This guide covers a workflow that moves from project parameters to generated floor plans, 3D perspective views, exterior design exploration, and site context visualization, using AI tools in place of preliminary CAD and rendering work.

“Together we are stronger,” read the signs at the massive Latin American marches on International Women's Day. Women build networks across all their spheres of action: their families, communities, and workplaces. The world of architecture is no exception. Among women architects, these bonds foster connection, as seen in the nearly 30 networks of women architects in the region featured below.

Hotel Magnolia, designed by architect Cazú Zegers and built in 2013 in Santiago, Chile, has been featured for the fourth consecutive year in the Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards, ranking among the Top 20 Hotels in South America.

The purpose of this article is to expand on the relevant debate proposed in Marília Matoso's piece, titled We Need to Rethink Architecture Programs, published on ArchDaily in January 2023. Indeed, rethinking architecture education is a task that is not only necessary but also urgent. However, I believe this discussion is inseparable from debates about the profession itself and how we educate future professionals. Rather than simply attempting to formulate definitive answers, I think it is important to raise further questions that contribute to our collective reflection.

To us, architectural practice is an organic process of construction. Within this framework, we emphasize three dimensions of practice: research, design, and execution. Rather than being strictly sequential, these three aspects are parallel and intersecting. Refined through both built works and speculative projects, our daily collaboration has become increasingly grounded and stable. Consequently, our practice has crystallized around three main pillars: historical context, community placemaking, and a smart future. In recent years, guided by a diverse, multifaceted, and open-minded architectural perspective, we have strived to create vivid scenarios and spaces tailored to the unique narrative of each project, seeking enduring poetry and value. Our ultimate goal is to create dignified human habitats for society through precise and poetic architectural design.

Since 2021, to provide more specialized services for local projects in Hangzhou and the Yangtze River Delta region, ALYA established its Hangzhou studio and formed an urban design team. Over the years, the firm has received widespread international media attention, numerous awards, and exhibition invitations, including the ARCASIA Gold Medal, the UK's Dezeen Awards (Hotel Building of the Year), the UK's BUILD Award for Architecture and Sustainable Design, the DFA Design for Asia Awards, the Venice Architecture Biennale, Wallpaper* Design Awards, WA China Architecture Awards, and the IDEAT Future Award. In 2021, Yuyang Liu, founder of ALYA, was appointed by the Hangzhou Canal Group as the Chief Planning and Design Advisor for the Cultural and Tourism Integration of the Hangzhou Grand Canal. Following three challenging years of the global pandemic, ALYA will celebrate a series of project completions in 2023, while systematically launching high-quality, meticulous, sustainable, and highly creative projects aligned with future trends.

For those who are passionate about the healthy development of premier Chinese architectural practices, value a pioneering spirit and precision, enjoy exploring the unknown, and seek to grow with us into a world-class professional design team based in the Yangtze River Delta, we warmly invite you to join ALYA.

Recently, many Brazilian cities have turned to tactical urbanism as a way to intervene in the design of their streets, making them safer and more appealing—all at a low cost and on a short timeline.

The volume and nature of these interventions have been particularly remarkable in addressing the immediacy imposed by the pandemic in our cities. They seek to adapt street layouts to modes of travel that reduce the risk of transmission during daily commutes, even amidst scenarios of restricted activities.

As part of the FUGAZ Greater Concepción Urban Interventions Festival, a team comprising Álvaro Parraguez, Beatriz Harriet, Bárbara Schumacher, Josefa Acevedo, and Luis Cambiaso developed an installation at the Villarrica coastal resort in Dichato (Concepción, Chile) that won the 2022 Ephemeral Installations Competition. The competition called for an ephemeral installation to serve as a functional venue for the festival, accommodating various daytime performances and activities across dance, theater, music, and other disciplines.

We are living in a state of emergency. Since the dawn of industrialization, we have rushed through our planet's finite resources as if they were limitless, depleting and destabilizing the very ecosystems we depend on for our sustenance, economy, food, health, and quality of life.

In just 50 years, we have lost more than half of the world's wildlife. Currently, the Earth is on track to warm beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, which scientists warn is a hard planetary boundary for existing ecosystems. This is a “code red for humanity,” as described in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. Continuing on our current path will mean irreversibly damaging the very conditions that sustain life on this planet.

