Architecture News

For the fourth time, we are giving our readers the responsibility of recognizing and awarding the projects that have made the greatest impact on the profession through the 2020 ArchDaily Brasil Building of the Year Award. By voting, you become part of an impartial network of jurors recognizing the most relevant projects of the past year.

Over the next three weeks, the collective intelligence of our readers will filter through hundreds of projects from Portuguese-speaking countries—Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Macau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe—published in 2019, selecting the best built works in the Portuguese-speaking world.

From a pool of hundreds of projects published in 2019, readers will choose their favorites, with the 15 most voted advancing to the second stage of voting.

One of the primary demonstration spaces for Itaipu Binacional's socio-environmental actions is the Bela Vista Biological Refuge (RBV) in Foz do Iguaçu. Established in 1984, its initial purpose was to shelter wild animals rescued from the reservoir area—where land habitat was lost—and to serve as a nursery for forest seedlings used to create the Binational's approximately 34,000 hectares of protected areas.

To adapt the refuge's spaces to current needs and demands, including the use of zoo design strategies and ex-situ conservation actions, Itaipu Binacional organized a two-stage architectural competition open to architects from all over Brazil. Below is the winning proposal by RibasMarçal Arquitetura and Tempo Arquitetos.

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From October 20 to 22, 2023, Seville hosted the second edition of the international architecture festival Open House. Aimed at fostering knowledge of the city and highlighting the value of urban space, architecture, and design, the event opened the doors of more than 50 spaces, including buildings and architecture studios, free of charge.

Among the highlights of this edition were the Sevilla Tower by César Pelli, the San Telmo Palace, and the Palacio de las Dueñas. Alongside the guided city tours, the program also featured pottery demonstrations by Taller Barrería San Mateo and live applications of lime mortar.

This October marked the fourth edition of the Peña Ganchegui Award for Young Basque Architecture, established in 2017 by the Peña Ganchegui Archive and the Basque Government's Housing Department. The award aims to bring visibility to architects who either trained in or practice in the Basque Autonomous Community, have less than 10 years of professional experience, and promote, develop, and strengthen a high-quality architectural culture.

The award ceremony took place at the Basque Country Architecture Institute, located in San Sebastián's Old Town, and was presented by Pablo García Astrain, Director of Housing, Land, and Architecture of the Basque Government. Jurors María Langarita, Fernando Márquez Cecilia, and António Cruz highlighted Ortega Diago's exercise in spatial synthesis, the singularity of their programmatic solutions, their delicate treatment of materials, their emphasis on transparency, and their focus on fluid circulation. These qualities were evident both in their interior design work—ranging from residential renovations to commercial and workspace fit-outs—and in their unbuilt projects. 

Submissions are now open for the selection of 20 Brazilian projects eligible to compete in the Third Oscar Niemeyer Award for Latin American Architecture. The selection will be conducted by a committee appointed by the Institute of Architects of Brazil, composed of architects and urban planners from various regions of the country. The deadline for submissions is June 15.

Co-organized by Bisman Ediciones and the Catholic University of Santa Fe (Santos Mártires campus, Posadas, Misiones), the exhibition “Misiones Moderna” focuses on the province's public architecture between 1955 and 1965, a period fostered by the Provincialization Law of 1953. Running until November 30, 2023, at the Casa de Misiones in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the exhibition has also been on display at the Bisman Ediciones Gallery and Architecture Residency inside the “Artists' Studios Building” by Antonio Bonet, Horacio Vera Barros, and Abel López Chas.

Alongside the Guatemala Architecture Biennale 2023, the Danta Awards were presented. The accolade recognizes the creativity and dedication of architects from Guatemala and Central America, encompassing both professionals and students. In previous editions, over 100 projects have been submitted, highlighting the work of various architecture firms such as Shoarq and Paredes Aleman Arquitectos.

