Chilean Architecture

It is fascinating to delve into the practice of Iván Bravo, firstly because the path taken towards his architectural work immerses us in a vast creative universe through the architect's interest and curiosity in various tangential disciplines directly reflected in his built work. A constant reflection on the methodology of the making, the processes, the pieces, the design, and the materiality converges into a noble and honest architecture.

Tomás Bravo has been selected to be part of the ArchDaily's 2024 Best New Practices, highlighting his work about the dialogue between architecture and territory, and the use of advanced technologies to analyze nature and heritage through a process that involves a project in itself. Originating from Chile's diverse and complex geography, he proposes using classical architectural representation in combination with technological tools and measurement methodologies to bring the territory and heritage closer to architecture professionals and their clients.

The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) at the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology has announced the shortlist of 53 Outstanding projects. The 5th cycle of awards celebrates built works completed in North, Central, and South America in 2022 and 2023, striving to bring visibility to those projects that best address the demands of our time and work towards building resilient communities.

Organizing, shaping, stacking. Transforming raw materials from the soil into architecture. This is a challenge that many Latin American architects embrace, demonstrating that scarcity can be daunting but also a rich opportunity to unleash creativity.

Acquiring diverse expressive possibilities within interior design, the use of wood in regions with a wide range of climates and temperatures such as Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, or Ecuador enables the creation of attractive and captivating spaces that capture the attention of their users by contrasting, blending, or integrating with their surrounding environment. Being a natural element and presenting a negative carbon footprint at the end of its life cycle, wood offers multiple finishes, textures, and tones that can be associated with being outdoors and providing, on some occasions, spaciousness, warmth, and relaxation at the same time.

How can industrialization and environmental responsibility go hand in hand? What siting, technological, or constructive strategies can be developed without harming the surrounding landscape? The application of modular design in architecture has been in practice for years, with a history involving the pursuit of standardization and modular coordination among materials, products, and more. Over time, it has been complemented by various environmental, sustainable, ecological, and economic factors to achieve the adaptability and functionality desired by its inhabitants.

In a constant search to find new ways to reduce costs and construction times, modular architecture emerges as an opportunity to implement various methods, technologies, and techniques to design livable spaces using separate repetitive elements such as modules. As Tom Hardiman, executive director of the Modular Building Institute (MBI), maintains, "Modular" is not about a construction product but rather a construction process.

What is symmetry in architecture? Why is it used to design spaces? What advantages and disadvantages does it present compared to other projection tools such as rotation, translation, and/or repetition? Contemporary architecture evolves day by day by implementing different strategies to create habitable spaces where people can carry out their daily activities, meet their needs, and more. Considering symmetry as a possible means of organization, distribution, and movement in the plane, architecture expresses and communicates largely through graphic means (floor plans, volumes, photographs, etc.) in a relationship that seeks coexistence, in most cases, of spaces, proportions, and scales in harmony.

Many buildings often fall into disuse due to our cities' constant economic, social, and technological changes. The programmatic inconsistency of current times demands great versatility and adaptability from our infrastructures, increasingly leading projects to become uninhabited, and left to abandonment and decay.

International non-profit organization World Habitat, in partnership with UN-Habitat, has announced the World Habitat Awards 2024. The prizes strive to highlight projects that demonstrate novel and transformative approaches to housing that incorporate principles of climate change adaptation and community-driven solutions. This year, 8 projects have been selected, out of which 2 projects were recognized with the Gold World Habitat Award.