Announced in 2016, the Cidade Matarazzo complex is currently under construction near Paulista Avenue in São Paulo. In addition to a tower designed by Jean Nouvel, the development includes the restoration of the former Matarazzo Hospital and the Santa Luzia Church, both heritage-listed by Condephaat – the Council for the Defense of Historical, Archaeological, Artistic, and Tourist Heritage of the State of São Paulo.

To protect the church's structure during excavation work, the engineering team behind the Grupo Allard development carried out a delicate procedure to keep the 1,200-ton building suspended 31 meters above the ground. 

Construction of Chile's second Museum of Memory will have to wait. As reported by national newspaper La Tercera, the project designed for the city of Concepción "was not included as a priority in the 2019 budget" by the Regional Ministerial Secretariat (Seremi) of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) of Biobío.

“We are talking about a construction project that we have estimated at nearly 4 billion pesos [USD 6 million]; it is therefore beyond what the MOP has historically built,” Daniel Escobar, regional secretary (Seremi) of Public Works, told the same outlet, adding that the budget is reaching 88 UF per square meter (2.6 million Chilean pesos). Following the shelving of the project, the mayor of Concepción, Álvaro Ortiz, questioned on Radio Cooperativa that “some technical reasons are being argued that, curiously, we did not know about before.”

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) has released the publication Urbanized Areas of Brazil, which maps the urban footprints of major Brazilian cities. Covering the changes that occurred between 2011 and 2015, the study presents an overview of the country's recent urbanization process.

This month, we continue to celebrate the 6th anniversary of ArchDaily Mexico, an achievement made possible thanks to the hard work of our great team, as well as the relationships we have built over the years with the local architectural community and our readers.

With this in mind, this year we decided to celebrate with a contest that involved all of our readers. We wanted to discover their favorite projects in Mexico, whether classic or contemporary. We asked our readers to follow the @ArchDailyMx account on Instagram and share their favorite project with us using the hashtags #ConcursoArchDailyMx and #6AñosArchDailyMx.

In recent years, International Women's Day has reclaimed the political significance of its origins, bringing together some of the most recent discussions surrounding women: the gender pay gap, the exposure of sexual abuse through the #MeToo movement, and, in the specific case of our discipline, the visibility of women in architecture. Zaha Hadid went so far as to say that she felt "harshly judged for [the fact of] being a woman," despite winning the Pritzker Prize in 2004.

If that happened to her, imagine the rest.

In this regard, at ArchDaily we have opened up the discussion and are proud to highlight the work of women architects worldwide, in addition to partnering with interesting Latin American initiatives along the same lines, such as Un día, una arquitecta. For this edition of International Women's Day, we have joined forces with the Colombian print publication de-Arq (Universidad de los Andes) to showcase the work of five contemporary Colombian women architects, who represent distinct yet complementary approaches within our discipline: design, research, teaching, and experimentation.

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Alongside the activities and lectures held over three consecutive days at the Lux Theater in Guatemala City's historic center, the Guatemala Architecture Biennale (BAG) presented the winning works and projects of the Danta Awards on Wednesday, May 30, and Thursday, May 31.

For this edition, the organization proposed that architecture "is approached as a commitment to the public and private spheres and the power to negotiate individual or collective change to build dreams and aspirations, and even to express utopian ideals." Within this context, the jury evaluated more than 100 submitted projects from across Guatemala and the rest of Central America, recognizing parks, collective housing, gymnasiums, and renovations, among other typologies, that address the vision outlined by BAG 2018.

All winning projects in the professional category will be registered and sponsored to participate in the XXI Pan-American Architecture Biennale of Quito 2018, where they will be exhibited alongside projects from across the Americas and evaluated by the Biennale's jury.

An affordable, eco-friendly housing research project is being developed in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world. Named "Casas Melhoradas" (Improved Houses), the project is a partnership between the KADK (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts) School of Architecture, the Mozambican NGO Estamos, and Architects Without Borders. The goal is to develop low-cost, dignified housing with minimal environmental impact.

Videos

José Joaquín de Olmedo Airport—Ecuador's second busiest—will relocate to the outskirts of Guayaquil in 2022, freeing up 240 hectares in the city center. In response to the unprecedented urban opportunity presented by this relocation, the firm Perkins Eastman has revealed the first images of Nueva Ciudad, a 2-million-square-meter master plan in Guayaquil.

