La serie titulada Agua, minería y éxodo forma parte de una investigación visual llevada adelante por el fotógrafo Marcos Zegers que explora las tensiones culturales y las alteraciones territoriales derivadas de las actividades mineras y extractivas en el desierto de Atacama.
Bamboo is a building material that has been used since antiquity in various structures, demonstrating its superiority over modern materials like plastic and steel due to its myriad benefits—not to mention an incomparable aesthetic appeal that has positioned it as one of today's leading architectural trends.
The Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant, the fourth largest hydroelectric plant in the world and 100% Brazilian-owned, was inaugurated in November 2019 in the Xingu River basin, in northern Pará. The project, operated by the Norte Energia S.A. Consortium, was part of the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program)—a federal government initiative established in 2007 aimed at implementing large infrastructure projects to boost national development, mirroring past initiatives.
Given its diverse climate and geography, Mexico's wine production has steadily gained recognition in states such as Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Puebla, Querétaro, Sonora, and Zacatecas. In these regions, vineyards are increasingly in the spotlight, alongside wine festivals and curated experiences that offer visitors an immersive look into the various stages of production.
The state of Puebla is located in the central highlands of Mexico, bordering the states of Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Morelos, and the State of Mexico. Covering an area of 34,251 km², it is one of the country's most densely populated states. Its capital is Puebla de Zaragoza, and it is one of the leading landlocked states for tourism, featuring 9 "Pueblos Mágicos" (Magical Towns) and 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Roma 212 is a multidisciplinary studio dedicated to architectural design, ephemeral installations, interiors, and urban planning. Its philosophy centers on experimenting with new materials, forms, and processes, aiming to renew and rethink architecture as a cultural catalyst.
In recent days, a series of reports and articles correctly diagnosed the cause of the recent floods in the state capitals of Belo Horizonte, São Paulo and Porto Alegre, as well as in smaller cities such as Iconha, in Espírito Santo. The primary cause of these disasters was the urbanization of our cities—both planned and unplanned—which amplified the potential damage.
To disseminate the history of Argentina's socially-grounded popular architecture, Moderna Buenos Aires - CPAU presents the documentary “Movimiento Nac&Pop”, a film that compiles testimonies from various Argentine architects—including Jorge Moscato, Alfredo Garay, Rodolfo Sorondo, Jorge Hampton, Emilio Rivoira, Roberto Frangella, and Mario Sabugo—who formed the collective known as Nac&Pop. This professional group emerged during the final years of the military dictatorship, fueled by democratic fervor, and was responsible for, among other achievements, driving the transformation of Palermo Viejo and designing the master plan for Puerto Madero.
“Where the city ends should not be the question,” Alejandro Aravena has repeatedly stated in various lectures, “where it begins is the question we should try to understand.” In many Latin American countries, the concentration of wealth in urban environments has led to the explosion of cities and “metropolitan areas,” giving rise to complex challenges.
“Interiores: Conversaciones en línea” is the title of the series of virtual encounters organized by the Faculty of Architecture, Art, and Design at Universidad Diego Portales (UDP). In this first season, Professor Alberto Sato hosts meetings between renowned architects, including Álvaro Farrú and Enrique Walker, Alejandra Celedón with Cecilia Puga; Mardones with Pezo von Ellrichshausen; Solano Benítez with Mathias Klotz; Smiljan Radic with Alberto Sato; and Fernando Perez with Francisco Liernur.
You can watch these conversations below.
Mais Vida nos Morros is a public policy for citizenship and sustainable development in Recife's communities, conceived by the Executive Secretariat for Urban Innovation of the City of Recife. In partnership with the private sector, the program already serves residents across 49 areas in 27 communities in Recife, directly benefiting 25,000 people. Lagoa Encantada is one of the chapters in this story, shaped by a model of social cooperation.
Located in the Ibura neighborhood of Recife, Pernambuco, Lagoa Encantada developed across both flatlands and hillsides. The area's topography directly impacted its urban conditions: while the flatlands enjoyed leisure spaces and infrastructure, the hillside lacked these amenities. This contrast directly influenced how residents interacted with one another and with their territory, serving as the starting point for the intervention process.
On World Environment Day, we ask you: Do you know where your household "trash" goes? How do cities deal with the tons of materials discarded daily? Should everything you throw "away" be wasted by being sent to landfills?
The coronavirus crisis has shown us that certain attitudes, policies, and practices must be abandoned if we want a different future—both socially and environmentally. However, this responsibility is not solely individual. To discuss the future of waste in cities, we must shed light on the thread of recent history: the formulation of the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS), approved in 2010, and the challenges of its implementation.
This article is part of a collaboration with the website coolhuntermx, and was originally published under the title "La Bauhaus Tapatía."
