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In 2019, third-year architecture students from the Universidad del Desarrollo in Concepción, Chile, traveled to the town of San Juan on Chiloé Island to build the Piuche Lookout. In this project, students faced the realities of construction processes—experiencing challenges associated with adverse weather and physical fatigue—working with the community and interpreting the territory, materials, and local crafts to realize a full-scale project. This activity, which began with a blank page and culminated in a built idea, serves as the students' first hands-on experience with developing an architectural project. Piuche is positioned vertically along a coastline south of the town, in dialogue with the natural elements: the hills, the sky, and the water.

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On August 28, the exhibition “Arquitectura Popular del Noreste” (Vernacular Architecture of the Northeast) opened at the Distrito Tec Open Gallery in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. The show features a series of images of the region's vernacular architecture captured by a group of 16 photographers, alongside residential surveys conducted by two architects: Francisco Álvarez, Tania Anchondo, Marcelo Barahona, Marcel del Castillo, Colectivo El Norestense, Sofía Garfias, Nora I. Gómez, Sofía Kalionchiz, José V. Kontos, Iván Manríquez, Josué Olivo, Isaac Rincón Aiza, Jar Rock, Carolina Segura, Martín Tovar, Marcela Vela, David Verazaluce Lugo, and Ignacio Woolfolk.

After the original dome of the building designed by German architect Karl Trambauer—located in the Old Town of Montevideo, Uruguay—partially collapsed, the void was occupied by a temporary new dome. This symbiotic architecture sought to fill the building's physical gaps while raising awareness of the systematic destruction suffered by structures in Ciudad Vieja. It served as both a provocative object and a restorative organism, experimentally intervening in the building's visible void.

In its 6th edition, Open House Porto (OHP) welcomes the city of Maia, which joins Matosinhos, Porto, and Vila Nova de Gaia for the major annual architecture festival organized by Casa da Arquitectura – Portuguese Centre for Architecture. To inform and guide visitors, applications to recruit 400 volunteers are open until April 20.

For nearly two decades, Wienerberger AG has hosted the biennial international Brick Award, providing a stage for outstanding brick architecture and its designers. Architects from around the world showcase their innovative concepts using ceramic materials: 644 projects from 55 countries were submitted for this year's award. The winners of the Brick Award 20 impressed the jury with bold, creative architectural concepts for sustainable, forward-looking spaces.

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The results of the Ideas Competition for the construction of the Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria (MUPAC) have been announced. The open call invited architecture professionals to develop design proposals for the new museum in Santander, Spain. With over 18,000 m2 of space and a complementary administrative building, it will become one of the most representative venues for Spanish archaeological history. Located in the city center alongside other landmark spaces such as the Palacio de Festivales, the Maritime Museum, the Centro Botín, and the Central Library, the building is set to become a signature civic facility and a major visitor attraction.

As part of the annual CEMEX Awards, the recipient of the Arq. Marcelo Zambrano Scholarship has been announced, reaffirming the commitment to the development of architecture in Mexico. CEMEX awards the Arq. Marcelo Zambrano Scholarship in honor of the exemplary professional dedication and leadership of Architect Marcelo Zambrano, aiming to support young Mexicans in pursuing postgraduate studies at prestigious international universities.

Videos

Brazilian architecture firm Estúdio Leonardo Zanatta has received an honorable mention in the international competition "Cool Abu Dhabi," which challenged participants to design creative solutions to tackle climate change and mitigate the urban heat island effect in Abu Dhabi. Titled Abu Dhabi Skins - (Bio)Reactive Urbanscape, the proposal is the only selection from the Americas.

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After receiving 105 proposals from 32 different countries, the Rural Tourism Accommodation (RuTA) international ideas competition in Vietnam, organized by arquideas, has announced its winning projects.

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The winners of the “Parque de la Ciudad” Comodoro Rivadavia National Preliminary Project Competition have been announced. Organized by the College of Architects of Chubut and sponsored by the Argentine Federation of Architects' Entities, the competition invited participants to develop urban and architectural ideas to renew the public space of the city of Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut (Argentina), through the design of a new Urban Park and a Popular Music Training and Production Center.

On Friday, May 29, a virtual panel discussion will take place focusing on "The Teaching of Architecture Today and Tomorrow." Moderated by Manuel Moreno, Dean of the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla (EAUD), the event will feature Daniel Bonilla of taller de arquitectura de bogotá, Giancarlo Mazzanti of Equipo Mazzanti, and architect Fabián Amaya, Director of the EAUD Architecture Department.

