Articles

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.

Arquetipos, the digital magazine published by the Fundación Arquia, has released a new issue centered on an interview with designer Guillermo Santomà, conducted by Moisés Puente and featuring photography by José Hevia. This issue also includes other articles related to the featured designer, touching upon figures such as Le Corbusier, Arne Jacobsen, and Buckminster Fuller.

For this edition, Moisés Puente draws upon, copies, and poses the very same questions from L. Amic’s famous 1972 interview with Charles Eames, titled “What is design?”, which served as the conceptual foundation for the exhibition held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris that same year. This “copying” of the interview serves dual purposes: on one hand, it nods to the interviewee himself, who employs this very strategy in his own work process; on the other, it invites readers to engage in an intriguing play of parallels and temporal links between Eames’s historical reflections on design and those offered today, 45 years later, by Santomà. 

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The Chilean firm Biourban Arquitectos has been awarded the design of the new bus terminal in Castro, located in the far south of Chile. The project will be situated in the historic center of the main city on Chiloé Island and will feature parking, a supermarket, a shopping mall, and an urban viewpoint.

"Part of the challenge of the new concession is to leverage the social and urban benefits of being in the heart of the city, with excellent accessibility to all basic services," the authors state.

Walking through the streets, we encounter various shapes, colors, textures, sounds, and smells. Our senses are activated, and these stimuli connect us to the place we are in. Cities are often synonymous with exhaust fumes, engine noises and honking, and shades of gray. The scarcity of natural or built elements that convey a sense of safety, comfort, and aesthetic pleasure contributes to our ongoing discontent and frustration in the urban environment. These feelings fuel a lack of connection between people and places, a lack of empathy for others, and a detachment from the public realm.

For the third edition of Casa FOA, architects Giulia Carboni and Macarena Canales collaborated to create "Genderless Bathroom," a space that champions the shared, unisex nature of public restrooms. Guided by this concept and inspiration, the design focuses on gender-neutral restrooms constructed from planes of color and light.

Furthermore, the layout guides visitors along a path highlighting a mural by Santiago Ascui, where human figures facing mirrors fragment both the artwork itself and the reflections of those passing by. 

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About three billion people, or 40% of the global population, will need new housing by 2030. This will require building approximately 21 million new homes per year worldwide.

Several of the fastest-growing countries have ambitious targets to meet this need. The Indian government aims to build 20 million low-cost homes by 2022. Nigeria targets one million homes built per year over the next decade. Indonesia's president has launched the One Million Houses program to serve low-income citizens.

As part of Semana UTEM 2018 in Chile, the **Infraestructuras en Obsolescencia** (Obsolete Infrastructures - WIO) workshop brought together 21 teams from the Faculty of Architecture at the Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM). These teams developed design proposals to intervene in seven obsolete structures in Santiago, ranging from a currently closed pedestrian bridge to a dilapidated train station.

Featuring international guests Luis Tombé (Colectivo720, Colombia) and Walter Leone (Leone Arquitectura, Venezuela) —who also participated in the CONTRAPOSICIONES lecture series and delivered keynote addresses at the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile—, each team comprised seven students from different years of the architecture program, guided by two faculty advisors.

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Three months ago, the 20th Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism opened in Valparaíso. Titled "Diálogos Impostergables" (Urgent Dialogues), the 2017 edition was an invitation to understand the design and construction of our cities through a broad lens—one that incorporates aspirations and knowledge from outside the discipline.

As the most important event in Chilean architecture, this year's biennial served as a platform for projects reflecting on what we consider urgent in architecture and urbanism. Simultaneously, it examined how the profession can engage with those living on the margins, whose needs and aspirations have long been neglected in urban development. 

Originally published in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio de Valparaíso, this column written by Alberto Texido, President of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile, addresses the current urban landscape of Valparaíso after the Chilean Supreme Court's ruling declared the building permit for a mega-mall —Mall Plaza Barón— on the waterfront of the Chilean port city illegal.

With the judicial outcome of the Puerto Barón project decided, there is little room for celebration. Instead, there is concern over the more than 15 years lost by Valparaíso, its authorities, the business community, and its citizens, who have failed to reach a consensus to move past neglect and lack of investment. Yet, beyond this regrettable litigation—which has exposed a collective inability to bring projects to fruition—it is this very status quo that has been overcome, at least by an active citizenship ready to build a new local representation. From its outset, and unlike its predecessors, this movement has successfully offered a counterpoint, demanding maximum quality, better public participation, and regulatory compliance for major urban projects.

