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Yesterday during the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) ceremony, Mexico's most prominent public square, the Pavilion at the Zocalo by Mexico City's PRODUCTORA won the MCHAP.emerge 2014/2015 award, deeming it the best new architecture in the Americas by an emerging practice.

The MCHAP.emerge prize is awarded biennially by the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). As winner, PRODUCTORA will be given the opportunity to lead a research studio in 2017 related to 'rethinking metropolis' along with $25,000 of funding. 

PRODUCTORA was a finalist among practices from Canada, the United States, Chile and Paraguay. The decision was made by Jury President Stan Allen, architect and former Dean of Princeton University’s School of Architecture (New York); Florencia Rodriguez, editorial director of Piedra, Papel y Tijera publishers (Buenos Aires); Ila Berman, Professor of Architecture, University of Waterloo (Waterloo); Jean Pierre Crousse of Barclay & Crousse (Lima), and Dean Wiel Arets (Chicago).

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TEN Arquitectos have been selected as the winner of a competition to design a luxury, mixed-use resort at St. James Point, Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. Set to open in the fall of 2018, the resort is situated on a 16-acre property and includes a private beach as well as a 200-room hotel. TEN Arquitectos’ design seeks to both “contrast and compliment the surrounding tropical environment.”

“Providing more integrated environments for living and travel, without losing connection to nature or sense of place, is key to the success of a project like this,” said principal of TEN Arquitectos, Enrique Norten. “We have a unique concept here that will fit harmoniously within the landscape.”

Learn more about the project after the break.

A team made up of Barcelona-based firm MX_SI and Mexican practice SPRB Arquitectos has been selected to design the Papalote Children’s Museum in Iztapalapa, Mexico.

Under the slogan “Let’s Make City,” their proposal seeks to integrate the museum with the city and surrounding public space. 

Learn more about the winning project after the break. 

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Deeply intertwined with Mexican identity, Mayan culture has become a primary frame of reference when it comes to architecture in the country, with many local architects seeking to integrate Pre-Colombian, Mesoamerican ideologies with contemporary design. 

With Mayan culture as a starting point, Mexican firm Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos has designed Isla Pasión (Passion Island), a project for a new tourism development on the Caribbean island of Cozumel, located to the southeast of Mexico. The masterplan incorporates suites, stilt homes, a spa area, common areas, and a residential zone. The project originated from an understanding of the context, both architecturally and naturally, resulting in the use of natural materials, like wood and stone, as well as carrying out a reinterpretation of traditional Mayan architecture for the shape of the volumes.

Learn more about this project, which was also a 2015 WAF finalist, after the break.

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Centered on the theme “The State of the Art of Architecture,” the Chicago Architecture Biennial offers a look at the issues surrounding contemporary architecture around the globe. Featuring interventions from over 100 different architects from more than 30 different countries, the Biennial seeks to “demonstrate that architecture matters at any scale.”

Tatiana Bilbao’s project for the Chicago Biennial offers a solution to Mexico's affordable housing shortage. Her full-scale, Sustainable Housing prototype offers a flexible design that can respond to the different needs of each family. The house can be constructed for as little as $8,000 and up to $14,000 depending on a variety of factors including the location, the construction phase selected, and local regulations.

View images and learn more about her prototype after the break. 

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Organized by AGMINIS, the MALL-BUSINESS-HOUSING DESIGN COMPETITION invites architecture students and recent grads from all over the world to develop a conceptual proposal for a new mixed-use complex in the city of Aguascalientes, Mexico. The complex should incorporate housing and office and commercial space, with the aim of a creating a new neighborhood center in the city. Registration is free and ends on October 21, 2015.

See the competition rules and requirements after the break. 

The international MOLEWA (Mount Lu Estate of World Architecture) competition, organized by the Chinese real estate group Huan Yan with the support of the UIA, sought proposals for urban development plans for small and medium cities in China and several of the winning projects will be carried out in the city of Ruichang next year.

Mexican office TEAM730 Taller de Estudios Y Análisis Metropolitanos, led by José Muñoz Villers and Carlos Marín, was awarded the silver medal in the competition’s Commercial/Cultural category, Plot 7: Shopping Street, for their design of a multi-functional pedestrian street along the entire complex.

More images and the project description after the break. 

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Held annually, the CEMEX Building Awards honor the best architecture and construction both in Mexico and abroad. The XXIV edition will recognize projects built in 2014 that stand out for their construction, conceptual, technical and aesthetic solutions.

Through this award program CEMEX aims to foster continuous innovation in construction and encourage best practices to generate better spaces and buildings.

See the Mexican finalists of the national edition of the XXIV Building Awards after the break.

Mexico City and Berlin-based Zeller & Moye has won the international competition MOLEWA (Mount Lu Estate of World Architecture) to design new housing in Ruichang. Organized by UIA (Unión Internacional de Arquitectos) and Hua Yan Group, the competition received entries from more than 40 countries.

With an "innovative housing design that sets new standards in low-energy use," Zeller & Moye's "Flower Terraces" will be built in the heart of the circular Chinese city by 2016.

Read on to learn more about the competition-winning project. 

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