ecosystem created by wastewater and the microorganisms in it, is called activated sludge or mixed liquor. It consists mainly of bacteria, protozoa, metazoans, and fungi. All these beings work together dynamically, creating a true microsociety.

Bioindication encompasses all the information we can extract from the presence or absence of these microorganisms in our mixed liquor. Many of them are closely related to specific environmental variables, such as the physicochemical characteristics of the influent water (BOD, %soluble COD…), the physicochemical characteristics of our mixed liquor (temperature, %volatiles…), and operational characteristics (organic load, sludge age…).

It is a highly effective tool to understand the state of our process and the conditions of our sludge in real-time. Additionally, it helps us prevent and predict potential concerns, such as filamentous bulking or foaming.

We gather information through macroscopy and microscopy. Macroscopy is based on direct observation of both the biological reactors and our sludge in the V30 analysis; we look for the presence of foams, odors, solid loss, waxy layer formation, settling speed, clarified water turbidity, and more.

Microscopy allows to closely watch a fascinating microcosm.

With just a drop of mixed liquor, we can obtain a lot of information about the operation of our plant. Among other things, we will find out if we are conducting proper nitrification, if the organic matter in the wastewater is being removed, if we are injecting enough oxygen, if the sludge age is high, or if we have an overgrowth of filamentous bacteria. All of this is thanks to our bioindicator microorganisms.

Each treatment plant is unique and has its own identity because it is influenced by its particular characteristics, the habits of the population it caters to, and the type of process used. All these factors provide specific conditions for the development of different populations of microorganisms.

We are currently preparing a meeting between various lab techs and plant managers at Sacyr Water to share this knowledge and potentially bring bioindication techniques to many more facilities.

"So called sustainable infrastructures should have cutting-edge technologies and be supported by renewable energies," explains Domingo Jiménez, Director of European Operations at Sacyr Concesiones.

In Domingo’s opinion, they should also include the principles of the circular economy and nature-based solutions. The goal is to meet our needs and improve the environment at the same time. 

"At Sacyr, we are constantly adapting to create infrastructures that meet these criteria," explains Domingo Jiménez. "25 years ago, we pioneered this in the construction of the Gran Canaria Airport, where we recycled all the demolition material of the aircraft parking platform. It was an innovative and ecological solution," Jiménez adds. He stresses: "It is not true that the most sustainable solution is more expensive than the traditional alternative."

Domingo Jiménez summarizes the keys to this vision in four points:

1)    Energy-efficient designs: They incorporate smart building designs and are energy-efficient, as they use renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, or geothermal. They will be equipped with energy management systems that optimize consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A current example of this is our Geobatt project at the Moncloa Transport Hub in Madrid. 

2)    Circular economy: A circular economy approach is needed where materials are reused and recycled to minimize waste. This also involves designing with future dismantling or demolition in mind at the end of its useful life, using sustainable materials and implementing comprehensive recycling programs. In Catalonia we have two pioneering works in the implementation of these measures: the office tower at Plaza Europa 34, in Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona) and a development of 95 multi-family homes in Viladecans (Barcelona).

3)    Climate resilience: We need to develop infrastructure that is resilient to the impacts of climate change. This includes building flood defenses, using permeable materials to manage stormwater, and incorporating green spaces to mitigate the effects of urban heat concentration islands. In addition, CO2 emissions will be increasingly taken into account both during the construction and operation processes. An example could be Velindre Cancer Centre, one of the most important hospital projects in the United Kingdom, with measures such as a strict control of the carbon footprint of the materials used in construction and the incorporation of a vegetation layer used as a refuge for dormice on a nearby plot, saving transport costs to the landfill,  reducing the carbon footprint and creating a habitat for these and other animals in the environment.

4)    Smart infrastructures: Use IoT and AI to create smart infrastructures that can self-monitor, deliver real-time data, and adapt to environmental changes. Smart infrastructure will improve efficiency, safety, and sustainability. An example could be our project with Detektia, through which geotechnical behavior is anticipated to make a non-invasive monitoring of slopes and terrain thanks to InSAR satellite radar technology, rainfall and more than 30 terrain variables.

ISABEL RUBIO ARROYO | Tungsteno

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena boasts that he builds "half of a good house". Not because he can't build entire homes, but because of his innovative approach: offering a starter home with a complete basic structure and unfinished space. The aim is for families to expand and improve it as their resources and needs allow.

A house built in instalments

Aravena was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2016. "His built work gives economic opportunities to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters, reduces energy consumption, and provides a welcoming public space," said the jury. He thus became the first Chilean and fourth Latin American to receive the prize, after Luis Barragán (1980), Oscar Niemeyer (1988) and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006).

His buildings can be found throughout Chile, the United States, Mexico, China and Switzerland. Among them, the jury highlighted the Siamese Towers, the UC Innovation Centre - Anacleto Angelini, and the Medical School of the Catholic University of Chile. Since 2001, Aravena has been the executive director of ELEMENTAL, a "Do Tank" focused on projects of public interest and social impact, which has designed more than 2,500 low-cost social housing units.

An emblematic "incremental" social housing project is the Quinta Monroy housing complex, built in 2004 in Iquique, a coastal city in northern Chile. These homes are designed to allow for incremental improvements over time as families have more resources. "If there’s no time or money to finish everything, let's do now what guarantees the common good," said the architect in an interview with Architectural Digest magazine.

Aravena has led significant architectural projects in various parts of the world. Credit: Dezeen

The "hardware" and "software" of cities

Aravena is known for his commitment to transforming cities and improving people's quality of life. The architect believes that a city is more than an accumulation of buildings; it is a concentration of opportunities, including work, education, and more. "That's why people move to them. The challenge arises when we are unable to respond quickly, and migrating people end up living in terrible conditions. I am convinced that if we strategically identify public space projects, the city would be a shortcut to equity," he says.

