Nodes or gathering zones are the key points in urban dynamics, as they facilitate interaction between citizens and the architectural object. Many buildings seek to capitalize on the opportunities provided by their context to connect the architectural design with the landscape, thereby strengthening and introducing new approaches to understanding and viewing urban relationships and architecture from a different perspective.

As an axis connected to the city, a building must understand the relationship between architecture and the urban environment. It should be generous, opening its constituent spaces to the city and its residents to create shared areas for participation, thereby enriching the experience of the city and its surrounding environment.

For this reason, we have selected 5 projects that integrate urban dynamics, providing spaces for civic gathering.  

+ 1

Emilio De la Cerda, director of the School of Architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile since 2014, has been chosen to assume the newly created position of Undersecretary of Cultural Heritage in the South American country's new Ministry of Culture, the Arts, and Heritage, an institution that began operations on March 1st.

Among his responsibilities, De la Cerda will coordinate the activities of the new National Cultural Heritage Service and will "propose policies, and design and evaluate plans and programs in areas related to folklore, traditional cultures, indigenous cultures and heritage, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, heritage infrastructure, and citizen participation in collective memory and heritage definition processes," according to the official regulations for the position.

This week, the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan) released the call for applications for a civil service examination that will open 411 positions across the country. Organized by the Brazilian Center for Research in Assessment and Selection and Promotion of Events (Cebraspe), the selection process was authorized on May 3 by the Ministry of Planning, Budget, and Management (MP) and is the result of a strong national mobilization aimed at highlighting the importance of preserving Brazilian cultural heritage to society.

Italy has just added a new work by Santiago Calatrava: the Cosenza cable-stayed bridge in the eponymous city, located 300 kilometers south of Naples. The project was conceived to integrate two urban areas currently separated by the Crati River: Contrada Gergeri and Via Reggio Calabria.

Built with the signature materials of Calatrava's career—steel, concrete, and natural stone—the single-pylon cable-stayed bridge features a 140-meter-long steel deck, a width of 24 meters, and a maximum height of 82 meters, serving both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Its form recalls the world's first bridge with an inclined pylon: the Alamillo Bridge in Seville, Spain, also designed by Calatrava.

The renovation and adaptation project for the Reales Atarazanas of Seville (Spain)—one of the Andalusian capital's most spectacular architectural spaces, often referred to as the city's "civil cathedral"—has overcome what appears to be the final hurdle on its path to becoming a landmark cultural center, not only for Andalusia but for all of Spain.

On December 29, during a ceremony held at the Atarazanas itself, an agreement was ratified between the Regional Government of Andalusia, the La Caixa Foundation—responsible for managing the historic building as a cultural space with an investment of over 13 million euros—and Adepa (Association for the Defense of Andalusian Heritage), which had filed a lawsuit against the project in 2016, putting the renovation on hold.

+ 8

Tec de Monterrey, in collaboration with the Architectural Association (AA), is launching a new certificate program titled Metropolitan Landscapes / Escenarios Metropolitanos. This program combines Tec's commitment to urban development with the AA's experimental tradition, addressing the emergence of a metropolitan discipline worldwide.

Based in Mexico (Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey) and the United Kingdom (London), the program explores the visionary role that design can play within the so-called "urban age" and "Anthropocene epoch," given the scale of global urbanization processes. To do so, it utilizes the latest urban, critical, technological, ecological, and landscape concepts to shape the discipline.

ByFutura is an integrated, transdisciplinary firm led by Iván García that began 10 years ago in Monterrey. Originally founded as a design studio focused on branding, this path opened doors through various projects, leading them to design everything from a coffee cup to an entire space.

One of their first projects was Taquería Canalla, where this vision was first reflected. "It was here that we took on the comprehensive responsibility of designing a space for the first time. We asked for help from architect friends and realized that architecture was a fundamental piece of our design, as it opened many doors for us," comments Iván García.

These types of projects remind us that architecture is so vast that it can be approached from different starting points. Today, ByFutura consists of 13 people dedicated to design and architecture. The firm has established itself on the global design and architecture scene, handling national and international projects, 80% of which are completed outside of Mexico.

+ 5

Arquideas is a community of students and young professionals from the architecture and design world. Its main objective is to showcase the talent and creativity of these young designers and help bridge the gap between the academic and professional spheres of architecture and design.

With this in mind, they once again launched a competition titled Bay Book House (BaBH) San Francisco, which challenged participants to propose a cultural exchange space to activate one or more of the abandoned piers in San Francisco's historic port.

Given its prime location, the proposed space was envisioned as a meeting point and an international benchmark for students, researchers, culture lovers, and the general public. It aims to offer outdoor reading, research, and technological innovation as key attractions for both residents and visitors. In a city already full of globally iconic landmarks, this new space must be designed to become San Francisco's new cultural landmark—the flagship of a vibrant, rapidly developing waterfront.

As part of International Habitat and Architect Week in Mozambique, the exhibition opened and the winners of the First Architecture Photography Competition - Perspectivas were announced on October 1 in Maputo, during the event A Cidade Desejada, organized by the Association of Architects of Mozambique - ARCHIMOZ.

A federal building abandoned for decades may soon be rehabilitated to provide quality housing for socially vulnerable families in downtown Porto Alegre. This is the proposal of a project selected in the funding call for Technical Assistance for Social Interest Housing (ATHIS) programs by the Council of Architecture and Urbanism (CAU/RS). Made possible by the Architects' Union of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, the project aims to turn the building in the Floresta neighborhood into a decent home for approximately 40 low-income families.

Following last year's designation of the Gimnasio Maravillas, designed by Alejandro de la Sota, the Community of Madrid has declared the Capitol Building an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) under the Monument category. This designation continues the region's initiative to protect and promote 20th-century Spanish modern architecture.

