The Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition, which aims to promote architectural and urban design practices that preserve and provide continuity to local traditions, has announced the winning projects of the 2017-2018 edition.

Following an initial phase in which Spanish municipalities were invited to submit potential themes and sites, the jury selected Baza (Granada), Borox (Toledo), and Trujillo (Cáceres) as the towns that best met the criteria and were deemed most viable for subsequent implementation.

Exceptionally, and thanks to funding provided by the local city council, the competition for Jaca (Huesca) was reopened after being declared vacant last year when none of the proposals met the competition guidelines.

Spanish architect Fernando Menis designed a series of marine-inspired installations made from recycled objects and materials left behind by children and tourists at hotels in the coastal towns of La Oliva, a municipality in Fuerteventura, in Spain's Canary Islands.

As part of International Habitat and Architect Week in Mozambique, the exhibition opened and the winners of the First Architecture Photography Competition - Perspectivas were announced on October 1 in Maputo, during the event A Cidade Desejada, organized by the Association of Architects of Mozambique - ARCHIMOZ.

ByFutura is an integrated, transdisciplinary firm led by Iván García that began 10 years ago in Monterrey. Originally founded as a design studio focused on branding, this path opened doors through various projects, leading them to design everything from a coffee cup to an entire space.

One of their first projects was Taquería Canalla, where this vision was first reflected. "It was here that we took on the comprehensive responsibility of designing a space for the first time. We asked for help from architect friends and realized that architecture was a fundamental piece of our design, as it opened many doors for us," comments Iván García.

These types of projects remind us that architecture is so vast that it can be approached from different starting points. Today, ByFutura consists of 13 people dedicated to design and architecture. The firm has established itself on the global design and architecture scene, handling national and international projects, 80% of which are completed outside of Mexico.

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Arquideas is a community of students and young professionals from the architecture and design world. Its main objective is to showcase the talent and creativity of these young designers and help bridge the gap between the academic and professional spheres of architecture and design.

With this in mind, they once again launched a competition titled Bay Book House (BaBH) San Francisco, which challenged participants to propose a cultural exchange space to activate one or more of the abandoned piers in San Francisco's historic port.

Given its prime location, the proposed space was envisioned as a meeting point and an international benchmark for students, researchers, culture lovers, and the general public. It aims to offer outdoor reading, research, and technological innovation as key attractions for both residents and visitors. In a city already full of globally iconic landmarks, this new space must be designed to become San Francisco's new cultural landmark—the flagship of a vibrant, rapidly developing waterfront.

After 70 years of setbacks, the Bogotá Metro is finally beginning to take shape. Last September, it secured partial state funding for its construction, and in April, the 16 stations of the first line were presented. Consequently, building a new transit system for a city of 8 million people has sparked widespread debate, capturing the attention of residents who long for a project that would solve one of the major mobility crises currently facing the Colombian capital.

Darío Hidalgo, director of integrated transport at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, and Carlos Carrillo, an industrial designer from the National University of Colombia, recently participated in the Observatorio de Gobierno Urbano program on UN Radio, where they compared the routes and costs of an elevated metro versus an underground one.

As part of the 30th National Meeting of Architecture Students (ENEA), the Association of Architecture Teaching Institutions (ASINEA) invited the country's most prestigious architecture schools to participate in this event organized by Universidad de La Salle México. The meeting took place at La Salle Cuernavaca in March 2018, bringing together the highest-performing students.

The exercises focused on the theme proposed by La Salle México, "Architecture and Design for Urban Emergencies," which arose from the events of September 19, 2017, and the urgent need to raise awareness within the profession about the importance of preparing for social disasters caused by natural phenomena.

Around 19,000 architects and urban planners from Rio de Janeiro state now have access to a shared office space in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Featuring 20 workstations and two meeting rooms, the space allows professionals to work and host client meetings.

The Council's goal is to bring greater vitality to the use of its headquarters—located at Av. República do Chile, 230, 23rd floor—while strengthening ties with professionals and providing access to an infrastructure that architects and urban planners help maintain. By the end of this year, CAU/RJ expects to increase the number of available workstations and meeting rooms.

Over four days, the public space of Pontevedra, Spain, was transformed by urban interventions designed to foster imagination and play. This marked the inaugural edition of Experimenta Pontevedra, held from June 21 to 24, 2018, in the Spanish city.

Pontevedra, which received the UN-Habitat Award for its pedestrian-friendly urban model, has become a benchmark for many cities in recent years, having achieved a milestone where over 70% of urban trips are made on foot or by bicycle within a 15-year period. Accordingly, as the organizers explain, Experimenta Pontevedra is part of this urban development strategy. With the pedestrianization of the city center now fully established, the initiative seeks to foster public spaces that stimulate the imagination and playfulness of their users.

Sometimes, we cover projects so innovative and futuristic that they seem unlikely to ever leave the drawing board. Fortunately, we are occasionally proven wrong. This is the case with Ecocapsule, a micro-home that generates all the energy it needs and can be taken anywhere in the world, which has just made its international debut.

An initial run of 50 units has been launched for clients in the United States, Japan, Australia, and the European Union. From the outside, one would never guess that these tiny homes pack so many features: the exterior is covered in photovoltaic panels, equipped with a small wind turbine, and capable of collecting and filtering its own water.