That is why he believes it is important not only to build physical infrastructure in cities, but also to ensure that it is balanced with the development of opportunities and services that improve the quality of life for all residents. "We can change the infrastructure—the "hardware" of our cities—all we want, but the "software" is still going to be oriented in one direction," he cautions in an interview in the Spanish newspaper El País. "What we are seeing right now is the cost of having accumulated only houses and not opportunities in our peripheries," he adds.

Reconstruction after earthquakes and tsunamis

Aravena is also convinced that design can help provide more comprehensive responses to natural disasters. In 2010, Chile suffered an earthquake and tsunami measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale. "We were called to work on the reconstruction of Constitución, in the southern part of the country. We were given 100 days, almost three months, to design almost everything: from public buildings to public spaces, street grids, transportation, housing, and mainly, how to protect the city against future tsunamis," Aravena explained in a TED talk in 2014.

Aravena works to create more resilient and sustainable cities. Credit: TED

To find a solution, they asked residents what they would like their city to look like. Through open meetings, they listened to the concerns of the public, such as the need for protection against tsunamis and rain flooding, as well as the lack of quality public spaces and democratic access to the river. The result was "a forest between the city and the sea that doesn’t try to resist the energy of nature, but dissipates it by introducing friction, a forest that may be able to laminate the water and prevent flooding… and that may provide democratic access to the river."

The project had an estimated cost of $48 million. When the public investment system was examined, it was discovered that there were three separate projects planned by three different ministries, costing a total of $52 million, all focused on the exact same site, but not coordinated with one another. By coordinating them, Aravena says they saved $4 million and were able to build the forest. "This case illustrates how synthetic design can optimise the use of the scarcest resource in cities, which is not money but coordination."

Tungsteno is a journalism laboratory to scan the essence of innovation.

In the Elorrio-Elorrio railway project, located in the Basque Country (Spain), various innovative measures have been implemented to minimize the impact on the surrounding environment. 

Our commitment to addressing the climate emergency drives us to innovate construction procedures that better incorporate social and environmental aspects into our activities.

At Sacyr Engineering and Infrastructure, we are committed to developing environmentally friendly projects, always prioritizing sustainability in material use and construction processes. 

The Elorrio-Elorrio railway project is a clear demonstration of this approach.

Currently in its final phase, the project features several innovative measures designed to minimize its impact on the surrounding environment.

Here are six key measures that make this project particularly sustainable:

Integration of Infrastructures at an Environmental Level

As our team completes each phase of the project, hydroseeding is employed. This method uses a seed projection tank with a cannon or distribution hoses to sow seeds. 

Sowing is done on all slopes formed both by covering foundations and in the creation of embankments and clearings. The process is completed with shrub-type plantations in the final phase to ensure environmental integration.

Relocation of Excess Excavated Land

Another environmental objective achieved is the relocation of 850,000 cubic meters of surplus excavated land. This material was used to form embankments, such as in the extension of the Zumelegui Tunnel, promoting better integration with the surrounding landscape.

Restoration of the mouth of the Zumelegui Tunnel.

Environmentally Friendly Concrete

In the project, more sustainable concrete and cement was used, reducing the carbon footprint by 20-40% compared to conventional cement. These materials include 20-40% recycled content, with an emphasis on using locally sourced raw materials.

Waste Recovery

A key priority in the project’s waste management plan is the reuse and recovery of surplus materials. As a result, only 6-7% of the total waste generated has been discarded, aligning with our objective to minimize waste.

Water Use

To maximize water efficiency and prevent waste, several settling ponds have been installed near adjacent streams. These ponds act as filters before water reaches riverbeds and serve as decanters to provide water for road cleaning and dust suppression. 

During the Zumelegui Tunnel excavation, a treatment plant was installed to prevent contamination of the Goikoa stream, a tributary of the Ibaizabal River. 

Additionally, a second treatment plant was set up to handle runoff water (rainwater entering the river network), aimed at reducing suspended solids and protecting the biodiversity of nearby streams.

Arregiarte's leftover deposit.

Caring for Biodiversity

To ensure the free movement of wildlife, particularly the European mink, special crossings have been built into the drainage works along the route. These crossings include lateral steps raised above the water level, allowing animals to cross safely. Additionally, refuge areas for bats and protective sheets for amphibians have been installed at the entrances of one of the drainage works.
 

Fauna escape route.

La iniciativa de Sacyr Agua en Chile en la Municipalidad de Lo Barnechea busca reducir un 80% el consumo de agua fresca en el Parque El Huinganal. Lo Barnechea es la comuna con mayor consumo de agua potable residencial en Chile, sobre todo en los meses de verano. 

Además, en 2023, inauguramos la Plaza de la Sustentabilidad en Santiago de Chile, que persigue ser un entorno rodeado de zonas verdes, espacio de juegos infantiles y un área de servicio para mascotas en el municipio. Este nuevo parque apuesta por el desarrollo sostenible, cuenta con una superficie de 16.800 m2 de áreas verdes, donde se han plantado especies de arbóreas y arbustivas de bajo consumo hídrico.

Parque de la Sustentabilidad (Chile)

En Milán (Italia), estamos remodelando el Hospital Policlínico Mangiagalli y Regina Elena, en cuyo bloque central se integrará una cubierta coronada con un jardín transitable, accesible a los usuarios del hospital.

La cubierta verde tendrá una superficie mayor de 5.500 m2 y el riego procederá del reciclado de aguas grises del propio hospital. Este pulmón verde en el medio de la ciudad mejorará la calidad de los usuarios del hospital y contribuirá positivamente a la disminución de la contaminación provocada por la congestión del tráfico.

