As part of the events of the XXVI Colombian Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, the winning projects and publications have been announced.
Divided into 8 categories, the 283 submitted projects were evaluated by an international jury comprising Iñaqui Carnicero (Spain), Alejandro Beals (Chile), and Fabián Farfán (Bolivia), alongside local architects Germán Fonseca, Julián Rincón, Sara Giraldo, and Diego Aguilera.
[Developing story] The winning projects are:
Access to open public spaces is important for increasing leisure-time physical activity in high-income countries, as studies show, but evidence remains limited in middle-income countries. Moreover, in countries like Brazil and Colombia, for instance, leisure-time physical activity is still lower than in high-income countries like the United States—a situation that has not changed in recent years.
Celebrated globally every year, World Car-Free Day was established to encourage reflection on the excessive use of private cars for daily commutes and its environmental impact. The initiative encourages drivers to leave their vehicles behind for a day, improving air quality and urban life while promoting walking and non-polluting modes of transportation, such as cycling.
The event was officially launched in France in 1997 under the title "Car-Free Day," later spreading across Europe and, eventually, the world. Building on this momentum, European Mobility Week was launched in 2002, featuring an agenda dedicated to discussions and activities aimed at raising public awareness about the negative impacts of car dependency on air quality, the environment, human health, and cities. Urbanists and researchers such as Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, and Jeff Speck, among many others, have long demonstrated that the indiscriminate use of automobiles has severe consequences for urban environments.
The modernization of Bogotá between 1940 and 1970, captured in urban and architectural photographic essays, has been documented in various books, magazines, and photobooks of the era, as well as in images from the city's public and private archives. These photographs reveal a deliberate, and even critical, approach to how modern architecture reconfigured city centers, juxtaposing new buildings and urban spaces with the existing urban landscape.
To analyze the impact of street photography, one must look to Leo Matiz, Armando Matiz and Hernán Díaz. These three photographers captured the people, events, and urban life of Bogotá. From their extensive bodies of work, we have selected and highlighted images of streets, plazas, intersections, and landmark buildings. Whether capturing iconic or anonymous locations, these photographs cement modern heritage in the collective memory, casting architecture and urban spaces as the main protagonists.
In this edition of Bogotá through the Eyes of 10 Photographers, we explore the legacy of Hernán Díaz:
As 2018 draws to a close, it leaves us with a particularly interesting realization. Given its visual nature, Instagram has become a highly important tool for the dissemination of architecture in the digital era.
On our account, we share the various projects published on the site and keep track of the photographs with the most engagement. Do you know which images were our most popular on Instagram in 2018?
The 'House for Axel' project by PALMA arose in response to the events of September 19, 2017 (19S), when an earthquake centered in Morelos shook various parts of the country. In response, organizations like Reconstruir México, Pienza Sostenible, and Échale a tu Casa stepped in to support affected families by proposing long-term sustainable solutions. One of the guiding principles behind these initiatives was that demolishing to rebuild from scratch was not the solution. Instead, efforts focused on promoting the reuse of existing materials and structures, allowing for diagnostic assessments of the damage to prevent future disasters.
The modernization of Bogotá between 1940 and 1970, captured in urban and architectural photo essays, has been documented in various books, magazines, and photobooks of the period, as well as in images from the city's public and private archives. These shots reveal a deliberate, even critical, approach to how modern architecture reconfigured city centers and positioned new buildings and urban spaces in relation to the existing cityscape.
When analyzing the impact of aerial photography, one must consider Rudolf Schrimpff and Saúl Orduz. Although the subjects captured through the lenses of these two photographer-aviators were broad and varied, their aerial views of the city are extensive. Together, they form a consistent body of work documenting a modern city in transformation, offering insight into its urban development, as well as how various modern buildings and urban spaces integrated into and related to their surroundings.
In this edition of Bogotá Through the Eyes of 10 Photographers, we explore the legacy of Rudolf Schrimpff:
We are close to the announcement of the world's premier architecture prize. Here, we open the discussion on which architects from Portuguese-speaking countries deserve this honor. What is your take?
The third edition of the EA USS Workshop, organized by the School of Architecture at Universidad San Sebastián (Chile), featured Belgian architect Kersten Geers, founding partner of OFFICE KGDVS. In addition to participating in a series of discussions with workshop attendees, Geers held a public conversation with Enrique Walker and delivered a keynote lecture presenting his work and architectural reflections.
