Architecture News

By 2050, an estimated 89% of Latin America's population will live in urban areas. This "need" to live in urban centers has brought about a growing inequality, manifested in a lack of access to basic services and homeownership.

In this context, Venezuelan-American David Gouverneur, a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, uses his book Diseño de nuevos asentamientos informales (Design of New Informal Settlements) to call for greater awareness of the need to address and study informality in our cities, recognizing it as an unavoidable reality.

After at least five years of study, the time comes for architecture and urbanism students to complete their final graduation projects—often referred to as TCC, TFG, or Final Projects. In choosing their topics, students highlight civic, urban, or theoretical projects that are of great importance in sparking a debate about the future of our cities, the built environment, urban infrastructure, mobility, and many other fundamental issues shaping how we inhabit space.

Completing these projects requires a major effort in data collection, research, and design development to address complex challenges. Since they are not always recognized as they deserve, we launch an annual call to showcase the best work by students from Portuguese-speaking countries, helping them reach a wider audience and inspire the general public with new ideas.

The cities of Bucaramanga (Colombia) and Cipolletti (Argentina) are the winners of the second edition of the international competition “City for People,” organized by the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The award ceremony, held in Buenos Aires, recognized the Argentine city in the Sustainable Mobility category for its proposal to implement a sustainable mobility plan designed for youth. Meanwhile, the Colombian city won in the Reviving Cities category with the renovation of the Patio de los Edecanes, a late-18th-century structure in downtown Bucaramanga. 

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The "Single-Family Housing" Architectural Design Workshop, organized by the architecture firm Cota Paredes Arquitectos, concluded its fourth edition, inviting graduated architects and upper-level architecture students to develop a Single-Family Housing Project over four weeks in either an In-Person or Online format. Discover the selected projects below:

The project brief consisted of designing a single-family home for a family of six within a residential development in Zapopan, Jalisco. The selected design had to comply with the building regulations of the subdivision (Valle Imperial), addressing all necessary and fundamental aspects to achieve a home utilizing the concepts of introspective architecture.

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One of the world's most renowned architecture festivals, the World Architecture Festival (WAF), has announced the finalists for its eleventh edition, taking place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from November 28 to 30. The World Architecture Festival is dedicated to celebrating, sharing, and inspiring outstanding architecture. It is the only architecture event where keynote speeches from the industry's most influential figures coincide with live presentations from over 500 award finalists, global networking opportunities, and an international product exhibition.

Mexican architecture continues to make a strong showing on the global stage, which is why we present the complete list of projects in Mexico nominated for the 2018 World Architecture Festival awards, ranging from cultural, healthcare, housing, and residential projects to mixed-use developments. Read on to discover the projects.

Working partners and friends for over four decades, Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura have won two Pritzker Prizes and a host of other awards, earning the admiration and respect of any architecture professional. In a conversation moderated by Isabel Lucas and published in the Portuguese newspaper Público.pt, the duo discusses the early days of this long partnership which, over time, has evolved into a close bond that allows them to sketch over each other's drawings in a process they refer to as "osmosis."

In Bogotá, CEMEX Colombia hosted the 12th edition of the 2018 CEMEX Building Award (Premio Obras CEMEX), celebrating the best of Colombian architecture and construction—projects "capable of creating solutions that promote the social and economic development of countries and, of course, contribute to protecting the environment," explained Ricardo Naya, president of CEMEX Colombia, during the ceremony held at the C. Vilar Auditorium.

Composed of Carlos Campuzano, Rafael Esguerra, Eduardo Rocha, Francisco de Valdenebro, Argelino Durán, and Lorenzo Castro, the jury presented awards in four categories—with the Infrastructure category declared vacant—along with three special prizes for outstanding achievements in Sustainable Building, Construction Innovation, and Social Value. The universal accessibility category was also declared vacant.

The winning architects in each category will travel to Mexico in November to represent Colombia at the international CEMEX Building Award ceremony.

