The results of the International Competition for the Design of the Las Salinas Urban Park (PULS) in Viña del Mar, Chile, have been announced. Organized by the Association of Architects' Offices of Chile (AOA) and the real estate developer Las Salinas, the call invited architecture firms from all over the world to design a multifunctional green area capable of integrating the territory and becoming a social, cultural, sports, and educational meeting space accessible to everyone.
The impact of the pandemic on urban centers has laid bare the issues we seemed to have been avoiding in recent years. Today, the historic downtown of Buenos Aires is one of the city's most affected areas. Desolate streets, absolute silence, and endless shuttered storefronts reflect the crisis currently facing the city's downtown.
The Guatemala Architecture Biennale 2021 begins today, serving as a platform that will bring together the region's most prominent professionals from November 16 to 18 at the Miguel Ángel Asturias Cultural Center through symposiums, lectures, and exhibitions.
The architectural competition for the San Juan de Dios Hospital Complex in Bogotá was organized by the Urban Renovation and Development Agency (ERU) with advisory support from the Colombian Society of Architects. The goal was to reconnect and integrate the complex with its surrounding neighborhoods and the city center. This involves upgrading both the interior green areas and the peripheral public space, designing the plazas, pedestrian pathways, and interior gardens, as well as proposing options for pedestrian corridors and internal enclosures. In turn, the intervention will integrate the southern edge of the complex with the Policarpa and Sevilla neighborhoods, the north with the San Bernardo neighborhood, and the east with Las Cruces.
The private architectural design competition for the technical laboratories of the Bogotá Water and Sewerage Company (EAAB-ESP) was held to carry out the architectural design, the architectural and technical coordination of the studies, and the engineering designs for the laboratories. Located in Bogotá, the competition was organized by the company itself with the advisory support of the Colombian Society of Architects (SCA).
The evaluation criteria considered aspects such as integration with the urban context, public-private integration, accessibility, functionality, and spatiality of the architectural components, and the implementation of bioclimatic and sustainability criteria, including solar exposure, ventilation, and noise and/or humidity control. Out of the 17 proposals submitted, three prizes and two honorable mentions were awarded. Below, we present the winning projects.
Awarded second place in the “Earth Architecture Competition,” organized by the NGO C-re-aid, the primary school in Moshi, Tanzania, designed by a team of students from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, aims to promote education and sustainability as a means of spatial and social integration within the local reality. Varying heights and lengths of the horizontal planter beds enhance safety in the school environment while maintaining its connection to the street.
The school unfolds from a central corridor that reveals various distinct spaces, allowing children to develop creatively and connect with their surroundings, according to the project's authors: Ana Luísa Schoenell, João Victor Ortiz, Julia Stopasolla Copat, and Mariana Bruggmann Spricigo Pfleger. The program is divided into blocks, with classrooms and services connecting to this central corridor to foster physical and visual integration across all spaces.
CAU/RJ has extended the registration deadline for the CAU+Mulheres Awards. Female architects and urban planners now have until November 26 to submit their projects.
Now in its second edition, the CAU+Mulheres Award is one of the Council's initiatives to promote dialogue and increase the visibility of female architects and urban planners across their various fields of work. The award features five categories: Architectural Design; Interior Design; Urban Design; Architectural Design for Emergency Situations; and Theoretical Studies (theses, dissertations, books, and publications).
The 8th edition of the Arquiteturas Film Festival explored the theme Bodies Out of Space through an exploration of the social construction of space, connected by a thread running through its own narratives of domination. These are also narratives of identity, which is often stripped away or forced to represent our bodies.
On March 8, 2021, various demonstrations were held in Mexico City to mark International Women's Day (#8M), drawing attention to and demanding justice for the rising wave of daily femicides across the country. Over recent years, this crisis has triggered major protests, such as those on August 16, 2019, and March 8, 2020, where thousands of women gathered to protest through both peaceful and disruptive actions. These demonstrations transformed public spaces, resulting in damage to streets, public transit, and—most notably during the August 16, 2019 march—the Angel of Independence monument, which is still undergoing restoration. This damage sparked a massive backlash that discredited the feminist movement, prioritizing property damage over the core demands of the protests.
