To ensure privacy, windows in bathrooms are typically characterized by their small size and high sills. Yet, natural light, alongside ventilation, plays a crucial role in the health and comfort of these spaces. As a result, seeking a greater incidence of daylight in these interiors expands the design possibilities for their openings.

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Despite UNESCO's recognition of specific World Heritage sites, many of them remain in constant danger of disappearing due to natural phenomena like earthquakes and human factors such as urbanization. By definition, these landmarks are vital to human history, possessing characteristics that reflect the deepest values of diverse civilizations. Nevertheless, much of the global population has never experienced them in person.

The Maya Train is the federal government's flagship project, formally announced in December 2018. It is planned as a regional train for locals, tourists, and cargo, intended to generate regional economic benefits through tourism. According to the official project brochure, it "is based on a sustainable development model that drives economic growth without depleting the environment" and "promotes a tourism scheme in which visitors travel through local communities, preventing tourist concentration in a single destination," thereby "distributing wealth throughout the peninsula."

The medieval city of Dubrovnik, in Croatia, boasts many distinctions. Surrounded by ancient walls and a sea of azure waters that enchant visitors, during the Middle Ages it was the only city-state with enough prominence to rival Venice.

Another lesser-known aspect is that the Pearl of the Adriatic, as this Croatian city is known, was the first known European municipality to implement a smart quarantine and to build isolation spaces to combat the major diseases that plagued humanity. This is what archaeologist Ante Milošević and physician Ana Bakija-Konsuo assert in their book "Lazaretto in Dubrovnik: Beginning of Quarantine Regulation in Europe."

While predicting and preventing damage and disasters are increasingly critical factors when designing our buildings, spaces, and cities, certain extraordinary events still escape our control. These situations demand immediate and urgent architectural responses capable of providing shelter and quality of life to communities affected by natural disasters and conflicts of all kinds—solutions that, in the most extreme cases, may be the only chance of survival for many.

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and floods, as well as armed conflicts, territorial disputes, or other global humanitarian crises—such as the COVID-19 pandemic—require an immediate response to control and prevent worsening consequences, helping to save lives. **Emergency architecture** can be defined as a constructive response to the most urgent human needs that arise during crises and exceptional situations. It materializes as responsive infrastructure aimed at providing immediate solutions, ranging from shelters for displaced people to healthcare and medical facilities in affected areas.

Hello, ArchDaily readers.
Happy New Year as we enter a new decade. This year marks our 12th anniversary. Thank you for accompanying us throughout the 2010s and growing alongside us to contribute to the architectural community. At our founding, we pledged to “provide inspiration and knowledge to help architects build better cities.” In this new decade, we embrace an expanded mission: “to provide inspiration and tools to improve the quality of life for city dwellers.” Everyone is an independent creator, and we are here to serve each and every one of you.

Climate change is arguably one of the greatest current threats to human survival, resulting from global warming driven by rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, of which carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary contributor. Globally, buildings accounted for approximately 40% of CO2 emissions in 2018, when factoring in direct, indirect, and embodied emissions (over the lifecycle of construction products) (UNEP, 2019). At the same time, because the building sector consumes—and will continue to consume—vast amounts of materials to address severe housing deficits, in many countries it is a pivotal sector, offering a prime opportunity to help combat climate change. To achieve this, a key pathway is promoting the use of biomaterials.

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This article by Alejandro Campos Uribe was originally published in the 9th issue of rita_ magazine under the title "How to Draw the Architecture of Aldo van Eyck: Five Drawings of the Van Eyck Family House in Loenen."

Architectural academia is becoming increasingly aware of the contemporary and territorial challenges facing local communities. Universidad del Norte presents this series of six thesis projects by its students, exploring the coastal region of northern Colombia through architectural recycling, regeneration, and urban renewal.

Researchers Andrés Sánchez Arias, Stefanie Pechar, and Andrés Felipe Martínez Motta share the following article on food self-management and community action during the pandemic, focusing on the specific case of the Altos del Pino neighborhood in Cazucá, located in Soacha, south of Bogotá.

This article by Cristian Yarasca Aybar was originally published in the 11th issue of revista rita_ under the title "El problema de la distancia: las plataformas multisectoriales “tambos” como una oportunidad proyectual sistemática para el territorio rural peruano" [The Problem of Distance: "Tambo" Multisectoral Platforms as a Systematic Project-Design Opportunity for the Peruvian Rural Territory]. The research aims to identify the design potential of the "National Tambo Program" in Peru from a systematic vision of the national territory.

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TEN Arquitectos is an architectural firm based in Mexico City, New York, and Miami, founded by Mexican architect Enrique Norten. With 33 years of experience designing from a global perspective, the practice brings a consistent international sensitivity to every new space it creates. This body of work has been recognized with numerous national and international awards, including the Mies van der Rohe Award for Latin American Architecture, honors from the national American Institute of Architects (AIA) and various US chapters, Architectural Record, Architect Magazine, Architizer, and Biennials in Mexico, Argentina, and Ecuador, as well as the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), among others.

