Little has been said about the contribution of scaffolding to the history of construction. These structures are generally treated as mere equipment and, as a result, their records are very scarce. Without scaffolding, however, it would be almost impossible to construct most of the buildings we know. Scaffolding allows workers to reach and move materials at difficult points in a construction, providing safety and comfort. But in addition to its role as a support structure for buildings, we have also seen that scaffolding can be used for mobile, temporary, and even permanent structures. Below, we explain its history and possibilities for use.

Many of our childhood experiences take place in school. Whether these memories are good or bad, most children and teenagers spend a majority of their days in classrooms or other educational facilities. According to IQAir, “every year, children spend an average of 1,300 hours in school buildings.” But even as the world changes rapidly, and the internet in particular increases the accessibility of information, the design and operation of schools remain, in a way, outdated. As noted in a previous article, ideally the typology of educational spaces and the configuration of classrooms should suit more contemporary ways of teaching and learning, rather than the traditional organization of rows of desks facing a teacher at the head. But it is important that the analysis of educational facilities does not stop there. All surfaces and materials have a significant impact on both the well-being and learning of users.

Francis D. K. Ching [1] characterizes a chimney as an “incombustible vertical structure, which contains a duct through which smoke and gases from a fire or furnace are pushed outwards and through which an air current is created.” While its pipes can be hidden in walls or other structures, the chimney top usually remains prominent in order to transfer dangerous gases from the inside out without dirtying the interior or harming the health of the occupants. Being vertical elements, there are chimneys that become major landmarks in the urban landscape, especially in industrial projects. At the time of drawing, deciding on the “weight” that the chimney will have in a project is essential. At Casa Milá, for example, Gaudí crowns the building in sinuous and curvy sculptural chimneys. In other cases, the solemnity of the building aesthetic is mirrored in its chimney, whereas in others, the architects render the chimney as hidden as possible. Recently, too, many chimneys have been refurbished for new uses or to accommodate new cleaner technologies. Whether it takes a prominent role or is hidden from view, see below some chimney design tips and possibilities of use.

Every child has drawn a house. Perhaps a sunny day with some clouds, a leafy tree, a family with a dog, low wooden fences, or even a car. But in these drawings, they will almost certainly draw a simple rectangle with a gable or hip roof. This archetype of the house appears in virtually all cultures, and even today many architects use it for contemporary projects.

In addition to the primary function of draining rainwater and snow, and thus protecting the building from the weather, roofs can be an important aesthetic device for composing a project. In modern architecture, waterproof roof slabs emerged as a popular alternative, but sloping roofs have continued to captivate both clients and architects. In this article, we will cover the various types of roofs and, more specifically, the manufacturing process and characteristics of natural slate tiles.

Cooking shows have never been more popular around the world than they are now. Whether from recipes, reality shows, or documentaries, writer Michael Pollan points out that it is not uncommon to spend more time watching than preparing our own food. This is a very curious phenomenon, as we can only imagine the tastes and smells on the other side of the screen, which the presenters often like to remind us. At the same time, when we watch something about the Middle Ages, polluted rivers, or nuclear disasters, we are relieved that there is no technology to transmit smells across the screen. In fact, when dealing with odors (more specifically the bad ones), we know how unpleasant it is to be in a space that doesn't smell good. When dealing with buildings, what are the main sources of bad smells and how can this affect our health and well-being?

Ranging from yellow, to gray, to traditional red and orange, bricks are ubiquitous in many of our cities and widely used in construction. Briefly, the manufacturing process of traditional bricks involves molding clay and firing it in ovens, facilitating the creation of solid blocks, perforated blocks, cobogós, tiles, and other shapes. Ceramic bricks are inexpensive; easy to find; boast strong resistance, thermal inertia, and finish; and do not require such specialized labor for construction. But if the installation is done near sources of high heat, the common brick will end up cracking and breaking, making refractory bricks more suitable. But what does that mean?

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Yuval Noah Harari points out that, around 300 thousand years ago, Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and ancestors of Homo sapiens already used fire daily. According to the author of the international bestseller “Sapiens,” fire created the first significant gap between man and other animals. "By domesticating fire, humans gained control of an obedient and potentially limitless force." Some scholars even believe that there is a direct relationship between the advent of the habit of cooking food (possibly due to the domestication of fire) and the shortening of the intestinal tract and growth of the human brain, which allowed human beings to develop and create everything we now have.

“The whole hand will be the tenth part of the man; From the bottom of the chin to the top of the head is an eighth of its height; From the nipples to the top of the head it will be the fourth part of the height.” If you're still here without going to get a measuring tape, these phrases were written by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect who lived in the 1st century BC, who delineated them in his influential treatise “De Architectura Libri Decem” – Ten Books on Architecture. The data presented by Vitruvius was compiled and depicted visually around fifteen hundred years later by Leonardo Da Vinci in his famous work “Vitruvian Man,” which is reproduced in all different contexts today, from book covers to kitchen aprons.

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For many, the aesthetics of wood are powerfully enchanting. With a huge diversity of species and innumerable variations in colors, weights, and textures, wood is one of the most highly appreciated materials of all time. But the unrestrained logging of forests for use in construction has had and will continue to have enormous environmental impacts if precautions such as sustainable management, legitimate certification, or reforestation are not taken. Being an organic material, when used for construction, wood tends to morph under conditions of humidity, heat, and loads, and its fibers eventually deform over time. In addition, wood is a material that does not respond well to environments where it is soaked and dried repeatedly, which can cause it to rot after some time if it is not adequately waterproofed. Therefore, there are some situations where using wood may not be a good idea.

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Corals are fundamental to marine life. Sometimes called tropical sea forests, they form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They serve as a refuge, breeding, and feeding area for dozens of species in the sea, and their absence can negatively affect local biodiversity to a tremendous degree. Yet just as humanity pollutes and destroys, it can also remedy and encourage the creation of more life. This is why shipwrecks of old vessels or the sinking of concrete structures for the creation of artificial reefs are frequently reported as providing immense potential. In Hong Kong, researchers have been developing 3D printed structures using organic materials that can lead to the creation of new opportunities under the sea.

All too often, architects and designers spend hours searching for textures and materials to represent their visions. This struggle takes many forms: from scrolling through Google, Pinterest, and databases in search of the perfect texture, to manually creating one over the course of several hours, or even days. In either case, the result is frequently painful, and rarely perfect. A database organized, reliable, free and easy to use is not always a simple thing to find.

Architextures began in 2014 as a library of high-quality image files, with textures submitted by users or created by the platform itself. Over time, the platform’s creator Ryan Canning noticed that, in his professional work as an architect, the array of static image files available online did not meet the specific textures he was looking for in his design projects. Frustrated with the endless process of searching, editing and overlaying textures in Photoshop, Ryan reinvented Architextures in 2019 as an interactive tool where designers like himself could create specified, high-quality textures in seconds. And importantly, being free to use for personal and educational use, with professional accounts available for a small fee to support the tool’s development.

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