"A sort of Bauhaus" is how Mathias Goeritz, in short, tried to convince Italian architect and theorist Alberto Sartoris to come to Mexico. In 1950, through letters, he invited him to teach at the very project that had drawn Goeritz in and excited him so much: the first School of Architecture of Guadalajara, founded in 1948 by Ignacio Díaz Morales.
The Brooklyn-based design firm Territorial Empathy, which has Colombian roots, presented a proposal for the UN-Habitat Global Public Space Programme, rethinking the temporary nature of aid for Venezuelan migrants in Colombia by utilizing the capital district of Bogotá's most iconic public space.
As part of our ongoing effort to highlight the outstanding academic work being produced in universities, we launched an open call last January, inviting Mexican architects to share their graduation projects. We sought theses and academic research addressing critical issues in the Mexican context—projects that typically remain on paper but deserve national recognition.
Children are often overlooked or entirely deprioritized in urban planning. Globally, it is estimated that up to 500 children die every day in traffic accidents. Thousands of others are injured in collisions or develop psychological trauma that can last for years. Whether on the streets or in public spaces, feelings of insecurity or discomfort discourage children from physical activity outdoors—at a time when 80% of children between the ages of 11 and 17 are not physically active, and another 38 million under the age of five are overweight or obese.
The lobby, also known as the entrance hall or vestibule, is a reception space adjacent to the entrance of a residential building or private home, serving as a transition zone between the public urban environment and the private program.
Typically located on the ground floor of buildings and closely linked to the street, the lobby acts as the project's "public face" to the outside world. Consequently, its design, material qualities, aesthetics, and component elements are of great significance. Its function remains highly flexible, serving as a space for gatherings, receptions, or waiting.
On June 17, Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) issued a landmark ruling ordering the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) to generate disaggregated statistical data on populations in informal or precarious settlements across the country. This resolution brings to the forefront the discussion on the role that judges can and should play when making decisions that directly impact urban planning, land management, our cities, and our housing.
Rarely do we encounter an open-air fine arts museum like the Garden of Fine Arts, designed by Tadao Ando in 1994 for the city of Kyoto, Japan. Reproductions at various scales of renowned masterpieces appear among concrete columns, beams, and walls, along with ramps and glass bridges, interacting with cascading waterfalls and the background vegetation from the adjacent Botanical Gardens.
Pancho Gallardo, the Chilean architectural photographer now based in Madrid, has long admired the Japanese architect's work, particularly for, as he explains, "the use of concrete as an element that creates spaces, textures, angles, and shadows which, above all, in spaces like this open-air museum, establish a direct relationship with sunlight, where every corner becomes a dramatic composition of visual angles."
Below, he shares a series of photographs taken on-site, accompanied by more of his thoughts.
Residents of the city of Punta Arenas collectively developed—in collaboration with writer Víctor Hernández and architect Alejandro Parada—a literary and graphic reconstruction documenting the heritage icons that represent the founding and evolution of the 18 de Septiembre neighborhood. The project, titled "Rutas Patrimoniales Barrio 18 de Septiembre, Punta Arenas", is framed within the Regional Cultural Identity Strengthening program of the Magallanes Region's Regional Ministerial Secretariat of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage, and is part of the 2017-2022 Public Policies for Cultural Promotion.
As part of an initiative by ArchDaily and the Abierto Mexicano de Diseño, a call for entries was launched this year, inviting architects, urban planners, landscape designers, industrial designers, graphic designers, floral designers, and any creative discipline that understands public space as a place for fostering collaborative encounters in cities. Published in September, the call sought unpublished or previously published projects in the form of written essays, research papers, visual essays, lectures, or other digital communication formats that offered a personal or collective reflection aligned with the theme 'Public Space.'
In light of recent statements by the Federal Government and the new programs announced by institutions involved in housing production in Mexico, we believe it is essential to open a dialogue and exchange ideas to better understand the concepts of self-construction, self-production, and the “Social Production and Management of Habitat” [SPMH], as well as the role of architecture in these social processes.
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As the philosopher Byung-Chul Han states: every age has its signature afflictions. These illnesses have represented some of the most significant challenges in human history, bringing drastic changes not only to the healthcare sector but also to economic and political spheres, revealing humanity as a complex network negotiating its daily existence through actions that have reshaped our ways of living and relating to one another.
This article by Felipe Samarán Saló was originally published in the 11th issue of rita_ magazine under the title "Inhabited Renders and Deserted Architecture. The Hidden Message of Architecture Revealed by Photography" and is part of a joint dissemination collaboration. Below, we present a study on how the focus of architecture has shifted from "serving the person by addressing all their dimensions" to "generating a universe of surprising, beautiful, and photogenic forms and spaces," relegating the end-user to the background or into oblivion.
.jpg?1593472562 "Housing improvement programs in the Maya zone. Motul. Image © Onnis Luque")
.jpg?1593472682 "Soy de Azteca: peripheral aesthetics in Mexico. Image © Zaickz Moz")
