The 2014 Global Summer School on the Next City kicked off today. The morning session in Barcelona was opened with a tour of the Fab Lab Barcelona with Luis Fraguada, showing the diverse machines,and explaining and demonstrating how they function. We then moved to the Auditorium where the St Petersburg location joined us in streaming for the IAAC Dean Manuel Gausa’s welcome words, as well as an introductory lecture by Luis, discussing what Advanced Architecture is, and what are its potentials towards the Next City. All the students and staff then presented themselves in a few short words. After lunch, the group went to tour the Next City site in Torre Baró, where the workshop project will be implemented.