On Wednesday, December 4, Mexican architects Arturo and Jorge Arditti received the Honorary Doctorate Latin America Leaders Awards 2019 at the United Nations headquarters in Vienna. The distinction was awarded by The Global School for Social Leaders in collaboration with 1MillionStartups, The Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, the Humanist World Foundation, and the Analysis and Opinion Research Group (GIAO).
.jpg?1566510800&format=webp&width=640&height=580)
Inspired by the successful Tejiendo la Calle initiative—winner of the Design and Citizen Participation Award at the 2016 Ibero-American Design Biennial—Supertrama is a public art program in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain, focused on rural areas. In municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, residents collaborate with architects, artists, and other creative professionals interested in public art to transform their local public spaces.
The AR Emerging Architecture Awards have revealed their shortlist, which includes two Mexico-based practices: Estudio MMX and Comunal Taller de Arquitectura. Alongside 14 other offices, they will have the opportunity to present their projects to the judges: Anna Heringer of Anna Heringer Architecture, winner of the 2006 and 2008 AR Emerging Architecture awards; London-based Irish architect Níall McLaughlin of Níall McLaughlin Architects, who was a finalist in 2002; and Sou Fujimoto, founding director of Sou Fujimoto Architects, a previous winner in 2006 for a children's treatment center in Hokkaido, Japan.
More than 500 people attended the opening of the 21st Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism in Santiago. This year, the curatorial team presented the event as a "Free Architecture Fair" focused on the "everyday and ordinary," spanning the entire country with more than 250 public activities in Iquique, La Serena, Santiago, and Puerto Montt.
As a member of the Urban Design Expert Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, I strongly urge an immediate increase in architectural and urban design fees. This is a matter of utmost urgency, for several key reasons:
1. The current fee structure is a relic of China’s era of rapid, large-scale incremental construction, when design work focused primarily on spatial capacity and fees were strictly tied to project scale. Today, however, almost all cities have entered the era of existing urban stock. Moving forward, as the focus shifts to urban renewal, design work can no longer be mass-produced. Instead, architects must tackle an immense volume of bespoke, custom-tailored projects. Consequently, traditional fee metrics are completely out of sync with the actual workload;
2. The flaw in traditional fee calculation methods is that when project scales shrink and design complexity increases, the upward adjustment coefficients for fees remain far too low. This is especially true for small-scale projects and renovations, which are incredibly time- and labor-intensive. Architects are essentially working at a loss, driven solely by passion. This leads to the absurd reality where years of design fees might not even equal the cost of a single tree. It is truly tragic when human value is deemed worth less than material objects;
3. While the state encourages urban design—the essence of which is fostering urban diversity—achieving diversity requires architects and urban designers to invest significantly more time and labor into custom, site-specific solutions. Without a fee mechanism adapted to this level of customization, how can we support their creative work? While passion might sustain a single project or a brief moment, only a proper mechanism can ensure fair and sustainable practice. The so-called "cookie-cutter" urban landscape is, in reality, the product of a cookie-cutter fee structure.
In short, transforming Chinese cities begins with raising design fees!
On Tuesday, July 27, it was announced that Eladio Dieste's Atlántida Church, one of his most renowned works in Uruguay, has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Organized by the Association of Architects of the Province of Buenos Aires – District I – and promoted by the Municipality of La Plata, the Provincial Ideas Competition “La Plata Technology District Convention Center” aims to stimulate the urban transformation of a highly potential area of the city, creating a space for creativity, technological innovation, and connection between government, academia, businesses, and institutions. Sponsored by the Argentine Federation of Architecture Organizations (FADEA), it seeks to improve citizens' quality of life, foster the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses, and enhance the efficiency of public administration.
The jury awarded first prize to architects Valentín Ayala, Rodrigo Ballina Benites, Luciano Del Valle, and Agustina Ronconi, members of the firm Paralelo Colectivo. Read more about the project below.
