Architecture News

The Chilean historian, monk, and architect Gabriel Guarda, co-author of the Benedictine Monastery Chapel alongside Martín Correa in Santiago, Chile, passed away today at the age of 92.

One side effect of the global coronavirus pandemic in the field of architecture is a reflection on the future of cities and the built environment. Debate on the topic has perhaps never been so intense, with numerous proposals and visions emerging to address everything from social interaction in public spaces to the details of new uses for private ones. Regarding urban dynamics, programmatic changes may offer a way to ensure that commercial and service districts maintain their vitality.

With more people working remotely, commercial buildings face the potential of becoming partially vacant. Driven by this reflection, architects Matheus Marques, Ricardo Goncalves, Luis Favilla, and Rolando Figueiredo, from the São Paulo-based firm Hiperstudio, developed a proposal to convert single-use commercial buildings into mixed-use complexes, incorporating residential units and public gathering spaces.

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The winners of the National Ideas and Preliminary Projects Competition for the “San Patricio del Chañar Sports and Cultural Park” (PDC.SPDC, Neuquén, Argentina) have been announced. Promoted by the Municipality of San Patricio del Chañar, sponsored by the Argentine Federation of Architects' Associations (FADEA), and organized by Region 1 of the College of Architects of Neuquén Province (CAN), the competition invited architects across Argentina to submit proposals for a new urban green space that will serve as the city's Sports and Cultural Park. By offering high-quality amenities for public use, the initiative aimed to promote the benefits of sports, culture, and outdoor life, fostering social interaction, community living, civic activity, and collective belonging.

Bogotá's urban landscape will undoubtedly be transformed by the arrival of the metro. One of the structures that will be affected is the Monument to the Heroes, currently located at Carrera Caracas and Avenida Calle 80. In response to this urban icon, the Colombian Society of Architects organized a public competition for the architectural schematic design of the new Monument to the Heroes. 

Slate 1 CAU+Plural, composed entirely of women architects and urban planners, received 11,568 votes in the election for CAU/SP, held on October 15. The election, which recorded the highest turnout of architects and urban planners in the history of the Council of Architecture and Urbanism of São Paulo, marked the first time a single slate garnered nearly 40% of the valid votes.

In an unprecedented achievement, the slate secured the majority of seats in the Council, winning 49 plenary seats. Out of 77 total seats, 52 will be occupied exclusively by women. Thanks to this strategy, the next term will see a 77% female composition—with 54 titular members and 66 alternates, respectively. This effectively reverses the previous composition, where 76% of the state council was represented by men. 

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Through an open data system, the “Buenos Aires Data” program has made public the data from the survey of the entire urban fabric of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Developed as part of the Open Government strategy, the project allows users to download and visualize maps of each of the city's neighborhoods along with their corresponding high-rise buildings.

Inaugurated in 1971, the João Goulart elevated highway, popularly known as the Minhocão, has been a subject of criticism, study, and a landmark in the city of São Paulo. In 2014, its future was determined when the Strategic Master Plan introduced a specific law for its progressive decommissioning for cars, scheduled for completion by 2029. However, its ultimate fate remains uncertain: what will become of it when this happens? Will it be transformed into a park or demolished?

The City of São Paulo has just released 3D cartography for the entire city on the GeoSampa Portal. The new tool allows users to visualize buildings, trees, infrastructure, and other geometries in 3D directly on the map. The data is also available for download.

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Chilean architect Cecilia Puga will take over as director of the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, one of the most visited in Santiago. The news was announced by her predecessor, anthropologist Carlos Aldunate del Solar, in a recent interview with Chilean magazine Sábado, where he announced his resignation after four decades at the helm of the institution. "Obviously, a younger person with more energy should take over," Aldunate commented in the interview.

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The winning projects of the Emergency Health Prototypes ideas competition have been announced, an open-call initiative aimed at Latin American students of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, design, and related fields. Jointly organized by the Taller de Desarrollo Urbano (Venezuela), the Organización Peruana de Estudiantes de Arquitectura (Peru), and Colectivo Más Ciudad (Peru), and sponsored by Revista Envolvente, Revista Entre Rayas, Instituto Científico del Pacífico, Arquitectura Venezuela, Dilab, and Imagina 3D, the competition was conceived as an opportunity to generate innovative architectural responses to potential collapses in healthcare systems under the threat of COVID-19.

The free, publicly accessible online lecture hosted by Cooper Union featuring Daniel Bonilla—the Colombian architect leading taller de arquitectura de bogotá—titled Remote Lecture | Daniel Bonilla: tab>| Praxis & Research is now available on its website.

The winners of the design competition for the architectural and exhibition intervention of the Basque Museum of Bilbao (in Basque, the “Bilboko Euskal Museoa”) have been announced. This international competition invited participants to develop proposals for the comprehensive renovation of the building, which aims to inaugurate its new spaces in time for its centennial celebration in 2023.

Today, the Brazilian Hospital Services Company (Ebserh) published a call for applications to create a reserve pool of up to 6,000 professionals to work temporarily in the fight against COVID-19 across the Ebserh Network. In addition to healthcare professionals, the call is also open to architects and engineers for 40-hour work weeks and a salary of R$ 10,350.45.

The Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories (TJDFT) has denied an injunction request to suspend the Bible Museum project. The petition, filed by the Brazilian Association of Atheists and Agnostics (ATEA) against the Government of the Federal District (GDF), was dismissed by Judge Paulo Afonso Cavichioli Carmona of the 7th Court of Public Treasury of Brasília.

The renowned International Architecture and Design Festival of Logroño, Concéntrico, will hold its sixth edition—rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic—from September 3 to 6, 2020. The festival invites reflection on 'the urban' and the contemporary city.

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The winners of the first edition of the National Brick Architecture Award have been announced. Jointly organized by the Central Society of Architects (SCA) and the Chamber of the Red Ceramic Industry (CICER), the competition sought to highlight Argentina's architectural production based on the use of ceramic masonry units and to promote the widespread use of this material as a sustainable, long-term element in both urban and rural environments.

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On March 16, in an effort to protect public health and reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in Peru, the country declared a mandatory quarantine. Under this exceptional measure, all residents must remain in their homes until—for the time being—April 26, refraining from going to work and limiting their movement in public spaces. The restructuring of urban life is already striking: streets and public gathering spaces like plazas, parks, and beaches that were once overflowing with people are now completely empty.

The picturesque municipality of Vélez, located in the southern region of the department of Santander, is set to receive a renovated main square. Known for its famous bocadillos (guava paste) and its unique "transverse" church (iglesia atravesada), the town will also see the revitalization of the facades of the traditional buildings surrounding the square.