Articles

It is well known that mass tourism causes significant inconveniences for local residents, benefits large corporations at the expense of small entrepreneurs, and can strip away the very character that makes a place attractive. Yet, one must also admit that tourism generates jobs, increases income, stimulates new businesses, and improves urban quality in many respects—through urban revitalization, infrastructure improvements, and the construction of cultural facilities, for example. 

For several years, Lisbon has been experiencing a tourism boom that embodies both of these aspects. The city has undoubtedly changed. Urban rehabilitation projects have breathed new life into dilapidated areas, revitalizing public spaces and investing in the restoration and retrofitting of buildings that, in many cases, would otherwise have been condemned to ruin. New cultural facilities have been built, such as the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology - MAAT, designed by British architect Amanda Levete, and the new National Coach Museum by Paulo Mendes da Rocha, in collaboration with the firms MMBB arquitetos and Bak Gordon Arquitetos.

It is highly unlikely that you made it through architecture school without seeing or even helping to build a geodesic dome. These structures are defined by a mesh composed of a network of polygons—usually steel, wood, or bamboo triangles—that, when materialized in three dimensions, form spaces. By connecting the edges (struts) and rendering the structure three-dimensional, this model achieves strength and structural lightness through the uniform distribution of its dead load to the ground. From a technical and structural standpoint, this dome is composed of a series of similar struts that form a hemispherical surface based on triangles. Within this complex composition, strength and lightness are achieved through the uniform distribution of forces.

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This edition of the International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale has been the most active and representative yet for Mexican architecture. This biennale brings together the largest number of Mexican participants across various fronts and collaborative projects. The Mexican Pavilion, “Echoes of a Land”—located in the Sale d'Armi of the Arsenale—presents an approach to architecture that goes beyond form and programmatic function, associating it instead with geography, culture, and identity.

All the marketing surrounding smart cities—and there is plenty of it, since behind them are large corporations selling technology to municipal governments—speaks of humane and democratic cities, driven by the potential for citizen interaction with the government and how this can improve the responsiveness of public policies.

Yet, what we are actually seeing is quite different. So-called data mining powers targeted marketing; in other words, by tracking a user's online activity, it is possible to map their preferences. Thus, by appropriating the data we generate (without paying us for it!), companies bombard us with tailored advertisements. Almost everyone has experienced this: after searching for something online, you spend weeks receiving ads for that very item. While this is already an appropriation of the private data of the many for the business of the few, it becomes even more problematic when public information systems—such as police, judicial, and other records—are integrated into these platforms. And this has already begun to happen in China.

It is time to say goodbye to 2018 and look back at everything we have achieved. What captured our interest? What surprised us? What made an impact?

After presenting the best architecture of 2018, we decided to round up and highlight some of the Argentine projects that generated the most engagement on our social networks. Goodbye 2018, hello 2019.

When designing a building, a recurring thought is often how long it will endure. Once construction is complete and the building opens its doors to users, its lifespan begins, and it gradually establishes its legacy. This raises the question of how it will be remembered, of what imprint the building will leave on our minds: architectural memory. And like human memory, architectural memory is fickle. Buildings are forgotten just as memories fade.

Madrid's architecture makes excellent use of memory. Styles characteristic of its historic heritage remain standing today, fully functional. The Neo-Mudéjar style, for example, took root at the end of the 19th century; today, numerous surviving examples remain vital urban hubs, housing uses such as hospitals, universities, schools, care homes, cultural centers, and museums.

From the Fundación Arquia Blog, architect María Álvarez García presents an article on the controversial revival of garden cities in England's urban planning, which is depopulating city centers—proposals that lead to an inevitable segregation of uses that is neither sustainable nor conducive to social and economic development.

I have always felt a certain disconnect between the narrative found in popular songs, sociological and anthropological texts, and the actual experience of Carnival in Brazil. It is a gap between the promise of a rich, pluralistic festivity and the reality of someone born in the 1980s, growing up amidst the rise of mass culture, widespread violence, and a dehumanizing urbanization that leads to the abandonment or commercialization of urban rituals.

When we think of architecture in broad terms, certain masterpieces of the past inevitably come to mind—buildings constructed to withstand the passage of time, which have found an ally in the years, cementing their place in human history. Yet permanence is a heavy burden to bear, and architecture that is ephemeral by program should not be dismissed as less important.

Do you often find yourself complaining about a client’s lack of design sensibility? Do you frequently criticize the gap between renderings and reality? Do you often wish your architectural designs were closer to perfection?
How can these issues be resolved before a building is actually constructed?
There is only one answer: VR technology!
It allows clients to experience fully simulated designs, validating your ideas, while enabling designers to experience spaces beforehand to optimize their designs.
But what exactly is VR, and how powerful can it be?