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The renowned architecture firm Zaha Hadid Architects has announced its first exhibition in Latin America, which will take place at the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC) on the campus of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The exhibition, titled Design as Second Nature, will showcase several projects by architect Zaha Hadid through models, audiovisual materials, paintings, and photographs, exploring the creative process of her practice and highlighting the importance and complexity of design as the central axis connecting form and construction in her work.

With 333 registered teams from 180 schools of Architecture and Urbanism representing 24 Brazilian states, the results of the 11th edition of the Competition for Architecture Students, organized by the Brazilian Center for Steel Construction (CBCA), were announced on August 22. For the 2018 edition, the proposed theme was a Pavilion with a Greenhouse for a Botanical Park.

Mexican architect Enrique Norten will receive the Fine Arts Medal in Architecture, the highest honor awarded by the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA) to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to Mexico's art and culture. With this award, the Institute celebrates his career and his contributions to the country's culture.

Born in Mexico City on February 27, 1954, Norten was drawn to the world of design and determined to pursue creative work early on. At the age of 20, he began his architecture studies at the Universidad Iberoamericana.

The city of Paraty, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, had its bid for World Heritage status accepted by UNESCO last week. While this is not the first time the city has been considered for the organization's list, having been nominated on two previous occasions, it is the first time it is running as a Natural and Cultural Landscape.

The small sovereign state of Luxembourg has a population of about 560,000. However, its vehicle count is disproportionate to its size: 662 for every thousand people, according to The New York Times. This represents the highest car-to-population ratio in the entire European Union. To address this issue, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, reelected for a second term, promised free public transit for all residents.

The work of Patricia Golombek is an architectural study developed from different perspectives, analyzing structural elements and design solutions by various architects from around the world.

An architect by training, the artist uses her work to highlight the language through which architects communicate and the creative process behind their designs.

The 6th Arquia/Próxima Festival: Relevant Practices in Madrid has announced the winning projects of this edition. Aiming to provide visibility to Spanish architects during their first ten years of practice, the Arquia/Próxima cultural program focuses on disseminating, promoting, and highlighting their achievements and professional principles.

The biennial's theme, defined by its curator, Iñaki Carnicero, invited reflection "on the paradox produced by the international success of Spanish architecture, which does not correspond to the volume of architectural production in recent years, but nevertheless reflects work that is more relevant than ever," the organization explained.

The following awards were presented during the festival:

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A critical and popular success, the sci-fi series Black Mirror, created by Charlie Brooker and produced by Netflix, was confirmed for a fifth season this month. Among the settings for the new season, which does not yet have a release date, is a São Paulo apartment designed by Piratininga Arquitetos.

Located on Paulista Avenue, in the Três Marias Building, designed by Abelardo Riedy de Souza and completed in 1956, the apartment's interior was renovated in 2009 by the São Paulo-based firm. It caught the attention of the Black Mirror production team due to its impressive views of the city's most iconic avenue.

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Concéntrico is an International Architecture and Design Festival that proposes to reflect on the city of Logroño (Spain) through the revitalization of 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 the venues, plazas, streets, courtyards, and hidden spaces that usually go unnoticed in daily life. Jorge Penadés creates "Chabola" spaces, exploring how to minimize intervention using wooden boards and adhesive tape.

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This new competition, titled 'Young Architects in Latin America,' is one of the collateral events of the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018. It is organized by CA'ASI following the success of previous editions, such as 'New Chinese Architects' in 2010, 'Young Arab Architects' in 2012, and 'Young Architects in Africa' in 2014.

A few months ago, the call for entries was opened to young architects from Latin America, offering them an opportunity to establish a presence on the global architectural scene. The jury met in Paris in late March to announce the finalist projects, which will be invited to present their work in Venice as part of the 16th Architecture Biennale.

Read on for the complete list by country.

This year, Athos Bulcão, one of the most active artists working at the intersection of art and modern Brazilian architecture, would have turned 100. Bulcão dedicated a significant portion of his career to merging traditional tilework with modern architectural design—and succeeded. His work defines some of the most iconic buildings of Brazilian modernism, most notably in Brasília.