The recent arrival of the Minergie certification in Chile is overseen by EBP Chile. This effort includes training Chilean professionals in this Swiss low-energy building standard, alongside the recent granting of provisional certification to the Covarrubias Hernández House in Lliu Lliu, Limache, designed by Murillo+Toro Arquitectos, and the Burgos Net Zero Building, developed by Cristián Izquierdo together with Tecton Inmobiliaria.
Architects and urban planners across the country will participate in a national election this Monday and Tuesday, October 16 and 17. More than 200,000 professionals in the field are set to choose 402 state councilors for the Councils of Architecture and Urbanism of the States and the Federal District (CAU/UF) and 28 federal councilors for the Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Brazil (CAU/BR) – one from each Federative Unit plus one representative of Higher Education Institutions (IES).
The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have announced the 2024 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Awards (EUmies Awards) nominees. A total of 362 works of architecture realized over 38 different European countries have been selected, marking the first stage of the EUmies Awards’ 18th cycle. In the next stage, the jury will choose 40 outstanding projects, followed by visits to the finalists and interviews with the architects, their teams, and the project clients.
The 2024 EUmies Awards aims to recognize the best-built works in Europe completed between April 2021 and May 2023. The selection of projects reflects the current changes within the European context, with increasing attention given to environmental, social, and economic awareness expressed through architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and design. This year’s jury is chaired by Frédéric Druot (Paris/Bordeaux), who will be accompanied by Martin Braathen (Oslo), Pippo Ciorra (Rome), Tinatin Gurgenidze (Tbilisi/Berlin), Adriana Krnáčová (Prague), Sala Makumbundu (Luxembourg), and Hrvoje Njiric (Zagreb).
The National Building Museum announced that Theaster Gates will be the 25th recipient of the Vincent Scully Prize. Initiated in 1999, the award serves as a recognition of excellence in the fields of design, architecture, historic preservation, urban design, encompassing practice, and criticism. Theaster Gates is an artist internationally renowned for his interdisciplinary blend of social performance, urban regeneration, and cultural activations.
African countries have issued a stark joint declaration calling on major polluting nations to help poorer countries develop without further destroying the planet's climate and ecosystems, as wealthy nations did. They advocate for a global carbon tax as the primary mechanism to enable sustainable investment in vulnerable countries.
Mexican architect Enrique Norten has been awarded the Lorenzo H. Zambrano Award for his outstanding career as an architect and professor. He is the founder and director of TEN Arquitectos (Mexico City, New York, and Miami) and, throughout his career, has been internationally recognized for his extensive portfolio of more than 60 built projects around the world.
In this Louisiana Channel interview with Yasmeen Lari, the renowned Pakistani architect speaks about the role of architects and the needed perspective shifts of the industry in contemporary times. Awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2023 for her humanitarian efforts, Lari emphasizes the need to rethink the architecture industry to address social disparities and resource deficiencies. In the interview, the architect and designer reflects on her upbringing, architectural education, and her practice today.
For the ninth time, the MEXTRÓPOLI Architecture and City Festival held the Arquine Competition No. 25 | MEXTRÓPOLI 2023 Pavilion, a platform where architecture, urbanism, and art converge to contemplate and celebrate Mexico City. The event also aims to engage the public by occupying public spaces with architectural pieces that can be activated by visitors. Celebrating public spaces or offering a different perspective on the places routinely traversed is the reason MEXTRÓPOLI showcases these ephemeral architectural pieces.
Casa da Arquitectura and Hinterland are organizing the Por Exemplo meeting on October 13, bringing together 10 practices of young Portuguese and Spanish architects aged 45 and under for an exchange of ideas, methods, and work processes.
There is a generation of young architects who have been developing their work in a stimulating international context, driven by the pressure of the tourism market. Despite their brief experience, these professionals have mastered digital tools, but they navigate a highly competitive and continuously accelerating world.
In 2023, the TAC! Urban Architecture Festival opens its pavilion in Donostia-San Sebastián, drawing attention to the forest fires of recent years. In this edition, the festival aims to investigate the role of architecture in responding to the impacts of the climate crisis in urban environments, offering solutions to help mitigate their consequences.
"Lost Forest," the winning pavilion of the competition for the festival's second edition, designed by architects Julia Ruiz-Cabello Subiela and Santiago del Águila, was presented in Sagüés by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA) in collaboration with the Arquia Foundation and the Mugak/ Basque Country International Architecture Biennial. The pavilion will remain in place until November 13.
