Ciudad Juárez is an industrial Mexican city located on the northern border with the United States, specifically adjacent to El Paso, Texas. Over the years, Juárez's economy has been dominated by the ‘maquiladora’ (assembly plant) industry, and the city was once considered one of the most violent in the world due to a wave of crime between 2008 and 2012. Its territory blends multiculturalism, migration, and resilience, creating a hybrid phenomenon that over decades has shaped the mold of “border culture.”
https://www.archdaily.com/1127749/nomada-laboratorio-urbano-public-space-and-the-new-normal-on-the-us-mexico-borderArchDaily Team
The results of the XIII Yucatecan Architecture Biennial have been announced. A total of 28 awards were presented across 15 categories, including 1 Gold Medal winner, 14 Silver Medal winners, and 13 honorable mentions. The jury was composed of architects Alejandro Ibarra, Carlos Rodríguez, Miguel Rivera, and Elías Cisneros. Read on to discover the winners.
Matosinhos, in northern Portugal, will host the newest project by BIG, the Danish firm led by Bjarke Ingels. Titled Fuse Valley, the project is a mixed-use corporate complex located near the city, dedicated to Farfetch, a global luxury fashion platform, and the Castro Group, a real estate development and construction company.
Promoting the concept of a "sustainable" development that will pave the way for a "future tech valley" to emerge in Matosinhos over the next four years, the companies highlight that more than 80% of the outdoor spaces will be "fully open to the community, in total harmony and respect for the surrounding environment."
The Antofagasta Public Space Design Guides, developed by Allard&Partners for CREO Antofagasta, aim to improve the quality of life for the city's inhabitants, “by gradually complementing and consolidating a coherent identity for the city that strengthens the character of each area and its communities.” The four volumes, corresponding to their respective neighborhood typologies—Commercial (Downtown District), Under Transformation (Station District), Mixed Residential (Brasil District), and Coastal Edge—are available on the CREO Antofagasta website for direct download and free use.
The National Preliminary Project Competition for the Prourban Tower Perimeter Enclosure and Outdoor Spaces, organized by the Central Society of Architects (SCA), focused on intervening in an iconic building located on one of the main entry routes to the downtown area of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The objective was to develop a preliminary design centered on its entrances and perimeter enclosure. By incorporating landscaping for the ground floor's outdoor areas, the competition sought to revitalize these spaces, the urban surroundings, and the architecture of the tower itself, allowing office tenants to make active use of the ground floor.
Portuguese architecture firm Sastudio, in partnership with Icelandic studio Huldajons and engineering firm Exa Nordic, has won the international design competition for a kindergarten in Garðabær, Iceland. Organized by the city municipality, the competition schedules the construction of the winning design for completion by 2022.
This is the second collaboration between the two offices, which were founded by Tiago Sá and Hulda Jóns, both of whom worked at Bjarke Ingels Group before establishing their own practices. Their first collaboration was also for a kindergarten competition, with their proposal being acquired by the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik. Discover the winning project below, along with the project description provided by the architects:
Anne Lacaton, fotografía de Juan Rodríguez. Image Cortesía de Congreso Internacional de Arquitectura: La Ciudad que Queremos
September 10 marked the closing of the sixth edition of the Pamplona International Architecture Congress: “The City We Want.” Over three days,16 speakers from various disciplines shared their expertise to reflect on the global challenges facing the future of cities, addressing dimensions such as ecology, sustainable mobility, social equity, health and well-being, and the humanization of public spaces.
One of the opening keynotes on the first day was delivered by 2021 Pritzker Prize laureate Anne Lacaton of the firm Lacaton&Vassal. Her presentation emphasized housing as the core of social well-being and urban policy, and she advocated for the right to open space within the home. “Housing must be the pillar of any urban policy,” she asserted.
Last week we announced the 15 finalist projects for the 2021 Obra del Año Award, which since 2008 has celebrated the best built architecture in Latin America and Spain, calling on our jury of experts—you, our readers—to choose your favorite built projects from nearly 1,000 works published in 2020.
Today, the day has come to announce the winners of ODA2021!