En el proyecto de construcción del Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid (España), hemos realizado un jardín terapéutico en el nuevo edificio pensado para mejorar la estancia de pacientes, familiares y sus mascotas. La zona ajardinada abarca más de 9.000 m2 y la zona de alcorques más de 500 m2.

En el complejo de las Setas de Sevilla (España) hemos instalado 16 islas móviles que son, a la vez, bancos y macetas donde la vegetación mediterránea cobra protagonismo. Estas piezas confieren al espacio más vida y versatilidad, ya que al ser móviles pueden conformar distintos patrones paisajísticos, en función de las necesidades de esta plaza.

Además, hemos realizado una intervención de 512 m2 de parterres del perímetro y las escaleras principales están inspiradas en un bosque.  Este espacio cuenta a su vez con 16 grandes olivos y más de 878 plantas y arbustivas. Ahondando en el valor de la sostenibilidad, creamos dos nuevos espacios infantiles. Para hacer su suelo, se han reciclado 641 neumáticos fuera de uso, dejando de emitir 13,2 k de CO2 a la atmósfera.

ISABEL RUBIO ARROYO | Tungsteno

The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert and one of the driest places on Earth. Throughout history, engineers and visionaries have dreamed of an idea as bold as it is utopian: to create an inland sea or lake in this vast region. The most prominent projects seek to connect the desert to the ocean through canals or depressions. We examine the details of the most striking proposals.

Connecting the desert to the ocean

In 1877, Scottish engineer Donald Mackenzie proposed flooding the El Djouf basin in modern-day Mauritania. He believed that the area was far enough below sea level to be connected to the Atlantic Ocean by a 644-kilometre-long channel. He wanted to create an inland sea of about 155,400 square kilometres (about the size of Ireland). “The flaw in his proposal was that he was completely wrong about the elevation of El Djouf, which is actually about 320 metres above sea level,” says Simon Whistler of Megaprojects. On top of that, Mackenzie received little investment despite the huge press coverage his audacious project received.

The idea of creating a sea in the Sahara poses significant technical and environmental challenges. Credit: Megaprojects

The challenge of creating a gigantic salt lake

The French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps developed the Suez Canal. This iconic infrastructure joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas in 1869 and transformed international maritime traffic. After its construction, Lesseps became an idol. So much so that the French public hailed him as le grand Français (the great Frenchman). Lesseps dreamed up another great project and teamed up with the military geographer François Élie Roudaire to create a vast inland sea in the North African desert.

The plan became internationally famous. It involved linking the Gulf of Gabès in the Mediterranean with the Chott el Jerid, a seasonal salt lake in Tunisia that is dry most of the year. This was to be achieved by means of a190-kilometre-long canal. The resulting sea would have an average depth of 23 metres and a surface area of about 5,000 square kilometres. “The Sahara is the cancer eating away at Africa,” Roudaire wrote, according to Big Think. “We cannot cure it; therefore, we must drown it.”

The Chott el Jerid is dry most of the year. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

De Lesseps convinced the Academy of Sciences of the feasibility of the proposed plan, and the French government gave Roudaire a budget of 35,000 francs to carry out a study. The results were not as expected as several areas were found to be above sea level. Although Roudaire tried to salvage the project by lengthening the canal and reducing the area to be flooded, French scientists and engineers objected because of the unfavourable geographical and geological conditions and the high cost of implementing the project.

Atomic bombs to turn the Sahara into an oasis

The Plowshare Program was an initiative of the US Atomic Energy Commission to explore the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The aim was to detonate nuclear bomb explosions in civil and industrial projects, such as the creation of harbours and canals. In this case, the aim was to create a canal to flood the Qattara Depression in northwestern Egypt in order to generate electricity. However, the use of peaceful nuclear detonations was banned by several international treaties and Project Plowshare was terminated in 1977.

The Sedan nuclear test, conducted in 1962 as part of the Plowshare Program, was a detonation that left a mark on the Nevada desert. Credit: Nevada National Nuclear Security Administration.

Such projects force us to reflect on the limits of engineering. Beyond the technical and logistical aspects, they also raise important debates about ethics and sustainability. Flooding the Sahara could have a huge impact on the ecosystems and communities that live there, as well as being a colossal drain on resources. While creating a sea in the Sahara could boost trade and the economy, would the environmental and social costs be worth it?

· — —
Tungsteno is a journalism laboratory to scan the essence of innovation.

“Acuama is a fertilizer management enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that has worked swimmingly the past 15 years but is no longer fit to address the industry’s technological challengesy. Its main setbacks include that it is hard to integrate with third-party systems, tele-reading platforms, and our own datalake”, said Miguel Cebrián, Head of Sacyr Water’s digital transformation area. 

This is why Sacyr has created a multidisciplinary team of programmers, functional analysts and business partners who have developed and approved each of the modules of this Sacyr-owned management system.

This system, called Nubia, has native integration with tele-reading systems, which to register a continual and remote reading of our users’ water consumption. 

“This will allow us to offer improved services to our clients like we’ve never done before. By daily logging their hourly rates into our database, we will get water demand curves. This will help us detect any leakage, non-revenue water and early detection tools for clients and users”, said Miguel.

Another pillar to enhance user experience requires improving our Client Area’s to process most queries online rather than in person.

“App users will be able to pay their bills, check and report their consumption, as well as ticketing any service-related incidents in real time”, said Miguel.  

The goal is for Nubia to become part of Sacyr Water’s digital ecosystem. This environment of apps and tools will improve treatment plant and water cycle management to obtain information and service indicators with which to monitor our efficiency in our daily work and optimize the resources we manage.

Starting in 2026, this new ERP will be implemented in all our integral cycle P3 projects in our portfolio, such as Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Guadalajara, Soria, Melilla, Sotogrande, Ribadesella, San Vicente de la Barquera, Biar and Almadén, as well as in all Chilean health companies, catering to more than 250,000 users.
 