As the world grapples with the effects of climate change, natural disasters like flooding, and the spread of incontrollable wildfires are increasingly threatening cities and inhabitants. While architecture and urban planning cannot prevent these occurrences, they still possess strategies to minimize the damage associated with these events and help protect the citizens. Unfortunate events over the course of last year, like the earthquake that hit central Turkey and north-west Syria this February or the more recent earthquake in western Afghanistan, the flooding and dam failures in Libya, and the wildfires that devastated the city of Lahaina, Hawaii, demonstrate the urgency of implementing preventative and mitigation measures in addition to creating procedures for emergency intervention. This article explores the strategies and resources available to architects and urban planners to address these challenges in three types of natural disasters: flooding, wildfires, and earthquakes.
Architectural studio Parabase has been chosen for the development of several plots of Areal Walkeweg in Basel for the purpose of creating affordable apartments and an integrated migration center. The design solution, titled “Elementa,” reuses components from deconstructed cantonal properties, transforming the former columns and floor plates into walls and façade elements. The project was chosen following an open competition, where the international jury favored Parabase’s solution for its strong aesthetics combined with the creative reuse of prefabricated concrete elements.
Zaha Hadid Architects has been shortlisted for their proposal for the 2nd Sejong Cultural Center. The proposal draws inspiration from the surrounding city’s lengthy history as well as future vision. Connecting Yeouido Park to the Han River, the 2nd Sejong Cultural Center is embedded within the park's natural landscapes, aiming to become an integral part of the public function in the city within a natural setting, seamlessly connecting indoor and outdoor spaces.
Chiloé, in southern Chile, is a place where architecture is a tangible expression of history, culture, and the natural environment in which it sits. Its urban identity is unique, as are its inhabitants, featuring everything from the iconic colorful stilt houses suspended over the water to the wooden churches designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Inspired by this rich architectural heritage, Castro Abierto was created—a festival that brings together architecture, landscape, and local communities to connect and promote the diverse expressions of Chiloé's archipelagic culture.
In terms of activism, disruption is a necessary element of effective protest. When acts of disruption spill into the public domain, they carve out spaces through blockades, defenses, and territorial claims, giving rise to ‘protest architecture.’ This concept is the focus of the exhibition organized by DAM – Deutsches Architekturmuseum and the MAK – Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna. Titled “Protest/Architecture. Barricades, Camps, Superglue,” the event showcases a collection of models, photographs, and films depicting the evolution of protest architecture around the world. The exhibition, curated by Oliver Elser with curatorial assistance and research by Anna-Maria Mayerhofer, is open from September 16, 2023, until January 14, 2024, at the DAM OSTEND in Frankfurt.
For the 18th year, the International Architecture Awards has returned to celebrate outstanding architectural achievements globally. Based in Chicago, these awards feature exceptional new buildings, urban planning projects, and landscape architecture of 2023. Additionally, this month, the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB 5) is currently taking place in the city. Both the awards and the Biennial attempt to shed light on each country’s architectural, design, cultural, and social trends.
Since the inception of the International Architecture Awards in 2005, this annual program has served as a platform for celebrating contemporary architecture. Moreover, the awards institution believes in architecture’s potential to enhance the quality of life for individuals globally. This year, the selected winners span 48 countries, from Ethiopia to Tokyo and New York to Nova Scotia.
Until October 16, 2023, the second edition of TAC! Urban Architecture Festival will take place in the city of Valencia under the temporary Mediterranean pavilion designed by Manuel Bouzas. Located in the Plaza Músico López Chavarri in the Carmen neighborhood, the pavilion pays homage to vernacular architecture in response to the Mediterranean climate and the role of the Mediterranean shutter, a mechanism that for centuries provided an effective, simple, and lightweight solution for sun protection, allowing habitable spaces to adapt to climatic conditions.
The exhibition "Engine of Equality: La Residencia de Señoritas (1915-1936)" will be open until October 15, celebrating a unique, iconic, and pivotal institution in promoting equality in Spain. It is housed in the Ortega-Marañón Foundation's recently opened cultural space—an expansion at the rear of the central "casa" in Madrid that joins the historic 1930s building designed by Carlos Arniches on the corner of Miguel Ángel and General Martínez Campos streets.