Concluding the activities of "Urban October," celebrated annually, the UN designated October 31 as "World Cities Day" to promote a greater exchange of experiences among countries on how to address the challenges of growing global urbanization and contribute to sustainable development.  

The progressive de-urbanization of Detroit—occurring, paradoxically, during what is supposedly “the era of cities” as a consequence of the collapse of economic structures and social organization—has transformed what was once one of the most economically vigorous US cities of the mid-20th century into a vast footprint of vacant plots, creating isolated islands and solitary objects on the plain.

KPF has released the latest construction progress photos of The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences. Located on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah—the emirate’s premier resort destination—the 45-story building comprises 806 guest rooms and 256 apartments. The main structure stretches along the coast, forming an “open-air screen” against the sea.

The overall design deconstructs the traditional hotel and residential “resort block” into individual volumes. These separated masses are stacked to create fourteen “sky courts” and twenty sky terraces, offering fully open, private outdoor spaces accessible directly from the guest suites and apartments—a layout that seamlessly integrates indoor and outdoor living. Each residential apartment features a private plunge pool and garden designed to maximize shade and harness year-round breezes blowing across the water and vegetation, ensuring these private oases remain cool and comfortable throughout most of the day. While current construction photos reveal the primary massing of the main building, the sky courts are still taking shape.

Our partner Vidrio Andino has shared valuable insights into the world of glass with us, helping us better understand how the material behaves and guiding us in choosing the right glass for our architectural projects.

From A to Z, read on to discover why thermal shock should be avoided, what solar factor actually means, and exactly what tempered glass is.

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Prompted by significant inefficiencies and silos in their workflow—where design, modeling, and documentation were treated as separate tasks—David Miller Architects (DMA) decided to transition the firm to the world of BIM (Building Information Modeling) in 2008. While their transition proved highly successful, the trial-and-error process yielded key lessons that are crucial for any firm looking to rethink its architectural design processes.

During a June 2018 conference in Santiago, Chile, we spoke with British architects, including representatives from Planbim, during a workshop titled “Why Implement BIM in 2020.” The session outlined seven key takeaways to help architecture practices adopt this paradigm shift.

1. The Smaller Your Practice, the Easier the Transition

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Exactly one year ago, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook at least nine Mexican states, leaving several areas severely damaged across Mexico City, Puebla, Morelos, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Tlaxcala, Guerrero, and the State of Mexico. Twelve months have passed in a constant struggle to rebuild from the remnants of that nightmare. Yet in those flooded streets, hope was reborn day by day through a social phenomenon that catalyzed vibrant, self-organizing communities rising to rebuild the structures that define us.

Undeniably, 19S represented a pivotal moment, reminding us of our fragility but also of how strong we can be when we work together. It underscored the importance of being physically present on the ground and engaging in dialogue to find appropriate solutions for local communities. It forced us to rethink the mechanics of cities and their peripheries, but above all, it forced us to rethink our practice as architects. We gained a stark understanding of how national politics and power operate; a genuine critique emerged, exposing the fractures left by corruption and our lack of preparation for natural disasters. 19S was, among many other things, a reminder of where we stand and our duty as inhabitants of this territory.

In recent years, we have witnessed the rise of the concept of “citizen participation,” particularly in the political sphere. As is often the case, this surge is not without controversy and carries inherent risks. Much like what occurred with the term “sustainability,” participation can be relegated to a smoke screen used to conceal specific types of political despotism. A clear example of this can be found in the Netherlands; in September 2013, King Willem-Alexander announced “the transition to a participatory society” to justify dismantling the welfare state through neoliberal policies and some of the harshest budget cuts the country has ever faced.

Clearly, urbanism and urban planning have not been immune to this trend. While the development of statutory urban planning instruments (General Plans, Partial Plans, Special Plans, etc.) is legally required to incorporate public participation mechanisms, the reality is that these are often reduced to public comment and exhibition periods. Consequently, actual participation is replaced by mechanisms that belong strictly to the realm of communication and information sharing.

Modern and surreal, yet without compromising on functionality and comfort, the bathrooms designed by emerging architects and designers at the current Casa FOA interior design exhibition in Santiago, Chile, seek to rethink a traditional space within an innovative context, aiming to trigger a different experience for both users and spectators.

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The construction industry consumes more resources than any other sector, and the weight of the Technosphere—the urban and planetary stratum of everything we produce—reaches 30 trillion tons. Engineers, architects, and designers are at the heart of the Anthropocene.