When starting a construction excavation, having knowledge of the ground is essential for the success of a project, since exploration is slow, expensive, and unsafe. 

Working with external suppliers also complicates the preservation of historical information. Hence the need to have a digital repository with geotechnical studies and artificial intelligence tools to deepen that knowledge. 

Sacyr Engineering and Infrastructure in Chile is partnering with the geotechnical area of the Department of Engineering of the Universidad de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC) to develop a repository tool that digitizes the collected information from previous soil studies. This way, we get the information before excavating to see what the best approach to this process is.

This tool adjusts the time and cost of the processes, so it provides added value that our team in Chile did not have until now.

Sacyr participates in two lines of action in this joint project with the UCSC:

• Making a repository of soil mechanics laboratory reports.
• Creating a machine learning tool to predict soil stability and its properties.

The first pilot test of this project was carried out on Ruta 66 de la Fruta, currently under construction. 

"We have to continue feeding historical information and take advantage of the same artificial intelligence process with the platform we have created with the University," says Matías Cuitiño, Head of Geotechnics at the engineering department of Sacyr Chile. 

"We have already worked with the Universidad de la Santísima Concepción on green hydrogen projects and digital repository projects. They have an excellent capacity for innovation which allows us to work in different disciplines for the business model," says Víctor Armijos, Innovation Manager at Sacyr Chile. 

This artificial intelligence tool features three stages: 

• Creating a map repository, which will generate a detailed mapping of the terrain with spatial interpolations for the typical variables of geotechnical studies.
• A pattern recognition application that will implement a recognition methodology to recommend geotechnical tests based on historical information. This app uses supervised and unsupervised learning methods and the development of web tools and plug-ins.
• Developing a plug-in for the QGIS software to facilitate the detection of patterns in soils. 

The project, which will last approximately one and a half years, will be developed in three stages in Chile, through late 2025.

On the other hand, Dr. Mauricio Villagrán, Professor from the Faculty of Engineering and Director of the Advanced Capital Program in Artificial Intelligence at UCSC, pointed out that this technological contract is "very iconic for the university” as it explicitly establishes a collaboration agreement with the company. This agreement will usher the development of a specific application using artificial intelligence to solve an industry-specific problem. 

"In addition, the proposal was planned in stages to give the necessary flexibility required to address this type of challenge where there is a lot of technological uncertainty. I believe that this will be the kind of project where everyone involved will gain experience, knowledge and we will make tangible progress in the use of this type of cutting-edge technologies," he said.

The Rumichaca-Pasto road corridor, managed by Concesionaria Vial Unión del Sur (Sacyr Concesiones), is one of Sacyr's most relevant projects in Colombia. 

During the construction process, we discovered hundreds of archaeological remains that have been examined by Marcos Martinón-Torres.

Martinón-Torres, curator of the largest exhibition in Europe of the terracotta warriors of Xi'an (China), coordinated the analysis of these items with David Alejandro Pérez Fernández, Head of the Preventive archaeology program for Rumichaca-Pasto project between 2016 and 2023. Currently, he oversees archaeological tasks at the Unión vial Camino del Pacifico project, another Sacyr contract in Colombia. 

Martinón-Torres; Lina Campos Quintero (left), archaeologist at the Gold Museum; Kate Klesner, research associate with Martinon's team, and David Alejandro.

"The Nariño region has vast archaeological wealth. The discoveries made in the Vial Unión del Sur project are extraordinary and among the largest in Colombia's recent history. Excavations have unearthed pre-Hispanic tombs that provided us thousands of objects, revealing the richness and diversity of their technologies and funerary rituals," says Martinón-Torres.

 "Thanks to the excellent work of Sacyr's archaeologists, we have been able to carry out a very important part of our Reverseaction project, funded by the European Research Council. This project aims to explain how stateless societies mastered complex and luxurious technologies, such as goldsmithing, textile production, and precious stones. Items of this kind are usually associated with kings or pharaohs," explains the researcher.

"Including the perspective of European researchers and advanced scientific techniques is helps expand the possibilities of interpretation of the archaeological materials found during the archaeological excavations at the Rumichaca-Pasto widening project. Their insights help establish deep reflections about the ancient of this region, their way of life and how they connect to the technology at the time applied to ceramic arts", explains David Alejandro. 

"We carry out scientific analyses using various techniques from different scientific disciplines (natural, geological, and physical) to better understand objects that are 1,500 years old," explains Martinón-Torres. 

The three main techniques he uses are:

-    Chemical analysis on ceramic objects to understand the clays and pigments used.
-    Scanning electron microscopy to observe the items’ microstructure.
-    3D modeling to study their morphology and better understand their manufacturing processes.

"The collaboration with David Pérez and the Sacyr archaeologists has been incredibly enriching and synergistic. From the beginning, they have been open to sharing their discoveries," explains the archaeologist. 

"We were impressed by the professionalism of the archaeological record and the extent of excavations and items found. Upon our arrival, all the excavations were already completed. We have been able to add to our scientific contributions based on Sacyr's archaeological work," says Martinón-Torres.

"There is still much to do. As our project is currently planned, it will go on until 2026. We plan to return to Pasto at the beginning of next year to begin disseminating the results and take further steps. We will also develop our collaboration with the Gold Museum in Pasto, as well as with indigenous communities," this scientist says. 

The team has begun collaborating with native communities to better understand their history and integrate pre-Hispanic technologies into today's traditional crafts. "We can only do this work if we feel welcome and can contribute something to the local communities," he stresses. 

For example, Prof. Martinón-Torres’ team is collaborating with a community that is searching for clays for traditional pottery. Researchers compare these clays with those used thousands of years ago to better understand pigments used in the past. 

