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.

It was a city of untamed rivers: they seasonally burst their banks, shaping fertile, humid floodplains. When the waters receded, the ground became firm enough for a ball to roll and feet to run after it. It was in a São Paulo without rivers buried under sad slabs of concrete that futebol de várzea—floodplain football—emerged.

Tracing the history of várzea football in São Paulo means understanding how the city was built around imposing rivers like the Tietê. In the early 20th century, immigrant populations, Afro-Brazilians, and recently freed Black people occupied these territories, giving rise to neighborhoods like Barra Funda in the city's west zone. Far more than an amateur sport, it became established as a symbol of social organization and the struggle for the right to the city, at a time when space in the capital was beginning to be contested and feel the pressures of gentrification.

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On Thursday, September 6, ArchDaily México celebrated its sixth anniversary. The exclusive event took place in one of the country's most significant architectural gems: Casa Gilardi, designed by Luis Barragán, the only Mexican architect to receive the Pritzker Prize. The venue served as the setting for some of today's most influential architects to connect with the ArchDaily México team.

Designed by Milena Lara Silva, the project Ruta de las aves was selected as one of the 10 winners in the Thesis Project 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.

The constant industrial threats endangering the delicate wetland ecosystems are primarily the result of Chile's weak environmental legislation. In the rural sector of Trumao, 11 kilometers from the city of La Unión, this has led to the gradual degradation of its forested wetland. This decline risks not only its biodiversity but also local communities that have persisted since ancient times thanks to the dynamic landscape and its natural resources—both of which are vital for their survival, economy, and, above all, their culture.

Recent environmental pollution incidents in the Chilean cities of Quintero and Puchuncaví have reignited the debate surrounding the health impacts on residents of so-called sacrifice zones. Last August, the Chilean newspaper La Tercera reported that these cities on Quintero Bay coexist with "15 major energy, chemical, and fuel companies," including a smelter, a natural gas plant, and four thermoelectric power plants.

In response, Chilean architect Leonardo Quinteros has developed "Marine Forest" as his thesis project. The proposal features a decontamination platform designed to bioremediate the bay using cultivated brown algae, drawing on research into methods for extracting and absorbing heavy metals to demonstrate the species' potential as a marine bioremediator.

Quinteros—winner of the 2015 CNPP and currently designing the new Providencia Municipal Building in Santiago alongside Tomás Villalón and Nicolás Norero—based his project on a decontamination plan known as FIC Algas. Developed by the Faculty of Ecology at Andrés Bello University (UNAB) in collaboration with the Regional Government of Valparaíso, FIC Algas

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From the Fundación Arquia Blog, architect Miren León, a specialist in sustainable design and energy efficiency, brings us an article calling for the reuse of construction materials through "upcycling," a method that helps reduce waste and mitigate the life-cycle impact of buildings.

Although many may have forgotten it today, RE-using is second nature to us. We have all reused shoeboxes, cans, or jars for a purpose different from their original intent: from "creating" new toys or decorative objects to storing marbles or childhood treasures. Since we have all done this on a small scale, why is it so difficult to do it on an urban scale?

In this year's edition, the Electrolux Architecture Competition addressed the challenges of vertical architecture for sustainable cities, promoting new ways to generate innovative programmatic design, public benefit, and community integration. With a focus on contextual relevance, the initiative sought to enhance both public space and quality of life for urban residents.

First prize was awarded to architecture students Mateo Loayza Montalvo, Gabriel Ceballos Melillán, Sebastián Quiroz Lara, and Francisco Beltrán Ayala, from the School of Architecture at Universidad Andres Bello, under the guidance of professors Juan Agustín Soza and Mauricio Bruna and external professor Eduardo Maldonado. Located opposite the historic Patio 29, the project proposes a vision for the relationship between the cemeteries of the future and high-rise structures.

Read more about the project in the authors' own words below.

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.

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After analyzing 94 undergraduate student projects from 20 architecture schools across 8 regions in Chile, the jury of the 2018 Arquitectura Caliente Competition has announced the winning projects of its latest edition.

These projects span the entire country and encompass a wide range of typologies, from urban planning to student housing, alongside landscape architecture projects and structural initiatives for emergencies.

Below, we present the award-winning fourth and fifth-year projects:

The proposal Temporary Activation Circuit was awarded third place in the Pasarelas San Borja competition in Chile. The main objective of the competition was to recognize "the best urban design ideas that contribute to defining intervention criteria and generating proposals for the San Borja neighborhood."

As the authors explain, the third-place-winning proposal offers "a mutable and flexible system that reflects contemporary times."

Crucial for ensuring that urban planning fosters prosperity and quality of life for all residents, public participation must be integrated into decision-making processes. Every citizen deserves a space to contribute new ideas, establish priorities, and track the progress of municipal projects. To facilitate this exchange, Consul—a platform developed by the city of Madrid—is being made available free of charge to cities worldwide. In Brazil, a workshop hosted by WRI Brasil introduced the tool to interested municipalities that are already working to implement it.

Historically relegated to the private sphere, it was only in the 20th century that women truly began to exercise their right to the city and its dynamics. Even today, however, this claiming of space remains restricted. According to a survey by the Locomotiva Institute this year, eight out of 10 Brazilian women are afraid of walking alone at night.

In addition to the threat of violence, other barriers to women's sense of belonging, mobility, and free use of public space include the lack of policies designed to address their urgent needs, as well as their identities and perspectives.