In these times of change, the more we cling to the pre-existing and resist the inevitable, the harder it will be to adapt. When everyone is equally exposed to the consequences of change, adaptability—alongside empathy—becomes the common denominator, allowing us to set aside, if only temporarily, the selfishness that segregates society.

Perhaps excessive competition also fosters this estrangement among colleagues. Architectural academia pushes us to compete for grades and prepares us for design competitions, and while this methodology can empower us to drive self-improvement, on a mass scale it generates segregation and harmful preconceptions.

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Eduardo Useche, director of the Arquitectura para Aliens podcast, presents excerpts from the transcript of a discussion he moderated, reframing the vision and stance of the architect. Focusing on the uncertain future following the COVID-19 pandemic, the discussion brought together leading representatives of the various associations safeguarding the role and responsibility of professionals and academic institutions linked to architecture. In this pandemic context, construction is one of the hardest-hit sectors, largely because construction sites are not run by contagion-free machines—at least for now.

This article by Paula Jaén Caparrós and Enrique Azpilicueta Astarloa was originally published in the 7th issue of rita magazine under the title "Reversible Architectures of Japan: The Houses of Shirakawa-go" as part of a joint publishing collaboration. The following text invites reflection on the design and construction principles found in these traditional Japanese houses, which could be recovered and applied to contemporary proposals that integrate disassembly, recovery, and relocation of the entire built object as key elements of sustainable architectural design.

We believe that the creative output of universities in Central America and the Caribbean is immense yet often overlooked. Therefore, we feel it is essential to launch a call for submissions to showcase the best graduation projects coming out of these institutions.

Academic proposals can be profound intellectual and critical works. This call aims to prevent them from remaining tucked away, gathering dust on shelves, and losing the opportunity to spark real change in our cities and in how we live and think.

If you believe your 2019 graduation project is compelling enough to be featured on our site, and that your hard work deserves recognition from the wider community, do not hesitate to submit it using the form at the end of this article.

This article is part of a collaboration with the website coolhuntermx, and was originally published under the title "Decolonial Practice in Design."

If you have not read “Decolonizing Design: Towards an Inclusive Practice” by Ashby Solano, I recommend starting there to engage with a discussion that is gaining increasing resonance—though still not enough—across various design circles. But what exactly is decolonial thinking in design? Can we believe in the decolonization of design in Mexico and Latin America when its professionalization was established under the dogma of Eurocentric thought? In other words, we were taught what correct design is, what good design is, and what deserved to be professionalized.

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Tulum is a region located in southeastern Mexico, within the geographic boundaries of the state of Quintana Roo. Situated along the Caribbean coast, it forms part of the Riviera Maya. Historically, Tulum was a walled city, which is the origin of its name—meaning "wall" in Mayan, a term coined when the settlement was already in ruins.

In contemporary train stations, architectural pursuits associated with innovation and modernity tend to predominate. We often glorify designs with clean lines and gleaming glass buildings that showcase advancements in technology and engineering. Yet, classicism and styles that endure the passage of time—with their solid materials and sculptural details—possess a certain allure. Within their familiar forms, defined by order and symmetry, lies something that allows us to connect with the past.

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The Bamboo Pavilion, a project designed by Mexican architect Lucila Aguilar as part of Design Week 2020, is inspired by the search for spaces that connect directly with the earth. It consists of a series of bamboo structures that create a new space in the plaza of the 'Espacio CDMX' gallery. The pavilion's shape follows the flow of organic forms, combined with a 100% biodegradable, permeable material made in Mérida from natural rubber.

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In collective housing projects, apartments, and residential complexes, design intentions regarding spatial qualities and atmospheres typically focus on the spaces where residents spend most of their time: the interiors of the housing units and, when available, common areas like gyms or multipurpose rooms. Circulation spaces, by contrast, are often treated merely as “transitional areas,” meaning they frequently address functional requirements rather than spatial experiences.

The courtyard is an essential architectural element in many cultures. In Brazil, examples can be found both in historic buildings of Portuguese influence and in modern architecture of the last century. While its use is frequently associated with bioclimatic benefits—improving natural ventilation and daylighting in interior spaces—it can represent much more than that. The void it creates, a subtraction from the built volume, can establish unexpected geometric and visual relationships and foster cross-dialogues between different parts of the building.

On this occasion, Víctor Feingold, President of Contract Workplaces, shares his perspective on how working from home is shaped by the environment, organizational culture, and the drive for innovation.

The letter “I” in the acronym BIM (Building Information Modeling) stands for Information, which is manifested through parameters and the customization they enable within Autodesk Revit, thereby building intelligent BIM Objects. This article outlines the different parameters within this modeling tool, focusing specifically on family parameters. Parametric families arise from customizing these parameters, offering a wide range of possibilities for the BIM Model.