Architecture News

At first glance, textile materials and clay do not share many similarities. However, Oficina Penadés brings these two concepts together, showcasing the potential of a new textile-based material combined with clay processing techniques in “Looks like magic!”, an exhibition held during the recent Milan Design Week.

The Central Society of Architects (SCA) and the Association of Architects of the Province of Buenos Aires (CAPBA) organized the National Ideas Competition to develop a Rail Cultural Hub. The project includes a new General Railway Archive (AGF), a branch of the National Railway Training Center (CENACAF), and new facilities to protect records and showcase the historical and cultural heritage of Argentine Railways (Ferrocarriles Argentinos).

Marcelo Villafañe (1951), an architect from Rosario, passed away on Wednesday, January 26, as announced on social media by the Colegio de Arquitectos Distrito 2.

The savings and credit cooperative Visón de los Andes, “VisAndes,” launched a competition for the design of its new headquarters in Salcedo, Ecuador. As one of the strongest cooperatives in its sector, it sought to incorporate sustainability principles alongside its own core values, inviting prominent architecture firms from across the country.

Metha Arquitectos and Be Maarch have won first prize in the design competition for the remodeling of the Plaza de Armas in Juliaca, Peru. Key aspects of the proposal highlighted by the jury include: prioritizing pedestrians over vehicles, strengthening institutional character and environmental value, and creating a space that introduces nature. Additionally, the jury noted that the project understands and accommodates informal commerce dynamics, establishing a hierarchical longitudinal axis between the plaza and the school to create a pedestrian urban space. This is complemented by a secondary transverse transit axis and organized to eliminate architectural barriers, creating more inclusive spaces. See the project below.

The Municipality of Flores launched a public competition for preliminary architectural proposals for a mixed-use building called Mercado Trinidad, to be located in the city of Trinidad, Uruguay. By integrating existing heritage structures and renovating or replacing the remaining buildings and open spaces, the project aims to redirect truck and heavy machinery traffic from the municipal workshops and warehouses currently operating there. This shift will promote urban regeneration and revitalize the central area with a new urban facility.

In August 2021, the call for entries was launched for the ideas competition for the "Scenic Garden and Pavilion" project. The primary goal was the reorganization and comprehensive recovery of the area known as the "ecological parking lot" to integrate it with the Centro Cultural del Bosque (CCB). The project called for the design of a Scenic Pavilion conceived as "a permanent space with unobtrusive, harmonious architecture that blends into the Forest's environment, establishing a point of connection with both the performing and visual arts ecosystems, looking toward the Zoo and the Museum of Modern Art."

Commemorating PAC 3.0 and PAC 4.0, which took place during the quarantine, and launching PAC 5.0, Sto Chile celebrated at "Casa ArchDaily" with competition partners and friends from the private, public, trade, and industrial sectors.

Join the PAC team!

The Association of Architectural Offices (AOA) has partially renewed its board of directors, electing urban planner Pablo Jordán as its new president for the 2022–2023 term. Meanwhile, architect Marisol Rojas has been selected as vice president.

From September 23 to 25, 2022, the eighth edition of the Open House Madrid Architecture Festival will take place, offering access to more than 100 historic and contemporary buildings that are generally closed to the public. José Antonio Corrales and Ramón Vázquez Molezún will be the featured architects of this new edition of the festival, which aims to bring architecture closer to citizens.

The DNA Paris Design Awards have announced the winners of the 2022 edition in the categories of architectural design, interior design, landscape design, product design, and graphic design. The results were announced at the end of June, and the awards ceremony will take place in Paris in September 2022.

Solar Greenhouse is a greenhouse designed for energy generation and self-sufficient food cultivation. Its creators define it as the next step toward a greener agricultural transformation and an advancement in the fight against food and energy poverty. The project was carried out by a group of students, professionals, and experts from the Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities (MAEBB) at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) Valldaura Labs, and was built in the Collserola Natural Park on the outskirts of Barcelona.

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On October 1, architect Rozana Montiel presented the exhibition "Blanco en tres actos" (White in Three Acts) at the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. The exhibition invites visitors to experience the design processes of the architect's studio in three moments: "Habitar el vacío" (Inhabiting the Void), "Hojas en blanco" (Blank Pages), and "Un manifiesto" (A Manifesto) within an interior space covered in paper, seeking to reframe the blank page through a shifting of time and textures. On this canvas, fifty projects hand-sketched at various scales form a grid that reveals the mysterious moment when an idea is conceived.

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The public architectural design competition for the Velodrome in Gibraltar Metropolitan Park in Bogotá, D.C., was organized by the District Institute for Recreation and Sport (IDRD). Located in the Kennedy locality, the competition—with advisory support from the Colombian Society of Architects (SCA)—aimed to select a preliminary architectural proposal for the design, technical studies, architectural and technical coordination, and related design tasks.

The jury comprised architects Leonardo Álvarez Yepes (representing SCA Bogotá D.C. and Cundinamarca), María Elvira Madriñan Saa and Fernando Montenegro Lizarralde (representing the SCA National Presidency), and Nelson Yovany Jiménez and Felipe Alberto Morales Sánchez (representing the District Institute of Recreation and Sport). Out of 17 submissions, three prizes and several honorable mentions were awarded. Read on to learn more about the winning projects.

Architect and archivist. She designed the three buildings for the Antorchas Foundation in Buenos Aires. She carried out the assessment, adaptive reuse proposal, budget, and equipment study for the completion and commissioning of the National Library in Buenos Aires. She also served as Director of the ARCA Center (Civil Association for the Archive of Contemporary Argentine Architecture) between 1998 and 2002.

On this day 117 years ago, Juan O'Gorman—the first Mexican functionalist architect—was born, whose work marked a turning point in the architectural production of his era. He trained at what was then the National School of Architecture, where he completed and integrated his studies in architecture and engineering. Considered the father of modern architecture in Mexico, O'Gorman trained in the style of Le Corbusier and the stripped purism of Villagrán, eventually evolving toward the "New Mexican Baroque" movement. His works were characterized primarily by the use of reinforced concrete, asymmetric exteriors, and a constant search for air and light.

The CCCB is launching the call for entries for the European Prize for Urban Public Space, a biennial competition organized to recognize and promote projects that create, restore, and improve public spaces in European cities. This honorary award—with registration open from April 20 to May 17, 2022—will recognize works completed between 2018 and 2021. Teresa Galí-Izard, an agricultural engineer, landscape architect, and professor at ETH Zurich, will chair the prize's international jury. The rules and all information regarding participation are available on the website.

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The fifth edition of the Open House Santiago 2022 (OH!Stgo) festival features more than 70 free tours guided by photographers, architects, community leaders, historians, and residents. From January 14 to 23, 2022, the event aims to span 23 municipalities across the Metropolitan Region, with the goal of fostering the connection between the city, learning, and care.