The 2021 Obra del Año Award is brought to you by Dornbracht, renowned for its leading architectural designs, which can be found in bathrooms and kitchens worldwide.
40 viviendas públicas sostenibles en Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona. Image Cortesía de AMB Área Metropolitana de Barcelona
Through IMPSOL (Metropolitan Institute for Land Development and Property Management), the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) has begun construction on a new series ofsocial housing (VPO) units on Anselm Clavé Street in Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Barcelona, Spain). Project design and construction management are led by Guillermo López of MAIO Architects.
Following the restoration of the building originally designed by architects Óscar Borasino and Ruth Alvarado—the Mil Centro renovation by Estudio Rafael Freyre—one can quickly understand the importance of legacies.
This is precisely what the CAP-RL Lifetime Achievement Award - Casa Rosselló Award sought to celebrate. Organized by the Lima Regional Chapter of the Peruvian Association of Architects as part of the I Lima International Biennial of Architecture (BIALIMA 2021), the award aimed to recognize and highlight architects and professionals whose significant project, cultural, academic, and public service contributions have consistently demonstrated a combination of coherence, talent, vision, and commitment over time, and whose work has made a consistent and meaningful contribution to society, the profession, and the built environment.
Promoting the involvement and empowerment of the women's community in Senegal was the theme of the Women's House in Africa design competition, organized by Kaira Looro International, a non-profit organization that hosts competitions open to students and young architects with the aim of promoting humanitarian projects in developing countries and highlighting new architectural talent.
The competition, which challenged participants to design a "women's house" through symbolic, ecological architecture inspired by local traditions, awarded a special mention to the Brazilian team of students Clara Teodoro, Daniel Teixeira, Maria Isabela Neves, and Mateus Silva from the Federal University of Pernambuco. Read more about the selected proposal, accompanied by its project description, below.
What happens when firms from different parts of the world—Bogotá, Rotterdam, and Hong Kong—unite to design a park on the other side of the globe that fosters innovation and integrates the forest landscape with the city?
From September 24 to 26, 2021, the seventh edition of Open House Madrid will take place. This international architecture festival offers free access to Madrid's architecture, featuring tours of more than 100 landmark buildings and spaces across the capital that are typically closed to the public. Under the theme "I don't even know where I live," the event aims to promote architectural culture, rediscover the city through its built environment, and provide an experience that helps people connect with and appreciate their surroundings.
Tropicario. Image via Congreso Colombiano de Arquitectura y Urbanismo
The winners of the Award for Excellence in Sustainable Architecture were announced during the closing of the 37th Colombian Congress of Architecture and Urbanism.
The firms Pacheco estudio de arquitectura (Colombia) and estudio.entresitio (Spain) designed the proposal and are moving forward with the construction, which was awarded to the Spanish contractor Obrascón Huarte Lain.
On July 28, the Azcapotzalco Borough opened the exhibition “O’ Gorman O’ Gorman 1905 - 1982” at the Casa de Cultura Azcapotzalco in Mexico City, curated by Sofía M. Provencio and Juan José Kochen. This exhibition is the result of an open call held in July 2020, which invited visual artists, designers, and architects to submit works and perspectives offering a contemporary view of the renowned Mexican artist and architect's work.
Ocamica Tudanca Arquitectos, led by Iñigo Tudanca and Iñigo Ocamica, has been named the winner of the 2021 Peña Ganchegui Prize — established to recognize young talent in Basque architecture and organized biennially by the Peña Ganchegui Archive in collaboration with the Directorate of Housing and Architecture of the Basque Government.
Aerial view of Manzana 66 in the Balvanera neighborhood. Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Image via Gobierno de Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires under License CC BY 2.5 AR
Located in the Balvanera neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Manzana 66 is an example of community resistance and collective action. Its name originates from its designation in the Buenos Aires City Land Registry; the block is bounded by Belgrano and Jujuy Avenues, and Moreno and Catamarca Streets. This section of the city was a point of contention for several years, having been initially demolished to build an indoor arena for music events, destroying housing from the 1920s and displacing its residents.
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