The 2018 edition brought together 14 teams, 11 of which represented domestic architecture schools, while 3 came from international institutions in Peru, Argentina, and Costa Rica—totaling 96 participants, including students and faculty advisors. To foster the development of projects capable of driving debate, each day of the workshop addressed a distinct theme, beginning with strategies led by Ernesto Silva, Director of the Santiago campus of EA USS, followed by the materialization of the project, led by Albert Tidy, Dean of the USS Faculty of Architecture.
To conclude, on Friday, October 26, an exhibition of the work produced by the teams was held, alongside an engaging conversation between Enrique Walker and Kersten Geers. The event wrapped up with a social gathering to celebrate the meeting of the schools and the high quality of the projects.
In his book *Ten Ways to Design a City*, Catalan urbanist Joan Busquets outlines a decalogue of what he considers the best approaches for intervening in cities to make them more dynamic, sustainable, and better places to live.
It is rare to find architects who engage with such a wide range of both the theoretical and practical dimensions of the profession. This is the case of Rubén Moreira [1], who approaches architectural design, research, criticism, architectural history, and teaching with equal and outstanding competence [2].
Rubén Moreira not only began his professional practice during a highly fertile period of Ecuadorian architecture, but also witnessed its key quests and transformations [3]. He was part of a generation of architects that reflected deeply on architectural processes, methods, and products [4]. His intellectual curiosity is clearly reflected in his postgraduate studies in Italy under two leading figures of architectural theory: Bruno Zevi and Manfredo Tafuri [5]. He taught design studio and history while pursuing research in architectural history. He also championed the creation of the MAE [6], as well as the Exhibition and Critical Guide of the "Architecture of Quito 1915-1985," which analyzes the context, authors, and landmark projects of each decade.
The practice of Chilean architects Abraham Schapira and Raquel Eskenazi is notable, among many other aspects, for its use of the balcony as a defining element in facade composition. Their work, located primarily in the municipalities of Providencia and Las Condes in Santiago, and in Viña del Mar, offers a rich diversity of typologies, uses, and layouts through formal treatment, engaging with Chile's modern urban proposals.
Designed by Andrea Fuentes Núñez, the project Mixed-Use Housing was chosen as one of the 10 winners in the Thesis Projects category of the 2018 Concurso Arquitectura Caliente (CAC 2018), a Chilean competition organized by Grupo Arquitectura Caliente and funded by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage.
Today, there is a pressing need for housing to move beyond domestic specificity. National and global economic shifts have driven individuals to seek new means of livelihood, meeting their needs by clinging to what they own and utilizing their only available land—their own property. By blending work and domestic life, the question arises: to what extent does housing yield to accommodate productivity?
Biomimicry in architecture does not prescribe form, nor does it strive for literal resemblance. Rather, the goal is to develop architectural solutions that execute strategies observed in nature. It is not about form for form's sake, nor is it about copying shapes; instead, it seeks a deeper reasoning behind those forms. Indeed, it goes far beyond merely drawing inspiration from shapes. It examines context, systems, and interrelations, and the true beauty of biomimicry lies in these connections. Architectural creation remains free, as it is guided by a design principle—the strategy of how nature achieves the performance a project requires for a specific demand. It is a process of co-creation between biology and architecture, making it truly transdisciplinary.
Books help us grow, tell us things we would never otherwise think of, show us places we would never visit, and teach us. Yet, someone can live their entire life in a city without ever truly seeing or understanding it. That is where books come in. In this post, we have selected 26 titles by Brazilian and international authors—works with diverse aims, but all centering on two main themes: cities and urban mobility. Through books, we can describe every street, building, or public space, reflecting on what life is like in the urban environment, how we move, and how it is all planned (or unplanned).
'We Are an Event' is a fictional persona born from the collaboration of Quentin Laurens-Berge and Lambert Moiroux, both of French nationality. The true moral and visual identity of this project was created to address questions about the city where it is based. This character serves as a sphere of exchange and a tool for creating distance from the work produced. Quentin and Lambert's work questions the modes of architectural production within the discipline, describing their projects as an oscillation between porno-chic and class struggle, as the aesthetics of their representation allow for a deeper exploration of themes like the Saint-Étienne International Design Biennale.