Today, the kitchen has evolved into an architectural hub for gathering and socializing, displacing the living or dining room as the home's primary social center. Similarly, in contemporary design, the bathroom has taken on a central role. Design concepts now reflect the user's personality, whether in small or spacious layouts, by combining wall and floor coverings, materials, and decorative elements.

Bathroom and kitchen renovation has become a booming sector within architecture, driven by a vast range of product options and projects that are increasingly accessible to execute. These spaces are no longer merely utilitarian; they can also be designed to reflect the overall character of the home.

Casa Batlló, located on the iconic Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona, Spain, is an architectural masterpiece that embodies a synthesis of creativity, innovation, and architect Antoni Gaudí's deep connection with nature. Built between 1904 and 1906, this residence is a major tourist attraction in the city and an important contribution to architectural history. Here, we analyze Casa Batlló through concepts central to the field of neuroarchitecture.

+ 1

Perhaps the aphorism that holds the greatest truth in both architecture and other areas of life is the following: “those who know the past can control their future.” This is reflected in architecture schools, where texts and works of traditional Mexican architecture are still taught, though 20th and 21st-century architecture is featured in a much greater proportion. Yet, an analysis of current architectural production suggests that recent graduates and professionals are unfamiliar with their own history. This is problematic as our identity, expressed through the architecture of our cities, is fading. At least, this is the view of the founders of the new multidisciplinary association “INTBAU México.”

As part of a new collaboration between Mexican firms Dellekamp Arquitectos and Rojkind Arquitectos, Casa Roca is presented in Puerto Los Cabos, San José del Cabo, Mexico. Inspired by the rock formations at the site's summit, the project features a radial layout carefully organized in response to its topography. Sited on a 5,000 m² lot, the 1,200 m² house organizes its program along the natural landscape, minimizing its footprint and establishing a close relationship with nature as the core living experience.

Videos

Terra is the title of Brazil's participation in the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, an exhibition curated by Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares that occupies the spaces of the Brazilian pavilion at the Giardini. Divided into two galleries, the exhibition challenges the canons of modern architecture while seeking alternatives for a decolonized and decarbonized future in marginalized ancestral narratives. Terra is the first Brazilian pavilion to be awarded the Venice Architecture Biennale's highest honor, the Golden Lion.

In an effort to expand access to the content exhibited in Venice, we present here the texts and images from the second gallery, titled Places of Origin, Archaeologies of the Future. The first gallery, Decolonizing the Canon, can be revisited here. ArchDaily would like to thank the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, which generously provided the material from the Terra pavilion for this publication.

+ 15

Increasingly robust and promising scientific evidence can assist architects and other designers seeking inclusive design by taking diverse minds into account—that is, creating built environments that engage with neurodiversity. Neurodiversity has always been a part of humanity. The term encompasses people with a wide range of neurological conditions and was coined by sociologist Judy Singer in 1999.

+ 2

Each year, the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), through the National System of Art Creators (SNCA), honors key figures of excellence in national culture through the Young Creators Program. By providing grants, the program supports the creative and educational development of young Mexican artists, fostering favorable conditions for the execution of original, meaningful, and positive creative projects. For this edition, the grant recipients in the “Architectural Design” category were Ruy Berumen, Diego González, Juan José Kochen, Ignacio Pérez, Elsa Ponce, Luca Salas, and Tania Tovar, who worked under the mentorship of tutors Elena Tudela Rivadeneyra, Rafael Ponce Ortiz, and Patricia Ivonne Álvarez De Anda.

As physical and digital commerce increasingly merge, designers and architects are creating shopping experiences that bridge the gap between physical and online spaces. We are beginning to witness the dawn of a new retail landscape that skillfully overlays disruptive digital behaviors with new aesthetics.

Choosing color palettes plays a fundamental role in any design strategy. Beyond their influence on aesthetics, spatial perception, and emotion, selected colors can define the character of an environment. When choosing a color palette, it is essential to consider the context, the building's use, and the lifestyle of its inhabitants, while also accounting for how the colors interact—whether as complementary hues, highlights, or counterpoints to predominant tones.

