The Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism is a benchmark event for understanding the current state and future prospects of architecture and urbanism in the Ibero-American community. On December 17, the call for entries for the 2019 edition, curated by Arturo Franco and Ana Román, was opened. It will select the best works of architecture and urbanism, publications, research texts, and academic projects from the involved regions.

The call for entries for the XI BIAU will remain open until April 2019, and the results will be presented in Asunción (Paraguay) in October of that same year. The program of activities will include an exhibition of the selected works, a series of keynote lectures, specialized presentations, and panel discussions centered around the theme of the XI BIAU—aĩ paragua y (habit - water)—as well as exhibitions and other parallel activities, including the recognition of the career achievements of several masters.

If you are interested in applying to the XI BIAU, please review the following schedule.

Organized by the Regional 5 College of Architects in the city of Villa María, this design competition seeks ideas and proposals for the new headquarters of the Regional 5 Southeast branch of the College of Architects of the Province of Córdoba.

Organized by the Mendoza Architects' Association (CAMZA), this competition seeks proposals for the repurposing, restoration, and enhancement of the Northeast Warehouse located on the grounds of the former General San Martín Railway (FCGSM), which once comprised the Mendoza Central Station.

The goal is to transform the site into a "Nave Creativa" (Creative Hub)—an artist incubator and public space designed to democratize tools and physical space for the development and promotion of growing local creative industries. This initiative aims to facilitate access through a multi-purpose innovation and experimentation space that brings together and promotes sector activities, empowering entrepreneurs in the fields of design, music, and visual and audiovisual arts.

Organized by the Colegio de Arquitectos Provincia de Buenos Aires (CAPBA D5), this national competition seeks proposals for the "Plaza de las Carretas" in Campana, Buenos Aires.

The initiative aims for the Plaza de las Carretas to function as a unifying space that provides connections to the surrounding axes, while also establishing itself as a true "public activity center" for continuous use in its own right.

Organized by the Sociedad Central de Arquitectos, this national competition calls for the preliminary design of the facade and the treatment of the right party wall for the new building that will house the relocated offices and archives of the National Tax Court.

At ArchDaily en Español, we recognize the need to stay in constant contact with architecture students, who will be responsible for designing and building the cities of the future. For this reason, we periodically open a call for applications to join our editorial team through our internship program.

If you currently reside in Chile, this could be your opportunity to contribute local content to the most visited architecture platform in the world, which inspires and informs hundreds of thousands of architects globally. If you are interested, please read on.

Architects, designers, psychologists, and sociologists alike recognize that aesthetics and their underlying philosophy have the power to change how we perceive the world around us. Consequently, a deeper understanding of what is beautiful has the power to shift how people respond to their environment. Exploring the different meanings of aesthetics in architecture—from 'form follows function' to the new aesthetics of the metaverse—can help us understand the potential of our physical and virtual environments on the path toward a better world.

Much has been written on the subject, from Alberto Pérez-Gómez's Lo bello y lo justo en la arquitectura to Pablo Caldera's El fracaso de lo bello. However, we wanted to open the debate to our readers to share their views on what makes a building or a city beautiful.

After reading and compiling around 300 comments from construction professionals, students, and architecture enthusiasts alike, it was a pleasant surprise to find common ground regarding the importance of collective beauty, referencing both the urban and natural contexts.

The fourth season of the podcast Causa Común—a co-production between Fundación Lepe and Fundación Aldea for the OH! Stgo festival, held in mid-January in Santiago, Chile—explores the past, present, and future of the capital, alongside the role of its inhabitants in prioritizing the common good and collaborative ways of making, inhabiting, and imagining our shared home.

Directed and coordinated by Francisca Cordero, Soledad Díaz de la Fuente, Magdalena Novoa, and Trinidad Piriz, the six-episode season examines the everyday stories, communities, monuments, and public spaces we inhabit from new perspectives. Featured topics range from the multiple identities of a public square, female leadership in housing projects, and the construction of urban memory, to island hills as socio-environmental opportunities, Mapuche urban dwelling, and the GAM building as an exponent of architecture and social change.