Technological progress and development are increasingly shaping architectural design and representation. Because architecture inherently revolves around spatial experience, it provides a vast canvas for the application of VR technology. As a leading global provider of architectural VR technology, Sheencity has developed its core product, Mars, leveraging VR to allow projects to be immersively experienced and refined, while outputting animations and renderings at breakneck speeds. Directly compatible with the most common modeling software used by architects—such as SketchUp, Rhino, and 3ds Max—Mars instantly converts designs into VR scenes, delivering real-time rendering.

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Last May, the Canary Islands International Environmental Film Festival (FICMEC) celebrated its twentieth edition in Garachico, a small coastal town in northern Tenerife. On this occasion, a group of students from the School of Architecture at the Universidad Europea de Canarias participated in the festival by designing and constructing a series of four ephemeral architectural installations that boldly colonized iconic spots along Garachico's waterfront promenade.

Through four interventions, the students transformed the promenade with the dual goal of raising visibility for the festival and increasing public awareness of the impact of our daily habits on the environment.

Explore the proposals below.

It is a frequent observation that Brazilian cities have grown haphazardly, without proper planning. Likewise, it is often said that Brazil's urban legislation is modern, yet translating these best practices into reality remains a challenge. However, few people actually understand how the gears of urban planning work and how these mechanisms can help guide urban centers toward a better, more sustainable future.

After visiting numerous sites that have been the setting for tragic crimes against humanity and violent conflicts, one can make a simple observation: the space of collective memory is not solely confined to a memorial building that commemorates through names and stories. Particularly in Latin America, it is also a place evoked through gatherings and public demands.

Construction is complex. Anyone who has been on a construction site understands this. It is not just about having the right attitude and knowing how to lead a team of skilled craftspeople, masons, and specialists, but also about providing—or at least understanding—the right tools for them to perform each task in the best possible way.

While the construction knowledge gained during your university studies might be minimal until you have a few projects under your belt, learning to recognize the tools available on the market will not only help you save costs, but also speed up construction and reduce physical effort—delivering significant advantages.

Here, we present an overview of the different equipment, tools, and machinery most commonly used in architectural construction.

When it comes to design, the channels opened for information gathering are vital to the success of the process. The diversity and breadth of the audience to whom our questions and inquiries are addressed is so wide that we must design processes that allow everyone to contribute, and to do so constructively on a common playing field, as this is the only way to achieve a collective design. Through our experience, we have tested the effectiveness of different tools and selected those that we at Paisaje Transversal consider most effective.

Since it is always better to provide examples to understand and apply our work to reality, we have decided to use our project in Torrelodones to showcase these tools. This project involves the collaborative design for the remodeling of Pradogrande Park, a park of over 4 hectares located in the area of the Madrid municipality known as La Colonia, which extends through the urban center. The park's current use and the diverse activities it hosts—ranging from local festivals and occasional events to sports fields, play areas, and dog parks—make it even more critical to analyze every change and renovation alongside its users.

How, then, do we propose to listen to both the park and its users?

In early March, students, architects, and designers from Argentina gathered to bring their ideas to life in the second edition of Hello Wood Argentina, an international experience brought by local partners TACADI and MANDARiNA.

For this edition, the chosen theme for 2018 was "CON-TEXT"—a context we consciously build, where balance is achieved through the interaction of each of its parts, and what each part contributes is unique.

Discover the projects built in this edition below.

Designed by Cristian Fuhrhop, the project Arquitectura y Emergencia was chosen as the Grand Winner in the Degree Projects category of the Concurso Arquitectura Caliente 2018 (CAC 2018), a Chilean competition organized by the Grupo Arquitectura Caliente and funded by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage.

Chile's status as a country exposed to disasters, whether natural or human-made, has prompted a continuous design dialogue on how emergency situations should be addressed through architecture. Seemingly without reflection, we have shifted our focus toward a relentless race to solve temporary housing issues, guided either by a bleak technical-efficiency bias or through practically unfeasible proposals that are completely disconnected from actual emergency management operations within the country.

Due to a clear lack of awareness regarding the national civil protection plan and architecture's scope of action in these matters, we have overlooked equally urgent needs, such as community facilities and services—which, in many cases, are precisely what trigger or worsen the issues of temporary housing. 

Women represent the majority on the streets and in public transit. Travel patterns and transport mode usage vary significantly by gender, largely because women still disproportionately shoulder domestic responsibilities, many of which involve caring for children. While gender issues remain overlooked in urban planning, the access of women with children to the city is a topic in even greater need of attention. Through the testimonies of several mothers, the everyday consequences of failures in urban planning and mobility on mothers and children become glaringly clear.