As part of the 1st Lima International Architecture Biennial (BIALIMA), the intervention on the San Luis Building, named the Zepita Building - Bicentennial Project, received the highest honor at the 2021 Architectural Quality Competition. This competition sought to recognize exemplary cases of excellence and creativity in buildings across the Lima and Callao regions, selecting 13 winning projects across 8 different categories.
Smart campuses represent a unique architectural typology of our time. They not only showcase a brand's core technology and identity, but their vast footprint and significant investment also capture public interest, raising expectations for an innovative, interactive destination. In January of this year, construction began on the Midea Shanghai Global Innovation Park. Designed by the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD), the campus spans a gross floor area of nearly 400,000 square meters with a total investment of over 6 billion RMB. It is scheduled for completion in 2024.
Located in the Hongqiao Business District of Shanghai, near the National Exhibition and Convention Center, the campus spans two urban plots. It is bordered by a natural waterway to the east and an urban green belt and the Shenhai Expressway to the west. BIAD conceived a "floating square ring" architectural form that hovers above the site. Both the building's roof and the landscape below are covered in "forests," seamlessly integrating the built volume with the environment. Equipped with Midea Group's proprietary smart building management systems and intelligent products, the campus aims to become a world-class green technology park.
The winners of the Provincial Preliminary Design Competition for the Refunctionalization and Enhancement of Independencia Park in Bahía Blanca (Buenos Aires, Argentina) have been announced. Organized by the Association of Architects of the Province of Buenos Aires (CAPBA D 10) and promoted by the Municipality of Bahía Blanca (MBB), the competition invited architects to develop projects to revitalize the site's facilities and consolidate the park's heritage value.
With a total of 80 entries submitted, the awards and honorable mentions have been announced for the National Preliminary Project Competition for the Technology-Educational Hub and Park, to be built on the ArcelorMittal Acindar site in the city of Villa Constitución, in the southern province of Santa Fe, Argentina. Conceived as an educational space open to the community, the Technology-Educational Hub and Park aims to boost interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and technology in society. The goal is to promote engineering skills and vocations among youth, while showcasing the materials and construction methodologies used by ArcelorMittal Acindar.
The winners of the National Competition for the Master Plan of Ideas and Preliminary Project for the Tenth Section Los Cerros District in Mendoza have been announced. Organized by the Mendoza College of Architects (CAMZA) and sponsored by the Argentine Federation of Architecture Organizations (FADEA), the competition aimed to gather proposals for a Master Plan of Ideas and Preliminary Project to develop a privately owned, publicly accessible urban development.
The 2015 earthquake that struck the Coquimbo region in Chile resulted in the relocation of 88 households from the Baquedano sector to safe zones. Consequently, the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism (MINVU), through SERVIU, launched a call for proposals to design public rental housing complexes based on general design, energy efficiency, and social participation criteria.
The team composed of Fundación Urbanismo Social and Cristián Fernández Arquitectos won first place in the competition, followed by the proposal submitted by TECHO + Sabbagh Arquitectos. The winning proposal includes a community-support plan that, alongside the construction of public spaces and social housing with mitigation measures, aims to provide displaced families with a safe space to settle and rebuild a sense of community.
The 2021 National Competition for Undergraduate Projects (CNPP) and National Competition for Thesis Projects (CNPT) by Arquitectura Caliente are open competitions that seek to recognize and reward the best student projects in Chile. In this latest edition, a total of 371 registered projects were submitted, representing 29 schools across the country and 10 different cities.
The Danta Awards are held alongside the Guatemala Architecture Biennial 2021 to recognize the hard work and innovation of Guatemalan and Central American architecture professionals and students. Over 100 projects have competed in previous editions, highlighting numerous architecture firms such as Shoarq, Piegatto, and Paredes Aleman Arquitectos.
Planting trees is one of the simplest and most effective ways to combat climate change, and many companies use tree planting to offset carbon emissions. However, when taking this approach, it is essential to ensure that the trees planted will effectively store sufficient amounts of carbon.
Planting location is a key factor. Trees must be planted where they can live for decades and properly absorb carbon from the air.