The results of the National Preliminary Project Competition "New Provincial Administrative Center in the City of Rawson" have been announced. Organized by the Association of Architects of the Province of Chubut (CACH), promoted by the provincial Ministry of Infrastructure, Energy, and Planning, and sponsored by the Argentine Federation of Architects' Organizations (FADEA), the call invited architects nationwide to design urban and architectural proposals for the development of public office infrastructure (institutional buildings for the various provincial government agencies) to revitalize the former Zoo site, an urban vacancy in Rawson with high development potential.
The Mexican Association of Urbanists, through its Tlaxcala chapter, called for entries for the Conceptual Preliminary Design Competition for the "Parque Integral Zahuapan 10." The competition was aimed at multidisciplinary teams in the fields of architecture and urban planning, with the goal of presenting proposals and conceptual ideas to develop a park along the banks of the Zahuapan River and revitalize its surrounding areas.
To mark the opening of its third restaurant location in the city of Valencia, Spain, the Voltereta group commissioned creative studio Vitamin to design and produce an immersive and interactive video mapping installation to offer diners a unique experience. Vitamin is a Valencia-based creative studio with eight years of experience in art and technology, developing innovative strategies and ideas to bring unique interactive experiences to life. Their focus on emerging technologies allows and encourages users to become active participants and protagonists, engaging with spaces and artworks in a personalized and dynamic way.
Construction recently commenced on a prominent internet company's industrial park in Hangzhou. Serving as a central hub in the enterprise’s digital ecosystem, the project will offer a one-stop office and commercial park experience for its network partners. Guided by a deep understanding of the client's vision, the design team took the corporate spirit of "shared connectivity" as their starting point, reflecting seamless partnership and brand identity through a unique master plan and architectural form.
The FAD Awards, one of the most prestigious architectural accolades in the Iberian Peninsula, have announced the winners of their 2021 edition.
.gif?1629831011)
The Banco Nación National Ideas Competition for the Functional and Technological Organization, Conservation, and Refurbishment of the Ground Floor of its Headquarters was organized by the Central Society of Architects (SCA) and sponsored by the Argentine Federation of Architectural Entities (FADEA). Promoted by the Banco de la Nación Argentina, its objectives focused on combining preservation interventions with operational improvements, conserving and restoring the historic building by adapting the various workspaces and increasing service quality, and redistributing the ground floor areas while respecting the design of its original architect, Alejandro Bustillo.
Encouraging households to adopt solar power generation is essential for a cleaner future, but investing in large-scale solar applications is what will truly shift the needle toward net-zero emissions. This is revealed by a new study from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) in Australia.
Geospatial researchers used the city of Bendigo, in the state of Victoria, to conduct the case study. They estimated the solar electricity generated over a year in the city, which has 17,000 residential solar panels. In comparison, the study evaluates the solar potential of 21 government-owned airports across Australia.
The technical, legal, and financial structuring of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for the Bronx Creative District (BDC) project will be carried out by a consortium of three leading project structuring firms: Currie & Brown Mexico, Durán & Osorio Abogados, and Ernst & Young for the financial component. The Bronx Creative District aims to boost the economic and social revitalization of downtown Bogotá through art, culture, creativity, innovation, heritage, and memory.
On June 28, during the official opening of the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism BEAU 2021 at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona, the winners of the 'Panorama of Architecture and Urbanism Works' call were announced. Out of 581 proposals submitted, 100 projects were shortlisted, 70 became finalists, and ultimately 20 were awarded as the most outstanding examples of Spanish architecture and urbanism from the last three years.
Colorful houses surround a large square stretching in front of the church with a Franciscan facade: visitors arriving in Marechal Deodoro (AL) are immediately captivated by this unique landscape. This is the Nosso Senhor do Bonfim Church, located in Largo de Taperaguá, which is currently undergoing restoration with a R$ 1.3 million investment from the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan). The building's interior also holds treasures, such as the recently discovered ceiling painting.
Architect and urban planner Nadia Somekh, from São Paulo, was elected today as president of the Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Brazil (CAU/BR) for the 2021-2023 term. This is the first time a woman has held the position. The selection was decided by secret ballot among the 28 federal councilors, with Somekh receiving 19 votes. In her management plan, Nadia Somekh states that “the country's current situation and the ongoing threat to representative professional organizations demand a dual approach.”