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Defining spaces in apartments is a challenge often imposed by their limited footprints. To address this, many projects utilize metal framing and custom furniture to delineate areas, connecting the architectural program through visual permeability while allowing natural light to flow throughout the home.

The artwork is located at the Pedro de Valdivia Norte entrance of the Santiago Metropolitan Park. It was created by the creative studio Lira Arte Público—specialists in public space interventions led by curator and urban designer Esteban Barrera—in close collaboration with the Santiago Metropolitan Park team, who designed and implemented physical distancing signage, along with this artistic intervention consisting of a floor mural of over 1,000 m² created by Chilean artist Cekis.

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With their proposal “1878-1880”, Spanish architecture firm GVG, a multidisciplinary team led by Daniel Galar Irurre, Josecho Vélaz Ballesteros, and Javier Gil Ayesa, has won the design competition for the renovation of the historic Madrid-Delicias Station, home of the Madrid Railway Museum since 1983.

The Santiago Metropolitan Park is currently conducting a survey on user mobility. If you visited Parquemet before the quarantine, you can help by responding here: https://www.parquemet.cl/ayudanos-a-mejorar-parquemet/.

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The fourth edition of the Hello Wood Argentina festival has concluded. Held during March in the Municipality of Ceibas, Entre Ríos Province, this creative, professional, and social program seeks to teach participants to think with their hands and learn through experience.

We invite you to participate in the 2020 Building of the Year award. In its twelfth edition, we ask you to recognize the projects making the greatest impact on the built environment. By nominating and voting, you are part of an independent and unbiased network that has consistently helped us celebrate architecture of all scales, purposes, and conditions, from countries large and small. There are only a few days left to nominate your favorite project, filtering 1,000 projects down to just 15.

Remember, registered users can nominate their favorite project once a day. Nominations close on Monday, March 23, 2020, at 11:59 PM (GMT-3). Thank you once again for helping us continue to democratize architecture.

The School of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism at the University of Buenos Aires (FADU, UBA) has made a series of resources available for remote access, allowing students, faculty, researchers, and the general public to access a vast collection of literature and information on architecture (as well as other FADU disciplines). This initiative aims to promote scientific and academic dissemination and strengthen the sharing of knowledge, particularly during the 2020 virtual school year.

Architect Javier Sánchez Gómez, founding partner of the firm MSGSSS—renowned for projects such as the ATC Argentina Televisora Color building—passed away on Sunday, February 9, at the age of 83.

Architect Severiano Mario Porto passed away today, December 10. At 90 years old, the architect died at 11 a.m. this Thursday from coronavirus. The burial will take place tomorrow, December 11, at the Parque da Colina cemetery in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. In compliance with social distancing guidelines, the wake will be open only to the family.

Isaac Michan Daniel of Michan Architecture, as well as Luis Beltrán del Río García and Andrew Sosa Martínez of the Mexican firm VRTICAL, have been recognized with the 2020 Architectural League Prize. Established in 1981 to recognize exemplary and provocative work by young practitioners, the Architectural League Prize is an annual competition organized by The Architectural League and its Young Architects + Designers Committee. This year's jury was comprised of the Young Architects + Designers Committee—Kutan Ayata, Mira Henry, and Kevin Hirth—alongside Lucia Allais, Paul Lewis, Anna Puigjaner, and Nanako Umemoto.

On July 23, the prequalification meeting for the international tender of the full-process design of the Guiwan Unit 4 Nine-Year Consistent School Project was successfully held. The jury was composed of renowned domestic architects and educational architecture experts. As Qianhai's first nine-year consistent public school, the project is a crucial pillar for establishing Qianhai as an educational hub and an effective practice in exploring full-process design management models. After carefully reviewing the conceptual proposals and commercial bids of the 76 registered applicants, the jury ultimately selected 5 shortlisted firms to proceed to the next stage.

The main source of spread—and likely the origin—of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), first detected in December 2019, is believed to be the Wuhan seafood market in China. From the facility's workers and vendors, the virus began to spread, initially affecting the local population and subsequently reaching more than 200 territories and countries worldwide. Today, three months after the WHO's declaration characterizing the disease as a pandemic, traditional wholesale and retail markets have come under scrutiny as potential contagion hotspots. How can food access be guaranteed for a population without posing a risk to distributors, vendors, and buyers?

One of the largest exhibitions dedicated to Brazilian architecture held outside of Brazil, Infinito Vão arrives in São Paulo. Conceived by the Casa da Arquitectura - Portuguese Center for Architecture in 2018, the exhibition is curated by Guilherme Wisnik e Fernando Serapião and will open on November 25 at Sesc 24 de Maio.

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