Stephen Forneris, head of the Ecuador office, explained that the project "can be a catalyst for economic growth, cultural activities, and entertainment; it will be the spark that begins Guayaquil's journey to becoming the city of the future."

Today, Wednesday, November 21, the winners of the 2018 Gold Medal competition were announced as part of the XXI Pan-American Architecture Biennial of Ecuador (BAQ2018) in Quito.

The jury for the 2018 Gold Medal competition, comprising Astrid Petzold (Venezuela/Mexico), Ana Milovan (Uruguay), and Lucas Fehr (Brazil), determined the winning projects of the contest, which honors the best student work produced at Ecuadorian schools and departments of architecture between November 2016 and October 2018.

One of São Paulo's primary historical and tourist landmarks, the Pateo do Collegio—the founding site of the state capital—awoke with its facade covered in graffiti. "Olhai por nois" [Look out for us] is the phrase that, in red letters, covers the facade of the Museum of Sacred Art and the chapel of the complex, which belongs to the Society of Jesus.

Under Brazil's environmental crimes law, defacing monuments is a crime, and perpetrators can face up to one year in prison. At the time of publication, those responsible for the act had not been identified by the Metropolitan Civil Guard.

The Villa-Lobos Park Library (BVL), in the western zone of São Paulo, is one of five finalists for the best public library award from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the industry's most prominent international organization. The Villa-Lobos Park Library was built on the site of a former open-air landfill. The revitalization of the area led to the creation of a free-entry, open-access reading space, modeled after the São Paulo Library in Youth Park (Parque da Juventude), which has also competed for another international award.

The Accademia Adrianea di Architettura di Roma has awarded the 2018 Piranesi Award to Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza for his outstanding professional career in relation to historic heritage.

The Piranesi Award is a prestigious international recognition, sponsored by the Accademia Adrianea, the Ordine degli Architetti of Rome, and the Casa dell'Architettura, which honors the quality of an architect's work and their approach to the classical.

Public attention turned to the protests in Puchuncaví and Quintero, municipalities designated as a "sacrifice zone" due to the presence of 15 major energy, chemical, and fuel companies, while Santiago works on the opening of a new green lung in the city center. This week is dedicated to the environment in this edition of La ciudad chilena en la prensa, the ArchDaily section where we cover what is happening in Chilean cities.

With the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale approaching, ArchDaily Brasil interviewed the curators of the Brazilian pavilion – Laura González Fierro, Sol Camacho, Gabriel Kozlowski, and Marcelo Maia Rosa – to better understand their curatorial proposal and clarify details of public participation in this endeavor.

Read the interview below:

A few days ago, FIFA announced that Mexico, the United States, and Canada will host the 2026 World Cup. The news came as a surprise to some, as it will be the first World Cup to be played across three countries, featuring a new format with 48 teams divided into 16 groups of three. Consequently, further details on the organization will not be available until 2020, when FIFA is scheduled to announce the event's logistics.

Knowing that many of our readers are fans of both soccer and Mexican architecture, we present this special feature on the three Mexican stadiums that will host the 2026 World Cup. Don't miss it!

UNESCO has added 19 new sites to the World Heritage List, including the Caliphate City of Medina Azahara (Córdoba, Spain) during its recent 42nd session held in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

The report prepared ahead of the session includes the evaluation and final conclusions of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). Following a comparative analysis conducted both nationally and internationally, the council concluded that, alongside Medina Azahara, only Samarra (Iraq) stands as a well-preserved example of a caliphate city. Furthermore, among all caliphate cities, Medina Azahara is the only one that provides evidence of the culture and knowledge of the Islamic civilization that reached Europe.

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'El Croquis' is one of the most prestigious international architecture magazines, edited by architects Fernando Márquez Cecilia and Richard Levene. Published as carefully curated monographs, the magazine analyzes the work of architects whose careers feature some of the most influential and prestigious projects globally, such as OMA Rem Koolhaas, Kazuyo Sejima, Herzog & de Meuron, Álvaro Siza or Rafael Moneo. Every two months, a new issue is published with a print run of 35,000 copies, distributed to specialized bookstores in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

The magazine is published in English and Spanish from El Escorial in Madrid, Spain, and is currently a member of ARCE (Asociación de Revistas Culturales de España) and the Asociación de Editores de Madrid. To date, only 193 issues have been published, the latest of which is dedicated to the career of architect Manuel Cervantes—the first Mexican architect to be featured in 'El Croquis' and the second from Latin America, following Smiljan Radic.