Currently, 'We Are an Event' is based in the tentacular—as they choose to call it—Mexico City, where they continue their practice with a social, moral, and cultural focus that addresses urban and spatial needs. Faced with a new territory, their goal is to deepen the practice of a different architectural discipline: real-time architectural performance.
Led by Cazú Zegers and GrupoTalca, AndesWorkshop 2017 took place last May and June in Patachoique, Lonquimay (Chile), in collaboration with the Arenales Mapuche community. The project aims to design the Mirador de la Corona alongside students and local communities, a structure that has already had a significant impact on Pehuenche communities, serving as a catalyst for the macro-project Ruta Pehuenche.
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2018 has been a special year for ArchDaily in Colombia: not only did we celebrate the first three years of our local site in Bogotá alongside prominent architects, and are now poised to set a new annual traffic record, but we also launched ArchDaily Colombia's Instagram account—which, thanks to you, has already reached 10,000 followers in just six months.
To wrap up this great year, we have selected the most popular projects—measured by total engagement, excluding reposts—on @archdailyco:
Fundación Arquia has published a new issue of its digital magazine Arquetipos, featuring an interview with sculptor and artist David Bestué, conducted by architect Moisés Puente with photography by José Hevia. The issue also includes articles on Olympic urban planning, the relationship between architecture and sculpture in the work of Chillida, Enric Miralles, Sert, Kiesler, and much more.
In the interview, titled "Language as Object," David Bestué (Barcelona, 1980) discusses how he approaches architectural space in his work, the influence of artists such as Dan Graham, Robert Smithson, Gordon Matta-Clark, and Juan Muñoz, and his interest in the formal qualities of work by architects Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós (the "local modern").
For this feature, the Fundación Arquia Blog, alongside architect Sabrina Gaudino Di Meo, brings us a conversation with architect Nerea Calvillo on how the project "In the Air" came to be. This multidisciplinary work, bridging data and ecology, visualizes urban air components to understand the behavior of microscopic agents and the implications of their concentrations for navigating the city.
It is not common to speak extensively about these ideas in architecture, even if we have fallen back on them more than once. Diagnosis, happiness, rehabilitation, void, sadness, fear, health, patient, save... words repeated over and over, integrating ever more coherently as you read, transforming into a discourse that convinces us of these architectural utopias. It is not about who is behind this proposal, but rather about what they achieve for architecture and society through this multidisciplinary union forged from different approaches—be it philosophy, sculpture, or illustration—all of them medicine for the soul. Ultimately, they are a critique wrapped in the high spirits of the 1950s.
Dialogues of space and time converge in these projects: that a building can move from one place to another, that its atmosphere can evoke another era. It is a philosophy based on healing cities through detachment and happiness. No building belongs entirely to a territory; no spirit is inherent to an era in itself. Much like their sculptural projects, one is born in New York, another remains in Peru, and another ends up in Brazil. All of this is delivered with the cheerful 1950s aesthetic they seek to bring back and popularize through their contemporary illustrations. Here, we present DAD's philosophy and three projects that put their principles into practice.
Without further ado, they happily share the details with us.
A Portuguese architect from a traditional aristocratic family, Fernando Távora's education was shaped by a profound discursive shift upon coming into contact with modernism. He often said that he "entered university in love with the Venus de Milo and left in love with Picasso," reflecting his intellectual brilliance in recognizing modernist initiatives as something with which he had to establish a dialogue. In 1945, he wrote for the first time about a "third way" for Portuguese architecture, a contribution that resonated both in his teaching—closely tied to the Porto School—and in his practice, finding direct and striking expression in several of his projects.
With more than 350 Colombian projects now published on ArchDaily, we celebrate this milestone with a curated selection that highlights the value of drawings in conceptualizing, designing, and constructing contemporary Colombian architecture.
While drawing is often associated with a project's earliest conceptual stages, Colombian architects continue to use sketching to explain structure, program, and even construction details in an era otherwise dominated by the efficiency of 3D modeling and rendering.
This selection ranges from single-family homes to public parks, including mixed-use facilities, kindergartens, and university buildings across Colombia.
In this piece, Daniel Morales Escudero offers a reflection on the Terminal 2 project in Valparaíso, addressing the proposal through the lens of Chile's three legal grounds for abortion.