Single-Family Residential Housing

AS Arquitectura, Xavier Abreu Sacramento, Alejandra Abreu Sacramento, and Efraín Góngora
First Place in Category and Grand Prize of the XII Yucatecan Architecture Biennial 2018
Casa del Árbol

The Arquitetas Invisíveis collective is pleased to invite researchers, professionals, students, and artists interested in reflections linking architecture across its various scales with gender issues, in different disciplinary fields, to participate in the call for submissions for the 3rd issue of the Arquitetas Invisíveis Magazine.

The Arquitetas Invisíveis collective, the group responsible for publishing the magazine, will also feature selected submissions from this call on its platform – www.arquitetasinvisiveis.com – as deemed appropriate. The magazine and the website stem from a desire to share knowledge and reflections, as well as to contribute to advancing gender discussions in architecture and related fields. This initiative aims to offer a platform to showcase the work of individuals addressing gender in architecture, while fostering interdisciplinary exchange by welcoming contributions from diverse fields—including History, Geography, Sociology, Anthropology, Art, Psychology, and Journalism, among others, as well as non-academic work.

Videos

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Aros is the winning project of the "Juguetes Urbanos" (Urban Toys) competition, organized by the Laboratory for the City and the Mexico City Government. The competition called for a play-based proposal within Plaza Loreto, located in the historic core of Mexico City's Centro Histórico.

Mexico City's fountains have long been gathering places where children play while waiting for their families to finish the workday. These spots are crucial, perhaps because water carries significant cultural weight in the city; during spring and summer, they regularly draw crowds who engage with public space in this active way.

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As the end of the year approaches, and after celebrating six years in Mexico, we would like to thank you all once again for making 2018 our best year yet. Thanks to your ongoing support and our close connection with our readers, we are now reaching many more architects worldwide to inspire them to create better urban environments for everyone.

Archademy is the world's first accelerator for architects and interior designers. Inspired by startup accelerators, it focuses on structuring small firms to boost professional performance in just a few months.

Much like a consultancy, Archademy offers a customized package for architecture and interior design firms, along with mentoring sessions and workshops. The accelerator also aims to build a professional network, thereby generating job opportunities and collaborations. 

On Thursday, November 22, the jury convened by the Madrid City Council, in collaboration with the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM), announced the results of the rehabilitation project for the historic Beti-Jai Fronton in Madrid, Spain.

The competition opened for registration last June, receiving a total of 73 proposals for the intervention on the landmark building. The objective was to find the best proposal to reconcile the preservation of the building's heritage value—declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Asset of Cultural Interest)—with the most appropriate technical solutions for its future use as a sports and cultural venue.

See the results below:

On Saturday, April 14, the continental award ceremony for the Prix Versailles will be held at Castillo Hidalgo in Santiago, Chile. The awards will honor the architecture and design of 24 completed retail, hotel, and restaurant projects across South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and North America.

Learn more about the event and past winners below.

Having previously been the subject of a 2015 art installation by Isaac Julien titled Stones Against Diamonds, Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi will now have her life portrayed on screen in the film Ghost of Lina Bo Bardi, directed by Julien.

Videos

Concéntrico is an International Architecture and Design Festival that invites reflection on the city of Logroño (Spain) by revitalizing undervalued public spaces. Its latest edition, Concéntrico 04, takes place between April 27 and May 1, 2018, in the historic center of Logroño. The festival invites visitors to explore the city through installations, exhibitions, meetings, activities, and performances that connect venues, plazas, streets, courtyards, and hidden spaces that typically go unnoticed in daily life. Lucas Seré Paltzer and Sebastián Andrés Podestá explore the connection between space and people through reflection at Plaza de San Bartolomé.

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Ever since we announced the results of the competition for the "New Bío Bío Regional Theater," promoted by the Regional Government and the Architecture Area of the National Council of Culture and the Arts, we had been eagerly awaiting the completion of the winning proposal.

Meu Coração Bate Como o Seu, the sculpture designed by Guto Requena and built in downtown São Paulo at Praça da República in honor of the LGBT community, has had its wiring destroyed and its internal light bulbs stolen.

Conceived to celebrate 40 years of community activism in São Paulo, the act against his work is, for Requena, homophobic in nature: "The country is becoming too violent, so I have no doubt that the vandalism of my work was intended to target the LGBT community."

Municipal public buildings, licensed urban spaces, and private buildings of collective interest and use will be required to display the names of the authors of the architectural and/or urban design project, as well as the technical professional responsible for the construction. This is mandated by a bill recently approved by the Maringá City Council. The text now goes to the city's mayor, Ulisses Maia, for approval.

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Dérive LAB is a multidisciplinary laboratory based in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, that seeks to explore, understand, and inspire alternative (new) ways of living and thinking about urban life. Through research, design, and action, they focus on developing art, architecture, urban design, and other disciplinary projects that impact three specific scales: public life, the built environment, and everyday objects.

After establishing itself—with ten editions already—as a key reference event for understanding the current and future state of architecture and urbanism in the Ibero-American community, the XI BIAU will take place for the first time in the city of Asunción in October 2019. The program of activities will include the presentation of selected works, keynote lectures, specialized presentations, and panel discussions organized around the central theme: aĩ paragua y (I inhabit - water).