Kate Klesner, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge and a member of Martinón-Torres' team, has worked with students from universities in Colombia to analyze these findings.

"The idea is to publish an article with Kate and Marcos; hopefully this year. The combined research reports amount to close to 4,000 pages, and they are an excellent groundwork for a book that will expand our knowledge about the human societies that inhabited this part of the world," says David Pérez.

According to Martinón-Torres, the excavations in this area are some of the most extensive and abundant known in the world.

Biomethane is a gas obtained from biogas. The European Union wants to promote its production to offset fossil fuel consumption since biogas is renewable. 

However, biogas has a small drawback: when producing biogas, a co-product called digestate is generated, which has complicated management strategies.

Different alternatives are currently being studied to valorize digestate while minimizing pollution. The goal is not only to eliminate it but also to turn it into a useful product. 

A group of researchers has discovered that digestate helps decontaminate water, creating a win-win situation: digestates are no longer an environmental problem and can be given a sustainable economic use.

Digestates can be transformed into biochar through a process called hydrothermal carbonization. Biochar can decontaminate water by removing organic contaminants. 

This is the gist of the UPGRES project, carried out by a team of scientists from the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Group at Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC), in collaboration with Repsol and INGELIA.

Juan Antonio Melero, a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Rey Juan Carlos University, is the principal investigator of the UPGRES project. "A lot of this digestate could end up in landfills, which is not sustainable. This is where UPGRES comes in, offering new ways of valorizing digestate," says Juan Antonio.

The Repower EU project, promoted by the European Union, aims to boost biomethane generation, increasing production from the current 20 billion m3 to 35 billion by 2030, and 167 billion by 2050. This would cover 60% of the EU's natural gas demand but would also generate 1.7 billion tonnes of digestate compared to the current 180 million tonnes.

While digestate can also be used as a fertilizer, it has low agronomic value, and its use is limited depending on its origin. 

Digestate is transformed into biochar (hydrochar) through hydrothermal carbonization, which is carried out at temperatures between 180 and 250 ºC, producing a bio-based carbon. What nature does by fossilizing organic waste and transforming it into fossil charcoal, these researchers achieve in four hours.

In the UPGRES project, they manage to degrade pollutants from wastewater or industrial effluents using the generated biochar. 

“Currently, we are in the basic research stage. The next step would be for companies to scale it up to a pilot plant, where digestates would be treated in larger reactors," explains Isabel Pariente, a professor in the area of Chemical Engineering at Rey Juan Carlos University and head of the water treatment line. 

"This process can be used for process waters with a high concentration of organic matter at a temperature of 200 ºC and 50 bars of pressure. Its profitability would need to be studied," she adds.

UPGRES is a project funded by the State Research Agency for strategic R&D&i lines. IMDEA Energía, Repsol, Ingelia—a Valencian company dedicated to the hydrothermal carbonization of biological waste—and Rey Juan Carlos University are participating in it. 

UPGRES project began in November 2021 and will end in November 2024.

ISABEL RUBIO ARROYO | Tungsteno

There exists a White House that seems to touch the sky. It is a replica located 121 metres high, atop a skyscraper in Bangalore, India. The two-storey private villa crowning the Kingfisher Tower belongs to Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, once known as the "king of good times" for his extravagant lifestyle. We delve into the secrets of this striking construction and why it remains a mystery whether its owner will ever be able to enjoy it.

A mansion atop a skyscraper

This 40,000 square metre mansion includes a helipad, garden, infinity pool, gym and a terrace offering a 360-degree view of the city. The skyscraper on which it stands houses 42 luxury flats, offices, shops and a parking area. It is part of a project by United Breweries Holdings Ltd (UBHL) and Prestige Estates Projects, the latter known for building luxury residences, proudly calling this "the most luxurious and expensive project in Bangalore".

A year ago, the mansion was almost finished, as shown in a drone-captured aerial video. "It was a challenge to construct the mansion on a huge cantilever at that height, but we have ensured that we built it exactly the way it was conceived," explained Irfan Razack, chairman of Prestige Estates Projects, in an article from October 2023. According to him, work to complete the building was underway.

The mansion has a helipad, garden, infinity pool, gym and an enormous terrace. Credit: Srihari Karanth

A tycoon on the run from justice

The construction cost $20 million and was commissioned by Mallya. But after such an outlay, there is a possibility that the Indian tycoon may never live in it. As well as being the former owner of the Force India Formula One team, Mallya is known as the "king of good times" for his lavish lifestyle complete with yachts, private jets, classic cars and mansions.

The construction of the mansion coincided with Mallya's mounting financial troubles. In 2022, he was sentenced to four months in jail for disobeying a previous court order related to the bankruptcy of his airline, Kingfisher Airlines. He is currently believed to be a fugitive in the UK and is trying to avoid possible extradition to India. “I don’t think that [Mallya] would very tamely come back to India,” said Sanjay Hegde, a senior lawyer and legal analyst not involved in the case, to the Financial Times. According to the newspaper, the tycoon has "fought very hard" to avoid extradition.

Although it is believed that Mallya is in the UK, India has been trying to extradite him from countries where he owns property and where extradition treaties are in effect. "The French offered a (extradition) proposal with some preconditions (but) India asked them to approve the proposal without any preconditions," sources told the Indian Express.

For now, the mansion will remain unoccupied due to its owner's legal troubles. Credit: Famous Luxury

It remains to be seen whether Mallya will eventually occupy his quirky villa in the sky. Over 12,000 kilometres away, in Washington D.C., sits the real White House, home and workplace of the President of the United States. The main difference between this iconic building and Mallya's residence, apart from being inhabited, is its impressive scale: the official White House has 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms and six floors, and it takes 570 gallons of paint to cover its vast exterior surface.