In addition to enhancing interior comfort, colors profoundly influence user perception and behavior. Alongside structural and ornamental elements, paint choices complete the definition of color palettes in architecture and design. As they do every year, Sherwin-Williams has presented its color trends—this year introducing Terra Colormix 2023, which features 40 trending colors inspired by the rich interweaving of our lives and spaces. Below, we present various color palettes tailored to different types of projects—such as workspaces, educational and healthcare centers, multifamily buildings, contemporary residences, and hospitality spaces—showcasing the versatility of this collection through practical applications.

Founded in 2006, Shanghai Hetai Architectural Decoration Co., Ltd. has spent the past 17 years specializing in the research and practice of fair-faced concrete restoration and long-term protection, as well as the creation of fair-faced concrete finishes (weather-resistant Portland cement and weather-resistant white cement finishes). Through rigorous product selection, performance testing, process exploration, project application, and technological innovation, the company has successfully completed the restoration and long-term protection of 36 fair-faced and conventional concrete buildings cast across various periods. Additionally, they have completed nine fair-faced concrete finish projects alongside ongoing weather-resistance and stability testing spanning 10 to 16 years.

Proper home insulation and selecting the right materials are fundamental when undertaking a construction project. These strategies enhance interior comfort and serve as a long-term cost-saving measure.

During periods of heavy rainfall, news of urban disasters such as landslides, floods, and waterlogging is recurrent, resulting in loss of life and severe property damage. In most cases, the vulnerability of the affected areas was already well known, yet their occupation was not prevented. As a rule, these devastated areas are reoccupied by survivors as quickly as possible, without any mitigation work being done to eliminate the risk.

While design has become increasingly professionalized over the years, design literacy and visual thinking—the ability to understand and interpret visual resources—are becoming non-negotiable in many workplaces, even for those who do not consider themselves designers.

Visual thinking is the tool of processing information visually, using the emotional and creative parts of the brain to organize data intuitively and simultaneously through drawings, graphics, and strong aesthetic clarity and color theory.

As part of the 66 interventions planned under the Rímac River Special Landscape Project (PEPRR)—and developed by the Public Space Projects team at PROLIMA (Program for the Recovery of the Historic Center of Lima)—the Monserrate Canal Promenade and Plaza project in the Historic Center of Lima seeks the comprehensive revitalization of the historic Monserrate neighborhood. By highlighting the archaeological heritage of the canal, the project aims to integrate the memory of the historic landscape and the identity of its residents into the public space.

Today, Brazil celebrates Student Day. Established in 1927, the date marks access to a fundamental right for all citizens: education. Nearly a century later, new pedagogies and ways of looking at learning have emerged, bringing with them new architectures that embrace both pedagogical and technical advancements. With this in mind, we have gathered seven examples of Brazilian educational spaces designed after 2020. Through solutions that highlight key design aspects, these projects help outline a brief overview of contemporary references on the subject.

+ 15

Some symbols transcend language barriers, easily recognized and understood across different cultures—such as restroom icons, the medical cross, and, more recently, the universal Wi-Fi symbol. Among these ubiquitous graphics is the "recycling" logo, conceived in 1971 by architect and designer Gary Anderson while he was a student at the University of Southern California. The symbol features three clockwise arrows forming a triangle, representing industry, consumers, and recycling, respectively.

Reintegrating what is typically discarded as waste back into the production cycle is a core tenet of the circular economy. This concept is particularly relevant to the construction industry, which has historically relied on resource extraction and destruction to sustain itself. Because the brick is synonymous with building anew, nothing embodies the circular concept quite like it. Innovators have risen to the challenge, devising solutions that transform waste into high-value resources, producing building blocks from raw waste materials ranging from seaweed and plastic to human hair. These innovations not only address pressing environmental concerns but also fundamentally redefine how we construct and inhabit our spaces. In this article, we highlight seven initiatives turning waste into valuable building blocks.

On a recent trip to the United States, looking out the airplane window while taking off from Tampa, Florida, I was struck by the pristine green landscape of the American suburb. Neatly organized rows of seemingly identical trees blanketed the flat terrain like a green carpet. To some, this abundance of green might look like a dream of environmentally integrated sustainability.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The American suburb, based on the outdated concept of the “garden city,” was designed to favor the automobile, low-density single-family housing, and single-use zoning. This model virtually rules out active transportation (walking or cycling) and makes mass transit—which relies on density and walkability—wholly unviable.