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What are the exact dimensions of the Royal Palace of Madrid? How many rooms does it have? How many doors and windows? These questions stem from a need for definitive answers. This is exactly what Patrimonio Nacional—the Spanish state institution responsible for managing and preserving its historic buildings—set out to do: create an accurate 3D model of the palace to produce a unified digital record of the building's interior and exterior.

Using Leica Geosystems technology, an "almost millimeter-accurate" model of its interior spaces, facades, and roofs was created, mapping every corner of the building's two basements and six floors—totaling approximately 137,500 square meters of built area that required more than 2,500 scans.

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March 8 is a date established by the UN in 1975 to commemorate the struggle for equal rights and universal suffrage. This commemoration honors the efforts of women who demanded their right to vote, to work, to professional training, to hold public office, and to fight labor discrimination.

Defined as "a space for reflection and showcasing the value of architectural practices," the XIV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (XIV BEAU) was presented on July 19 in the Pereda Gardens in Santander. Under the theme “More Living, More Humanizing,” a temporary pavilion in the Spanish city brings together the winning professional works alongside the II Research Exhibition and the VII Thesis Project Exhibition (PFC), as undergraduate thesis projects are known in Spain.

Regarding the selected PFCs, the Biennial's organizers highlighted "their approach to intervening in the city, heritage, and landscape with diverse programs through innovative, high-quality proposals [...] as well as the urban commitment of the proposals and their values of social cohesion and environmental efficiency."

Directed by Sara de Giles and José Morales, the BEAU received 196 submissions for this exhibition, from which the jury ultimately selected 36 finalist projects. Of these, twenty have been officially chosen as winners:

The Arquitetas Invisíveis (Invisible Women Architects) Collective is an initiative that seeks to promote gender equality within the field of architecture and urban planning by recognizing and promoting the life and work of women architects who have been historically overlooked. Founded by students at the School of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Brasília, the group's initial effort aimed to expand the repertoire of architecture and urban planning students and professionals while sparking discussions on gender in both academic and professional spheres. Arquitetas Invisíveis was officially launched on March 8, 2014, in honor of International Women's Day, using Facebook to reach architecture students and professionals across Brazil.

Today, March 8, 2018, the Arquitetas Invisíveis Collective is launching the second edition of the Arquitetas Invisíveis Magazine, under the theme "In the Shadows."

The Government of Catalonia, having finalized its approval of the modification to the Metropolitan General Plan, has approved a new measure requiring 30% of housing in new residential developments and major building renovations in Barcelona to be allocated for social housing.

This regulatory change is backed by the 2007 Law on the Right to Housing, which already allowed for affordable housing allocations within the urban fabric. Under this framework, the Catalan Minister of Territory and Sustainability, Damià Calvet, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, explained that the Urban Planning Subcommission has amended an additional provision detailing the transition period for implementing this new rule.

The 21st edition of the student competition was titled Home. The brief challenged participants to design a home for their family in their hometown, with the program, location, and project area decided by the competitors themselves. The competition stands out because participants have only 24 hours between the release of the brief and the project submission. The results were announced on January 30th.

Discover the winning projects below:

1st Place

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.

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.

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.

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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."

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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.

On Wednesday, December 5, the winning project of the Paulista Para Todos Ideas Festival was announced. An initiative of Esquina.net.br, the competition featured four teams of São Paulo-based architecture firms (FGMF + Erê Lab, Königsberger Vannucchi Arquitetos Associados + Mauricio Alito, Nitsche Arquitetos + Petro Fontes, and Paulo Mendes da Rocha + Nadezhda Rocha). They were evaluated by a jury comprising Carlos Leite (urban planner, PhD, professor at FAU Mackenzie, director of Stuchi & Leite Projetos e Consultoria, and former director of São Paulo Urbanismo), Sol Camacho (curator of the Brazilian Pavilion at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale and director of the Lina Bo Bardi/Casa de Vidro Institute, a graduate of the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico with a Master in Urban Design from Harvard University), and Renato Schermann Ximenes de Melo (partner at Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados).

As part of the celebrations for the 76th anniversary of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile, the 2018 CA Awards ceremony will take place next Friday, August 3, at the Club de la Unión. The awards are presented by the Chilean association to the country's outstanding practitioners and role models in the discipline.

This year, for the first time, the Dora Riedel, Eliana Caraball, and Regional Architecture Awards will be presented, expanding the scope of the Chilean honors.

Below are the nominees in the twelve categories of the 2018 CA Awards:

From the desk of Rogelio Salmona, with a wonderful view of Torres del Parque in Bogotá, we present our selection of the best Colombian architecture photography, captured by the followers of ArchDaily Colombia on Instagram.

Remember to tag your Colombian architecture photos on Instagram with the hashtag #ArchDailyCo for a chance to be featured in our upcoming roundups.

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.

A project developed for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games has been awarded Gold in architecture at the 2018 iF Design Award. The Dancing Pavilion, designed by architect and designer Guto Requena for the Olympics in Brazil, has just received the Gold Award, the highest architectural category of the iF Design Award. The trophy was presented to the designer during a ceremony in Munich, Germany, in March. According to the jury:

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The IHA is considered the world's most important architectural prize for high-rises. It is aimed at architects and developers whose buildings are at least 100 meters tall and were completed in the last two years. The jury consists of architects, structural engineers, real estate experts, and architecture critics. They evaluate the nominated projects based on the following criteria: future-oriented design, functionality, innovative construction technology, integration into the urban context, development schemes, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. This year, the five finalists chosen from 36 nominees across 15 countries have finally been announced; among them is Torre Reforma, designed by Benjamín Romano.