Tungsteno is a journalism laboratory to scan the essence of innovation.

We are applying Artificial Intelligence with the startup Valerann to support traffic management on the San Antonio – Santiago highway. This pilot project aims to implement new tools to positively impact the operation of our road P3, enhance road safety, increase the attractiveness of the P3 and increase the quality of assistance and interventions on the road.

To achieve this, technology enables us to leverage diverse data sources, utilizing artificial vision and predictive algorithms to detect incidents, improve response times, and optimize the use of Intelligent Transportation Systems infrastructure. As part of its implementation, the platform integrates a wide range of data from sources such as surveillance cameras, traffic flow data, navigation applications, social networks, and meteorological sources.

With these interconnected elements available, we can maximize the current infrastructure and data sources to detect, validate, and prioritize risks and incidents. This approach also allows us to combine data and operational insights to understand the overall road conditions, thereby improving user service and timely alerting of risks to drivers through the intelligent use of social networks, navigation applications, and variable message panels, ultimately delivering better customer service.

According to Alejandro Vera, Operations Manager of Ruta 78, "at this time, we are integrating data and deploying the system to observe its behavior. Once we complete this phase, starting this June, we will conduct calibrations and improvements to achieve our objectives and enhance the operation of the concession."

This pilot project is made possible through collaboration among Sacyr Concesiones teams in Chile and Spain, the San Antonio Santiago Highway Concessionaire – Route 78, and Sacyr's Department of Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability.

Valerann was the winning startup in the 2023 Sacyr iChallenges Open Innovation program and the 13th edition of the Sacyr Innovation Awards, over 204 other project proposals submitted.

Valerann's technology enables the integration of data processed with Artificial Intelligence, specifically focusing on road transport to maximize available data effectively.
 

ISABEL RUBIO ARROYO | Tungsteno

From the Hand of the Desert in Atacama, Chile to the Hands of Harmony in South Korea, or the hands of the Golden Bridge in Vietnam—all these sculptures feature the same body part, but each has its own story. Why have so many artists found inspiration in the human hand? We investigate the mysteries behind the largest hands on the planet.

A hand in the middle of the desert

In the heart of the Atacama Desert in Chile, a giant hand 11 metres high juts out of the arid sand, its fingers pointing skywards. The reinforced concrete sculpture was created in 1992 by the Chilean artist and sculptor Mario Irarrázabal. Located about 75 kilometres north-west of the city of Antofagasta, it has become one of the main tourist attractions in the area. But it is not the only hand that Irarrazábal has created. There are also other versions on the Playa Brava beach in Punta del Este, Uruguay, and in the Juan Carlos I Park in Madrid.

The sculptor was commissioned by the cement company Melón Hormigones to make Hand of the Desert for the entrance to their plant in Los Andes." Irarrazábal recounts: "It would have looked terrible. Luckily, Melón was going through a huge financial crisis at the time and they told me to forget about it." He showed the project to an engineer from Antofagasta, who asked him to let him talk to his friends, who were "mining engineers and very technical people." These people, above all, "loved the desert." "Let's do it," they replied.

Hand of the Desert is one of Chile's most iconic sculptures Credit: PxHere

The engineers didn't even ask about the meaning of the hand. Each visitor can give it their own interpretation, says its creator. While some believe it is the city saying farewell to the traveller, others claim it represents the victims of injustice and torture during Chile’s military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990. Today, many people come here to observe the starry sky. "Here, you can see the plane of the Milky Way, the Southern Cross and the Magellanic Clouds, as well as a large number of bright stars, such as Antares, Altair and Alpha Centauri, among many others," says astronomer Maximiliano Moyano D'Angelo.

Hands supporting bridges or emerging from water

In the hills of Vietnam, other giant concrete hands cradle a 152-metre-long pedestrian bridge suspended almost 1,400 metres above sea level. The bridge is known as Cau Vang (Golden Bridge) and was designed to make visitors feel like they are taking a stroll on a shimmering thread stretched across the hands of God.

This megastructure is part of a 1.7 billion euro project to attract tourism to the Thien Thai gardens at the Bà Nà Hills Resort. And it worked. Thousands of tourists have flocked to the area and pictures of it have gone viral on social media. "We’re proud that our product has been shared by people all over the world," TA Landscape Architecture's principal designer and founder Vu Viet Anh told AFP.

The Golden Bridge has gone viral on social media. Credit: Amazing Things in Vietnam

A pair of similar looking hands can be found in Homigot, South Korea. These imposing steel hands face each other (about 100 metres apart) and represent coexistence and harmony. They are known as the Hands of Harmony. One of them rises from the sea and offers a unique view at sunrise, while the other is on land at the Homigot Sunrise Plaza. Located at the easternmost tip of South Korea, Homigot is the first place in the country to see the rising sun. In fact, a sunrise festival is held here every New Year’s.

These are just some of the most striking giant hands on the planet, but there are many more. Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn designed six pairs of monumental stone hands for the 2019 Venice Art Biennale, which come together to symbolise "six of humanity’s universal values: friendship, faith, help, love, hope and wisdom." Other sculptures include the Praying Hands in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, Florida; and the Caring Hand in Glarus, Switzerland. Their ability to convey universal meaning and their powerful visual impact have made these giant hands a magnet for millions of tourists around the world.

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ISABEL RUBIO ARROYO | Tungsteno

From a young age, Danish architect Bjarke Ingels dreamed of becoming a cartoonist. Hoping to improve his drawing skills, he enrolled at the Royal School of Architecture in 1993.

“Drawing is my superpower. It was during my childhood: in kindergarten, in high school. I was always the best at drawing,” he said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País. At that time, he had no idea that he would become one of the most famous architects on the planet.