Jaime Sanz Haro, from the ARKRIT Collective, invites us to reflect—in an article originally titled "Regulations, the New Architectural Treatise: Vitruvius, Alberti, Palladio, and the General Plan"—on the role and consequences of regulatory frameworks in urban planning.

In this post, the Arquia Foundation Blog, together with architect Carlos Cámara, invites us to reflect on learning digital tools in architecture, a recurring topic of debate in the training of new architects, given that the use of different software seems to grow more valuable by the day. Based on this reality, which is increasingly distant from the pencil, the questions in this article arise... How are these new technologies being taught to students? Are they tools that foster dependent consumption? Are these tools conditioning the design creativity of future architects?

Designed by Ignacio Lira Montes, the Ruta Memorial Selk'nam project was selected as one of the 10 winners in the Thesis Projects category of the Concurso Arquitectura Caliente 2018 (CAC 2018), a Chilean competition organized by Grupo Arquitectura Caliente and funded by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage.

The project stems from research on the Selk’nam people of Tierra del Fuego and how this ethnic group was exterminated by the owners of the Magellanic ranches. Studying Selk'nam cosmogony and visiting the site determined the design approach to this theme.

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?

Traslaciones Sonoras is an urban installation developed by architects Mathias Klenner and Sofía Balbontín, academics at the UDLA School of Architecture, Design, and Construction, in collaboration with architecture students from the Universidad Austral de Chile.

The intervention explores the diverse soundscapes of Valdivia and its surroundings, connecting territories and communities by translating multiple overlooked sounds into the city center in real time.

Read on to discover the project in detail, described in the words of its creators.

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.

Today, Bustamante Park is one of the most frequented urban spaces in the municipality of Providencia. Completed in 1946, its design arose from the redevelopment of the former railway lines that once connected the old Pirque Station—the square that serves as our meeting point today—with the town of Puente Alto.

As one of the city's many linear parks, it is worth asking which qualities have turned Bustamante Park into a landmark in Santiago.

In late 2017, Colombian architect Antonio Yemail and his team moved to a new office in Bogotá. After eleven years of working in a single, open-plan space where all activities overlapped, the move became an opportunity to inventory, reconstruct, destroy, and document design processes through their physical models.

Out of 150 models produced over the years, 90 were restored and photographed again. "It is the primary visual record of how our design inclinations have evolved and linked together, because as Álvaro Siza says, a project is the model for the next," Yemail explains in a conversation with ArchDaily.

Some projects demand a clean aesthetic, free of ornament or striking features. When it comes to windows, exterior views can be completely unobstructed by minimizing their constituent components—frames, handles, or railings—without compromising strength or safety. Here are three products that reduce these elements to their simplest expression.

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 public and private archives across the city. These images reveal a deliberate, and even critical, approach to how modern architecture reconfigured city centers and integrated new buildings and urban spaces with the existing cityscape.

To analyze the impact of photojournalism in this era, one must look to Sady González, Manuel H., and Daniel Rodríguez. Architecture and the city serve as the backdrop for scenes of urban life, characters, events, and daily activities, making their photographs an essential visual record for understanding the city's transformation and its historical context.

In this edition of Bogotá in the Eyes of 10 Photographers, we explore the legacy of Daniel Rodríguez:

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We find ourselves in the Madrid of the 1980s. Specifically at the Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid [E.T.S.A.M.], a school in the shadow of the one in Barcelona, a city optimistic about its urban transformations. The latter was a city that trusted its architects, pushing them to participate in the reconstruction of its identity. Meanwhile, Madrid seemed to come alive through other avenues. The city championed other artistic sectors, leaving young architects with few opportunities to express their shared enthusiasm. Iñaki Ábalos and Juan Herreros belonged to this Madrilenian generation. They, like many others, had to wait and devise intellectual strategies to define the new professional and territorial boundaries that would reconstruct the Madrid of the future.

The work of Ábalos & Herreros is not only a virtuous exercise in surfaces and construction techniques; it also establishes mixtures, connections, and spatial relationships. It establishes links that foster a dialogue between all parts: the existing and the new, people and objects, building and landscape, and so on. Their architecture inherits the legacy of Modernism to translate its gestures into something that, while perhaps appearing new and innovative to a less attentive observer, is intrinsically charged with the accumulated technological experience of the 20th century. They do all of this in an illustratively modest way, seeking to solve age-old problems in a different manner. Theirs is not a revolutionary or radical architecture—understanding the latter term as a desire to dismantle a totality. There are no origins, only discoveries along their path. Established tropes are reconsidered, employing technologies, materials, gestures, and forms that, for various reasons, remain stored in the conceptual archives of many who have not yet figured out how to implement them in an ingenious and creative way.

In recent years, the term mobility has increasingly appeared in the media, likely driven by the establishment of the National Urban Mobility Policy (PNMU) in January 2012 and the requirement to develop Urban Mobility Plans. However, the term often loses its meaning when it becomes synonymous with transportation. Indeed, it does, as these two words do not share the same definition. Mobility is not limited to transportation.

The "Amenidades Urbanas" public initiative addresses co-production based on outreach and participation, responding to the challenge of connecting "different natures" within a single system: a sector in Caracas fragmented by large-scale infrastructure projects.

The first phase of these built urban interventions consists of diverse actions aimed at reactivating civic spaces. These new dynamics seek to redefine the street as a space for dialogue and mediation, occupying neglected voids and reclaiming the city's original human scale.

Read on to learn more about the project in the words of its authors.