"Every person has the right to decent and adequate housing that allows for the free development of personal, family, and community life," states the provision that advanced to the draft of Chile's new Constitution. The draft is being prepared by the Constitutional Convention—a 155-member political body tasked with drafting and approving the proposal for a new agreement for the Republic, which was enabled by the October 2020 plebiscite and driven by the social protests that took place in the country in October 2019.

Manuel Bouzas and Santiago del Águila, the authors of La catenaria y el arco in the courtyard of Can Balaguer (by architects Flores & Prats) in Palma de Mallorca, present their urban installation ‘Lucerna,’ created for the A Cel Obert ephemeral architecture festival in Tortosa in October 2021.

This monumental lamp, standing over 6 meters tall and covering an area of 55 square meters, hangs from the main courtyard of the Purissima Concepció monastery, radically transforming this 17th-century building through light and color.

The team led by Mathias Klotz and Sebastián Mundi of the architecture firms Klotz and SML has been unanimously selected in the open call for the heritage reconversion of the former CCU Brewery in Limache, the Chilean company announced today in a press release.

This project seeks to preserve the brewing heritage represented by the iconic building founded in 1883, through a museum open to the public. 

The New Municipal Swimming Pool of La Calera project in the Valparaíso Region is about to begin construction, as announced by the firm Gubbins Polidura Arquitectos on social media.

"I'm an architect... now what?" must be one of the most common questions for any recent graduate with an architecture degree in hand. Over the years, many will find jobs in different industries that do not necessarily involve working in an office designing and constructing buildings.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage, through the National Cultural Heritage Service (SNPC), launched the bidding process for the design of the Valparaíso Regional Archive. The future building not only aims to preserve historical documents and collections and promote research and access to information, but also represents a major opportunity to value and reactivate the ruins of the historic Palacio Subercaseaux in Valparaíso's Barrio Puerto, Chile. 

Following an evaluation of the 13 accepted bids, the winning proposal was submitted by architects Cecilia Puga, Paula Velasco, and their team. Their design defends and protects the urban profile, showing us how to connect the new with the old. Below, discover the winning project in detail, along with the other awarded entries.

August 19 is World Photography Day. To mark this occasion, we present the winning entries of the recent photography competition "Interculturality and Inhabited Heritage" ("Interculturalidad y Patrimonio Habitado").

The Alejandro de la Sota Foundation has created a portal to showcase the leading figures and works of the pioneers of Spanish modern architecture. The reason? When discussing the Modern Movement, it often seems that only architects like Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, or Walter Gropius are mentioned. But what was happening in Spain during those years? Which figures stood out, and what were their intentions when designing?

The IPCC has published its latest report on the environmental crisis, "Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability." The latest findings warn that urgent priority must be given to action on the adaptability of the built environment, noting that, globally, the most rapid growth in urban vulnerability has occurred in informal and unplanned settlements, as well as in small to medium-sized urban centers in low-income countries with limited adaptive capacity. This is a recurring reality across Latin America.

This year we celebrate the fourteenth edition of the Obra del Año 2022 award—the highest recognition in the Spanish-speaking architectural world, where the winners are chosen by popular vote. Starting today, Tuesday, March 8, our readers will be responsible for determining which projects inspired us during 2021, faithfully representing the identity of our local contexts while shaping the way architecture is practiced around the world.

Over the next three weeks, the entire ArchDaily en Español network (Plataforma Arquitectura, ArchDaily México, ArchDaily Colombia and ArchDaily Perú) will serve as the platform to celebrate the best built architecture in Spanish-speaking America and Spain.

With nearly a thousand projects published in 2021, you can easily find your favorites by browsing through each category and using the search engine to filter projects by country and architecture firm. 

The 2022 Obra del Año Award is brought to you by Dornbracht, renowned for its design leadership in architecture, which can be found internationally in bathrooms and kitchens.