The selection from among 75 submitted projects (48 in the Professional category and 27 in the Student category) was made by an expert committee composed of Ludwig Godefroy, Anayansy Rodríguez, Rodrigo Martínez, Sofía Cabassa, Dafne Acevedo, and Fabian Dejtiar. This jury highlighted the following winners, which include Taller ACÁ, David Tapia Oficina de Arquitectura, and Urban 95.

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Building Ecologies is the result of collaborative and interdisciplinary research led by architect Juan José Castellón at Rice University, featuring the participation of the School of Architecture, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Shepherd School of Music, along with support from the Carbon Hub initiative.

Exhibited at POST Houston in Texas, this model proposes innovative approaches to urban infrastructure and social spaces, aiming to promote the integration of architectural, technological, and ecological systems. 

The Viva o Verde SP initiative, a partnership between the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the Municipal Secretariat for the Green and the Environment (SVMA) of the City of São Paulo, has officially launched assessment activities for over one hundred parks across the city.

The initiative involves implementing the City-Wide Public Space Assessment, a tool developed by UN-Habitat's Global Public Space Programme. From October to December, researchers will visit more than one hundred urban, linear, waterfront, and natural parks to conduct detailed structural assessments of each location.

The Council of Architecture and Urbanism of the Federal District – CAU/DF will release a series of posts on its social media channels featuring essential information for architects, urban planners, and other professionals working on construction and renovation sites who, for some reason, cannot temporarily halt their work.

The historic drought affecting the Amazon region has revealed four archaeological sites in the state of Amazonas, three of which were completely unknown and are of great importance. The National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan) has implemented an emergency action plan, involving inspections and educational initiatives in partnership with various public agencies and social organizations, including the Soka Institute of the Amazon, which voluntarily dedicates itself to the preservation of local cultural and environmental heritage.

We invite you to participate in the 2020 Obra do Ano Award. In its fourth edition, we are giving our readers the responsibility of recognizing and rewarding the projects that have made the greatest impact on the profession. By voting, you become part of an unbiased network of jurors recognizing the most significant projects built in Portuguese-speaking countries over the past year. There are only a few days left in the nomination stage, which will select the 15 finalists from over a thousand projects.

Remember, registered users can nominate their favorite project once per day. The nomination stage ends on Tuesday, March 24 at 11:59 PM (Brasilia time, GMT-3). Thank you once again for helping us democratize architecture.

The São Paulo Department of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IABsp) has made a series of videos of lectures, classes, and debates available on its YouTube channel. The videos cover topics such as urban mobility, architectural heritage, design competitions, urban policy, housing, environmental sanitation, and exhibition design.

The Brazilian Association of Architectural Offices of Rio Grande do Sul (AsBEA-RS) has released more than 40 hours of videos on its YouTube channel, featuring lectures and discussions on BIM, sustainability, technical standards, and other architecture-related topics.

All Brazilians working in the management, preservation, appreciation, and promotion of Cultural Heritage can apply for the Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade Award. Organized by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan) since 1987, this is the largest national award in the field of cultural heritage and aims to recognize those working to preserve the country's cultural assets.

From the competition for the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center to the competition for the restoration of Palacio Pereira, architectural competitions have enabled the design and construction of many iconic buildings in Chile's history. To recognize architectural competitions as a platform for professionals and students to not only showcase their creativity and skills, but also to secure the preliminary design that best meets a building's requirements, we have selected some of Chile's most successful architectural competition results.

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The Lisbon Architecture Triennale has released the Talk, Talk, Talk debate series on its Vimeo channel. The series was held as part of its 5th edition, curated by Éric Lapierre. Divided into five major exhibitions, the Triennale explored architectural imagination in one of them—the theme of the Inner Space exhibition and of the debates featured here.

The field hospital at Pacaembu, set up on an emergency basis to meet the demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in São Paulo, will begin receiving patients on Wednesday, April 1st. The hospital facility will operate inside the stadium located in the central region of the city and will have a capacity of 200 beds for low-complexity patients.