Also known as the Carrión Building, the Capitol Building was designed by architects Vicente Eced and Luis Martínez Feduchi. Construction began on April 21, 1931, and the building officially opened on October 15, 1933.

+ 5

As part of the 30th National Meeting of Architecture Students (ENEA), the Association of Architecture Teaching Institutions (ASINEA) invited the country's most prestigious architecture schools to participate in this event organized by Universidad de La Salle México. The meeting took place at La Salle Cuernavaca in March 2018, bringing together the highest-performing students.

The exercises focused on the theme proposed by La Salle México, "Architecture and Design for Urban Emergencies," which arose from the events of September 19, 2017, and the urgent need to raise awareness within the profession about the importance of preparing for social disasters caused by natural phenomena.

Videos

A bridge approximately 1.5 kilometers long collapsed this morning in Genoa, Italy. The Morandi Bridge, built in the 1960s, crosses the Polcevera River in the western part of the Port of Genoa, connecting the city center with the regional airport. Authorities attribute the disaster to structural failure combined with a severe storm occurring at the time of the collapse.

New residential developments in the country must incorporate accessibility features in all common areas, while individual housing units must be adapted according to buyer demand. Developments will have an 18-month deadline to adapt to the new rules established by Decree 9,451, whose guidelines regulate the Brazilian Inclusion Law.

After 70 years of setbacks, the Bogotá Metro is finally beginning to take shape. Last September, it secured partial state funding for its construction, and in April, the 16 stations of the first line were presented. Consequently, building a new transit system for a city of 8 million people has sparked widespread debate, capturing the attention of residents who long for a project that would solve one of the major mobility crises currently facing the Colombian capital.

Darío Hidalgo, director of integrated transport at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, and Carlos Carrillo, an industrial designer from the National University of Colombia, recently participated in the Observatorio de Gobierno Urbano program on UN Radio, where they compared the routes and costs of an elevated metro versus an underground one.

Around 19,000 architects and urban planners from Rio de Janeiro state now have access to a shared office space in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Featuring 20 workstations and two meeting rooms, the space allows professionals to work and host client meetings.

The Council's goal is to bring greater vitality to the use of its headquarters—located at Av. República do Chile, 230, 23rd floor—while strengthening ties with professionals and providing access to an infrastructure that architects and urban planners help maintain. By the end of this year, CAU/RJ expects to increase the number of available workstations and meeting rooms.

+ 19

Dérive LAB is a multidisciplinary laboratory based in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, that seeks to explore, understand, and inspire alternative (new) ways of living and thinking about urban life. Through research, design, and action, they focus on developing art, architecture, urban design, and other disciplinary projects that impact three specific scales: public life, the built environment, and everyday objects.

After establishing itself—with ten editions already—as a key reference event for understanding the current and future state of architecture and urbanism in the Ibero-American community, the XI BIAU will take place for the first time in the city of Asunción in October 2019. The program of activities will include the presentation of selected works, keynote lectures, specialized presentations, and panel discussions organized around the central theme: aĩ paragua y (I inhabit - water).

As the urban planning debate in Buenos Aires over the reform of the planning code unfolds, one only needs to look at the new issue of the online magazine Notas CPAU 'Código Urbanístico' to realize that it is no minor issue.

Consequently, attention is turning to the city's historic grid. If you have already heard of superblocks—a system bounded on its periphery by arterial roads and public transit networks, with an interior designed to prioritize cyclists and pedestrians—pay attention, because Salvador Rueda was recently in the city, and this concept could soon become a reality.

The results of the 24th competition organized by the Projetar.org portal have just been released. The challenge proposed to students was to design a portable individual shelter for unhoused individuals, receiving 142 proposals submitted by teams of students from various Brazilian states and other countries. Given the difficulty of addressing the housing deficit, the fact that the global population is projected to increase by 50% by 2050, and the severity of the situation faced by unhoused people, it is both necessary and urgent to consider emergency solutions that can at least alleviate suffering and improve their basic living conditions.

See the competition results below:

Videos

Concéntrico is an International Architecture and Design Festival that invites reflection on the city of Logroño (Spain) by revitalizing undervalued public spaces. Its latest edition, Concéntrico 04, takes place between April 27 and May 1, 2018, in the historic center of Logroño. The festival invites visitors to explore the city through installations, exhibitions, meetings, activities, and performances that connect venues, plazas, streets, courtyards, and hidden spaces that typically go unnoticed in daily life. Lucas Seré Paltzer and Sebastián Andrés Podestá explore the connection between space and people through reflection at Plaza de San Bartolomé.

+ 23

+ 6

Mexico City's Chinatown originated in the 1960s near Alameda Central, forming around Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, and Filipino immigrants who established an increasingly strong presence in the city. The ephemeral and vibrant nature of this enclave has led to various design interventions, including the most recent one inaugurated in early 2018 by the Public Space Authority (Autoridad del Espacio Público), featuring urban furniture designed by the Mexican firm Obiect.

Ever since we announced the results of the competition for the "New Bío Bío Regional Theater," promoted by the Regional Government and the Architecture Area of the National Council of Culture and the Arts, we had been eagerly awaiting the completion of the winning proposal.

Videos

As one of Modernism's key global legacies, how do the architecture and urban planning of Brasília shape the lives of those living in Brazil's capital? This is the subject of the documentary The Body and the Modernist City (O Corpo e a Cidade Modernista), which premieres with two screenings in Europe: on May 8 at the Copenhagen Architecture Festival (CAFx) in Denmark, and on June 10 at the Arquiteturas Film Festival in Portugal.