Valladolid is a town of just under 50,000 inhabitants, located in eastern Yucatán. It sits halfway between Cancún and Mérida, about 40 minutes from the Chichén-Itzá archaeological zone. Initially, the tourists who visited did so as a stopover during their travels across the peninsula. However, its gastronomy and architecture transformed it from an involuntary rest stop into a tourist destination in its own right.
Peru is a country with an extensive, rich, and deeply significant archaeological heritage. Unfortunately, the passage of time has brought severe deterioration. In their article, "Captura de datos 3D para virtualizar el patrimonio cultural" (3D Data Capture to Virtualize Cultural Heritage), authors Norma León Lescano, Yann Barnet, and Alvaro Racchumi outline the method they used to capture a three-dimensional replica of the Palace of Puruchuco. By doing so, they aim to provide the necessary information to guide and promote the virtualization of this remarkable cultural heritage, expanding its reach, appreciation, and preservation.
One of the defining features of cities is their undeniable capacity to bring together creative talent through multiculturalism and transdisciplinarity. Today, it is increasingly vital to generate spaces and platforms within these urban environments that serve as creative laboratories—places not only to share but, above all, to reflect on contemporary practice, viewing design not as a decontextualized entity, but as an integrated concept that bridges diverse disciplines.
In the mountain range of the Andes in Peru, at over 3,700 meters above sea level, lies the Q'eswachaka suspension rope bridge, declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The hand-woven bridge, which connects both sides of a gorge over the Apurímac River, has become the last remaining Inca bridge in use to survive modern times. This has been made possible through the transmission of Inca culture and engineering across generations, which renew the bridge every year to ensure its preservation.
Rodrigo Lagos Vergara and Macarena Paz Barrientos Díaz originally published the article titled "Architecture Education in Chile, 1999-2019: Ecological Potential and Collective Political Meaning of Design Practices" in Revista [i2]: Investigación e Innovación en Arquitectura y Territorio, from the Department of Graphic Expression, Composition, and Architectural Projects of the Universidad de Alicante, on January 1, 2022.
Below, they present some of the most important points of their publication: three pedagogical actions in Chile that understand teaching as a central practice through the academic exercise of the design project.
Anderson Marín Vidal and Juan Sebastián García, from the research group on Sustainable and Applied Emerging Technologies (T.E.S.A.), present an analysis of the primary impacts expected from the designs for the Río Molino Waterfront (Malecón del Río Molino). Created by the architecture firm Celeste & Piedra, the project won first place in a competition organized by the Mayor's Office of Popayán and Findeter.
In the second half of the twentieth century, driven by the mass adoption of the automobile and exponential population growth, cities around the world expanded at an accelerated pace. Santiago, Chile, was no exception, characterized by an extensive and fragmented urban sprawl that has led to a heavy reliance on cars, environmental degradation, and the loss of agricultural land. Without planning and policies aimed at sustainable urban development, the result is a more polluted and less green city—an alarming scenario considering the climate crisis we face.
Proximity, understood as an urban quality that facilitates the management and pursuit of daily life, has for decades been a key tenet of feminist and gender-responsive urbanism. In the 1970s, academics from various disciplines began analyzing the link between the configuration and use of space and gender relations and roles. Since then, a robust critique of the androcentric configuration of the city has emerged, alongside proposals and criteria to rethink spaces from a gender perspective.
Cooperative housing, or co-housing, is a residential model that promotes access to housing in cities. This model first developed in countries like Denmark and Uruguay, and it is becoming increasingly popular throughout Europe. Indeed, it arrived in Barcelona several years ago and has since steadily expanded throughout the region, spreading beyond the boundaries of the Catalan capital. Below, we explore the cooperative housing model in Barcelona and how it contributes to a more democratic architecture for its citizens.
The power of visual representation in architecture fosters debate and reflection on various urban issues. "Imaginarios urbanos" (Urban Imaginaries) is a collective initiative by Nómena arquitectura and Cuatro Cero Cuatro Arquitectura. Through a series of evocative images, the project aims to raise awareness and drive change in the design of Lima's streets.
"I'm an architect... now what?" must be one of the most common questions for any recent graduate with an architecture degree in hand. Over the years, many will find jobs in different industries that do not necessarily involve working in an office designing and constructing buildings.
More than a decade ago, a new initiative emerged to redefine the architectural pedagogical system. With an influence that today spans countries like Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, and the United States, the Virtual Workshop of the Americas (TVA) successfully and synergistically brings together education, collectivity, and virtuality. Architects Nahuel Salcedo and Celeste Gómez Lahoz are part of the coordination team driving this project forward year after year. Here, they explain the initiative in greater detail.
How can we analyze the environmental impact of buildings? What strategies could be developed to improve people's quality of life and achieve a harmonious relationship with the environment? Year after year, more questions are added to the design decision-making process of thousands of architects around the world. They seek to take action and implement policies that improve the environmental performance of their buildings, reducing energy and resource consumption while also lowering greenhouse gas emissions and waste production.
The city is in constant flux: monuments disappear, landmarks are forgotten, and new symbols emerge, prompting streets, plazas, and walls to redefine the urban landscape. In doing so, they offer new reference points, narratives, and ways of understanding the city, our history, and our society.
Thinking, discussing, and reconfiguring the city through art involves a series of processes. Researching territories, their inhabitants, sociocultural environments, and relational dynamics are essential pillars when designing and implementing installations that impact the city. The proliferation of large-scale artistic interventions that prioritize the purely aesthetic forces us to reflect on what we encounter in public spaces and how these encounters affect our daily lives.
August 19 is World Photography Day. To mark this occasion, we present the winning entries of the recent photography competition "Interculturality and Inhabited Heritage" ("Interculturalidad y Patrimonio Habitado").
The Alejandro de la Sota Foundation has created a portal to showcase the leading figures and works of the pioneers of Spanish modern architecture. The reason? When discussing the Modern Movement, it often seems that only architects like Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, or Walter Gropius are mentioned. But what was happening in Spain during those years? Which figures stood out, and what were their intentions when designing?
Preserving the planet in its current state or even restoring damaged ecosystems has become a collective imperative across all sectors, and architecture is no exception. In her article “Towards Sustainability from Architecture and Ecosophy: Links Between Mental Ecology, Emotional Neuroscience, and Space,” published in the journal LIMAQ No. 7, Isabel Loredo—architect, co-founder of Signare Estudio, and holder of a master's degree in neuroscience and education—explores the various ways in which ecosophy can be applied to the architectural field.
The internationally renowned art collective _marina_morón (comprising Dr. Jesús Marina, PhD in History, and architect Dr. Elena Morón, PhD) inaugurated their latest work at the Pabellón de Mixtos of La Ciudadela in the city of Pamplona.
The exhibition is sponsored by the Basque-Navarrese Association of Architects and the Pamplona City Council, and will remain open to the public until March 15, 2022.