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As part of the acoustic exhibition "Modos de Oír," Mexican architect Mauricio Rocha built an architectural and sculptural structure designed to unfold the space of the central nave, creating an ascending path that evokes the cochlear shape of the ear.

The exhibition is spread across the various spaces of the Convento de San José and the Templo de Santa Teresa la Antigua, currently Ex Teresa Arte Actual. Built in the early 17th century, this venue is renowned for hosting numerous events, exhibitions, and sound showcases due to its unique acoustics. Sound art has experienced a significant boom in Mexico in recent decades, with specific links to other historical periods where sonic thinking was also present. Driven by the unique character of this venue and its rich history, Laboratorio Arte Alameda and Ex Teresa Arte Actual sought to create a comprehensive exhibition featuring works that spark a collective reflection echoing the richness, complexity, and significance of the sound art scene.

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Colectivo Tomate is a Puebla-based civil organization made up of 20 artists, lawyers, architects, designers, nutritionists, and administrators who have intervened in around eight cities across Mexico, inviting people to take action in the streets to drive transformation, demonstrate the power of citizens in communities, and strengthen community ties.

On September 30, 2013, at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the collective was recognized with the Quórum award for their Ciudad Mural project. This award recognizes, among other categories, the strategic use of design to impact quality of life as an agent of change, as well as its role as a key ingredient for innovation, productivity, and economic development in the country.

The restoration of a disused heritage asset, its repurposing, and sensitivity to the surroundings were the key concepts valued by the jury in selecting this winner of the 18th edition of the Clarin-SCA National Award for Architecture Students.

Agustín Ichuribehere, a student at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, guided by professor Martín Villanueva, designed the winning project. The proposal features a building for the Department of Music and Lutherie of the Universidad Nacional del Comahue, integrating an intervention on a heritage site: the former warehouses of "La Reginense" cider factory in Villa Regina, Rio Negro, Argentina.

Learn more about the proposal in the author's own words below.

The exhibition “10 Exponents of the 21st Century: City, Architecture, and Design” launches the cultural activities at Espacio CDMX, a public space dedicated to promoting architecture, urban planning, and socially responsible design in the city, while also serving as a temporary creative venue and Information Center for World Design Capital CDMX 2018.

The Mexican Pavilion presents a creative process in which architecture embraces geographic sensitivity and diversity. The exhibition visualizes the territory, its layers, and cultural expressions through sixteen murals that showcase architectural abstractions, intentions, and contextual appropriations for each work.

Curated and designed by Gabriela Etchegaray and Jorge Ambrosi, the exhibition establishes sequences that reveal a dialogue between natural phenomena, geographic formations, and design solutions. Each stone panel shapes the space, highlighting cross-cutting readings: a country vulnerable to natural disasters due to its geological conditions; a highly diverse architecture in terms of scale, site, and integration; and a critical reflection on architecture's role in relation to the Freespace theme of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

Spanish photographer Fernando Alda explores the construction of the Pacific Center building in Panama, designed by local firm Ventura Arquitectos, in his most recent photo essay. Titled "An Aesthetics of Disappearance," Alda's work was exhibited in the Panamanian firm's pavilion during the inaugural Expo Modii 2018 in Panama City.

Scaffolding, energy dissipators, shoring, electrical installations, and safety netting define the temporary spaces that make up this photo essay. These compositions center on spaces rendered invisible while awaiting the real spaces. "In Pacific Center," writes architect Silvia Escamilla, "he freezes this temporal lapse and the ephemeral elements that inhabit it, those that go unnoticed by us, granting them a new aesthetic value."

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On November 2–3, the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) hosted a major academic forum titled "Challenge: Re-examining Architectural Thought, Education, and Practice." Numerous domestic and international figures and deans of renowned institutions participated in the discussions, including Arata Isozaki, Rem Koolhaas, and Wang Shu. On the afternoon of November 3, acclaimed Chinese architect Liu Jiakun, principal of Jiakun Architects, attended the forum as a guest speaker. With his characteristic warmth and humor, Liu spoke on the core principles of architectural practice, focusing on his West Village Basin project in Chengdu.