From aspiring cartoonist to influential figure

In 2016, when he was 42 years old, Time magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. “I do not consider Bjarke Ingels the reincarnation of this or that architect from the past. On the contrary, he is the embodiment of a fully fledged new typology, which responds perfectly to the current zeitgeist," said renowned architect Rem Koolhaas, who worked with Ingels for a time. Koolhaas sees the Danish architect as “completely in tune with the thinkers of Silicon Valley, who want to make the world a better place without the existential hand-wringing that previous generations felt was crucial to earn utopianist credibility.”

Ingels, 49, founded the architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group, better known by its acronym BIG, in 2006. The firm is behind landmark projects such as the VIA 57 West skyscraper in Manhattan, Google's North Bayshore headquarters in California, and the 8 House housing complex, Superkilen Park and the Amager Resource Center waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen. BIG also designed LEGO House, a giant structure that appears to be built of LEGO bricks, which began construction in 2014. What all these structures have in common is innovative design.

Ingels is an architect recognised worldwide for his innovative and avant-garde approach. Credit: Architects not Architecture

A giant LEGO house

Ingels is a LEGO enthusiast. Before he and his team set to work on the project to build a giant LEGO house, they spent time playing and building with these iconic bricks. “They soon discovered that the systematic creativity of LEGO play often matched the way they approached an architectural task,” the LEGO Group explains.

The giant structure designed by Ingels, known as LEGO House, is an educational and activity centre in Billund, Denmark. The architect's idea was to create “a cloud of interlocking LEGO bricks… a literal manifestation of the infinite possibilities of the LEGO brick.” The aim was to stack 21 white bricks, one on top of the other, and crown them with a keystone inspired by the classic eight-knob LEGO brick. Underneath, there is a covered public square and interconnected terraces.

LEGO House has a total floor area of almost 12,000 square metres, of which 8,500 m² are above ground and 3,400 m² are below ground. The 23-metre-high building is clad in white bricks measuring 18 by 60 centimetres to give the impression that the structure is composed of LEGO bricks. The terraces are brightly coloured and their surfaces are made from materials left over from the production of trainers for several international sports brands, says the company.

LEGO House opened its doors for the first time in 2017. Credit: WIRED UK

Today, Ingels is considered a visionary and creative artist who has transformed the landscape of architecture. He describes himself as someone “capable of changing things.” He is convinced that “architecture can be an art, but actual art must be transformative.” “Steve Jobs said that for every 20 engineers, one is an artist and the rest are engineers. I think that can be applied to architecture, handball and teaching. A teacher who is an artist can change people,” he concludes.

Tungsteno is a journalism laboratory to scan the essence of innovation.

We are building a groundbreaking tram in Barcelona. This tram is powered by an innovative electrical supply that does not require a catenary, and instead uses ground-level power supply, a technology designed by Alstom.

This is the first time that a ground-level power supply system has been used in a tram in Spain. The tram receives electricity through a segmented conductor rail. Each segment automatically turns on and off as the tram moves forward to preserve pedestrian safety.

The Barcelona Metropolitan Transport Authority commissioned four joint ventures to extend the Barcelona tram network, each building a section. The joint venture comprising Sacyr Construction, Scrinser and Copcisa was awarded Lot 3, which runs from Lepanto Street to Naples Street along Avenida Diagonal.

"This section will be put into service in the last quarter of 2024. Our civil works section has been completed and we have now moved on to the next phase, by providing support to the testing stage. A tram without passengers will make the first run in the summer." says Javier López Martínez, construction manager of the Tramvia Diagonal Bcn Joint Venture (Lot 3).

"This project combines Sacyr's commitment to sustainability. We integrate the most innovative construction technologies into our projects and we generate a positive social impact on the environment," says Javier.

This contract is part of the project to connect Barcelona's two tram networks, Trambaix and Trambesos. This 3.9 km-long connection adds 6 new stops to the network and will improve mobility in the city and enhance intermodal transportation by connecting the tram with the metropolitan rail and metro networks. 

In addition, once the connection is completed, it will contribute to reducing the carbon footprint, by encouraging private vehicle users to commute.
The Barcelona tram, inaugurated in 2004, currently has 6 lines, 56 stops and covers 29.22 km, allowing more than 26 million users to travel each year. 

ISABEL RUBIO ARROYO | Tungsteno

The Empire State Building, the Washington National Cathedral and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. All of these buildings have something in common: there were made from Indiana limestone, one of the most prized building materials in the United States. This stone was supposed to be the protagonist of Indiana's Limestone Park, a project that aimed to turn a town in southern Indiana into a tourist destination for lovers of limestone blocks. But the project went bust. We look at this and other major failed projects.

A park for limestone lovers

“Indiana limestone has gone into literally tens of thousands of building projects across North America and the world,” Todd Schnatzmeyer, executive director of the Indiana Limestone Institute of America, told Smithsonian magazine. The goal of Indiana's Limestone Park was to build a set of limestone pyramids in Bedford, Indiana, inspired by the Great Pyramids of Cheops, as well as a 260-metre-long replica of the Great Wall of China.

The federal government granted $700,000 to the town to start the project at a nearby quarry. But soon after construction began, the project was heavily criticised. In 1981, the Bedford Limestone Pyramid received the “Golden Fleece” award, which ridiculed wasteful projects that squandered taxpayers’ money. Critics of the project doubted that it could be done with the funding and that the park could be completed by 1982, The Washington Post reported a year earlier. The government withdrew the funding after just one layer of limestone had been laid.

Indiana limestone is one of America's most prized building materials. Credit: Journey Indiana

A ghost city

Some of the world's most useless projects are ghost cities. Such is the case of Forest City, a sprawling housing complex built in Johor, in the far south of Malaysia. This $100 billion megaproject was inaugurated in 2015 by China's largest property developer, Country Garden. To date, only 15% of the entire project has been built. Despite being nearly $200 billion in debt, Country Garden told the BBC in late 2023 that it was “optimistic” that the full plan would be completed.

