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.
Beyond being a prefabricated material currently produced in large quantities, the use of concrete blocks in architecture continues to evolve to meet the demands and needs of contemporary societies that are constantly changing. Whether in interior or exterior spaces, their use can align with concepts of circular economy, resource efficiency, sustainability, and more, with the goal of creating habitable spaces while also understanding their constructive advantages and disadvantages, their expressive and aesthetic qualities, and so on.
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.
In the highlands of the Central Andes, one finds the "bofedales." Known by some as 'high Andean wetlands,' bofedales are ecosystems and landscapes crucial for water regulation and storage in the Andes. Moreover, they are natural infrastructures that constitute a material and immaterial heritage to address contemporary climate crises and to sustain local Andean communities, which have nurtured them for generations.
The ArchDaily projects library is managed by our curators who constantly seek to populate our stream with the most interesting global works, showcasing evolving focuses and criteria. While we usually share our reader’s top 100 favorites, this year, we also decided to initiate our editor’s picks on the ArchDaily Instagram account, where our curators highlight some projects that include interesting themes and unique traits.
Being one of the first construction methods developed by humans, earth has proven its resilience and durability over time. While construction techniques have evolved and been updated over the years, there is still a long way to explore where the understanding of climate, geographic location, sustainability, structural requirements, and other factors determine its degree of application.
With an air of simplicity and wisdom, engineer Julio Vargas Neumann welcomes us. His two dogs accompany us as we descend after the necessary ascent to enter, and we are also accompanied by the stone walls defining the lot. We sit down and begin - or continue - the interview and conversation regarding the value of 'shicras', local materials, and earth construction. We also discuss criticisms of cement, aluminum, and steel, as well as perspectives on the future of materials in Peru and the world. Likewise, we delve into the long-neglected and recurrent rural problem in South America, discussing the inexorable need to change paradigms and priorities.
The use of local materials in architecture is becoming more and more important as there is a growing need to find new, sustainable construction methods that can help address the current climate crisis. Understanding the behavior of different materials and their key construction properties, architects and other professionals in the field are increasingly turning to bamboo, aiming to develop strategies and techniques that enable its use in both the structures of their projects and the various components of spaces.
The Diversity in Architecture Prize (DIVIA) was awarded to Italian architect Marta Maccaglia, founder of Semillas, for her commitment to educational construction in Peru. This international recognition of 20,000 euros aims to promote the visibility of women in the architecture industry. Among the five finalists of this edition were Tosin Oshinowo (Nigeria), May al-Ibrashy (Egypt), Noella Nibakuze (Rwanda), and Katherine Clarke and Liza Fior (United Kingdom).
The Architecture in Development Global Challenge has just announced the finalists for the 2022 edition of the competition. Highlighting and celebrating the ongoing efforts of self-built community-led initiatives worldwide, the Global Challenge offers a platform for those initiatives while connecting partners and collaborators globally.
