Architecture News

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18 shops and stores, 16 shopping malls, 18 hotels, and 18 restaurants have been selected as continental winners of the 2021 Prix Versailles awards across six regions: Africa and Western Asia; Central America, South America, and the Caribbean; North America; Central and Northeast Asia; South Asia and the Pacific; and Europe. The selected projects will now compete for the world titles, which will be announced on December 15, 2021.

As in previous years, the selection criteria focused on innovation, creativity, the reflection of local, natural, and cultural heritage, and ecological efficiency, as well as the values of social interaction and participation. Discover all the continental winners below.

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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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

Through IMPSOL (Metropolitan Institute for Land Development and Property Management), the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) has begun construction on a new series of social 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.

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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?

This is the case for Taller Architects, LOLA Landscape Architects, and L+CC, who have inaugurated the result of this collaboration: the new Guangming Forest Sports Park. Designed for play, sports, and relaxation, the project was recently recognized with two awards at the World Architecture Festival China (WAF China 2020) for Excellent Design and Best Landscape.

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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.”

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. 

The Bauhaus Campus 2021 Student Architecture Competition, organized by Arkitekturo, brought together future professionals from around the world to reimagine what the Bauhaus could become in the 21st century.

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The winning projects of the Public Competition for the Design of Bus Stations (Rodoviarios Terminals) in the towns of La Junta and Puerto Cisnes, in the Aysén Region, Chile, have been announced. Developed by the Regional Public Transport Division of the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications in conjunction with various Chilean municipalities—specifically, the Ilustre Municipalidad de Cisnes—the initiative sought to organize activities associated with rural and intercity bus operations in these towns.

Known worldwide for pushing the limits of formal experimentation with reinforced concrete, Oscar Niemeyer relied in many of his works on the indispensable collaboration of a civil engineer as inventive and daring as the architect himself: Recife-born Joaquim Moreira Cardozo, who graduated in civil engineering in 1930 from the School of Engineering of Pernambuco, today part of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE).

Responsible for the design of the Alberto Torres Rural School in 1936 – a project that already showed synergy with modern architecture at the time – Cardozo met Niemeyer while working at the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Service (SPHAN) in Rio de Janeiro. During this time, he developed the structural design for the Pampulha Ensemble in Belo Horizonte, inaugurated in 1943. This was the initial collaboration of a partnership that would last 30 years and find its most prolific period in the construction of Brasília.

The Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism BEAU 2021 has announced the finalists for its 'Research Exhibition', 'Thesis Projects Exhibition', and 'Photography Exhibition' categories. The winners will be announced on July 2, coinciding with the opening of the event at the Patio Herreriano in Valladolid.

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Argentine architect Daniel Silberfaden, founder of Estudio Silberfaden, passed away on October 29 at the age of 66, according to local media reports.

A new digital platform aims to reappraise and promote the legacy of the renowned Chilean architect and academic Glenda Kapstein. This website compiles a series of projects and publications chronologically, shaping a linear narrative around her career-long focus on the relationship between architecture and the environment.