Forest City, built far from the nearest major city, was billed as “a dream paradise for all mankind.” Its location could have been better chosen. It has put off prospective tenants and earned it the local nickname “ghost city.” “To be honest, it's creepy,” says Nazmi Hanafiah, a computer engineer who lived in Forest City for a few months. He says, “I had high expectations for this place, but it was such a bad experience. There is nothing to do here.”

A BBC journalist who has visited the place described it as “an abandoned holiday resort.” As well as the beach being deserted, there are signs by the water warning of crocodiles. There is also a shopping mall with many closed shops and restaurants. Other shops are still under construction or empty. Another resident of this ghost city says she feels “sorry for people who actually invested and bought a place here.” The fate of Forest City rests with the Chinese government. “It should be the project that was promised to the people, but that’s not what it is,” the woman tells the BBC.

Forest City highlights the importance of realistic planning in urban development projects. Credit: LETZUPLOADIT

Failed airports

Although airports typically see millions of people pass through them every day, there are some that have been abandoned for years for a variety of reasons—from those too close to war zones to others that simply went bankrupt. Such is the case of Nicosia International Airport in Cyprus and Ciudad Real Airport in Spain. The latter was an ambitious project that began operations in 2008, but failed due to a number of factors. These include poor financial planning, lack of sustainable demand and competition from other nearby airports.

The original budget for the Spanish project was more than €200 million. However, due to delays, this figure appears to have to risen to more than €400 million and some claim it even reached €1 billion. The airport was declared bankrupt in 2012 and until 2019 there were no flights. During those years, it was used as the setting for several films and then, during the pandemic, it was used for flights from China carrying 26 million masks, but since then its facilities have closed again.

Ciudad Real airport sought to relieve saturation at Madrid-Barajas airport. Credit: Carlos Ayala

There are many more abandoned airports around the world. One popular database lists more than 2,000 totally or partially abandoned airports and airfields in the United States alone. Another, focused on Europe, lists several hundred more. The World Economic Forum sees “prime redevelopment opportunities” at some of these airports. “From Hong Kong to Athens, a handful of large-scale airport redevelopment projects are showing the way,” it asserts.

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Tungsteno is a journalism laboratory to scan the essence of innovation.

ISABEL RUBIO ARROYO | Tungsteno

An enormous nine-metre-high spider is on display outside the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. Called Maman, the work is by Louise Bourgeois (Paris, 1911 - New York, 2010) and is a tribute to her mother, who was a weaver. “Bourgeois’ spiders are highly contradictory as emblems of maternity: they suggest both protector and predator,” the museum says. We explore the life and work of this key figure in contemporary art.

The sculptor who drew spiders

As early as the 1940s, the French-American sculptor was already drawing spiders. These animals occupied a central place in her work. “The spider really began as two drawings in 1947. At that time, the spider was a friendly presence. She [associated] it with eliminating mosquitoes," explains Jerry Gorovoy, Bourgeois' assistant and friend.

It wasn't until 1994 that she incorporated spiders into her sculptures. “The silk of a spider is used both to construct cocoons and to bind prey, and spiders embody both strength and fragility,” says the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Maman's legs resemble Gothic arches and function as “a cage and as a protective lair to a sac full of eggs perilously attached to her undercarriage.”

Bourgeois also associated the spider with her own artistic practice because this creature builds its web out of its own body. “Louise said that’s exactly what she does with sculpture. Sculpture has to come out of the body,” says Gorovoy. He explains that some of the first spiders she created represented security. To keep them from falling, they tended to be more vertical. “As she got bolder, she was able to arrange the legs and compositions that are much more dynamic,” he says. Indeed, her sculpture Spider appears to be on the move.

Spider is a bronze spider made by Bourgeois in her Brooklyn studio. Credit: Hauser & Wirth - Art Gallery

Art as therapy

According to the Museo Reina Sofia, Bourgeois' work was generated from the spaces she was inhabiting or her memory of them: her childhood in Paris, Aubusson, Choissy and Anthony; her country house in Easton (Connecticut, USA) and her studios in New York and Brooklyn. Architect and professor Beatriz Colomina explained that “those physical locations of her memory are all domestic and all associated with trauma.”

“Her work is at once deeply personal—with frequent references to painful childhood memories of an unfaithful father and a loving but complicit mother—and universal, confronting the bittersweet ordeal of being human,” says the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Bourgeois understood art as something curative, almost like therapy. “I know that when I finish a drawing, my anxiety level decreases. When I draw it means that something bothers me, but I don’t know what it is. So it is the treatment of anxiety,” said the artist herself.

After studying at the Sorbonne and marrying the American art historian Robert Goldwater, Bourgeois moved to New York in 1938 at the age of 27. The human body played a central role in her work. Through its representation, the artist explored universal themes such as vulnerability, identity, sexuality, violence and protection. This is evident in her series of drawings Femme Maison (1946-1947) and her sculptures Femme-Couteau (1982), Femme Maison (1983) and Spiral Woman (1984).

Bourgeois began experimenting with wood, plaster, latex and other solid materials in 1960. Credit: Tate

Throughout her career, Bourgeois received numerous honours. For example, in 1977 she was awarded an honorary doctorate in art from Yale University, in 1981 she was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in New York, and in 2003 she was awarded the Wolf Prize in the Arts, one of the most prestigious international arts awards. The sculptor died in 2010 at the age of 98, leaving behind an unparalleled artistic legacy. Her work has had a profound impact on contemporary art and continues to inspire artists and art lovers around the world.

Tungsteno is a journalism laboratory to scan the essence of innovation.