Creating a landscape that dialogues with architecture through natural elements that shape the space. Bringing together different textures, materials, and species. Harmonizing the rhythm of nature with that of construction. Many phrases could attempt to summarize landscape design, which, guided by its drawings, references, and concepts, is fundamental not only for enhancing the beauty of a place, but also its comfort and quality.
Iris Barrel is a designer born in Queens, the only child of a Russian mother and an American father who owned a mirror company. She studied art at the University of Wisconsin and began her career at WWD, a benchmark publication in the fashion industry.
In 1948, alongside her husband, Carl Apfel, she founded a successful textile brand that was even featured in the White House decor during the administrations of nine US presidents. Although they sold the company in 1992, the couple continued working for the brand for another 13 years—until 2005. Iris Apfel was fully retired from the interior design industry when, at 84, she was invited by Harold Koda—curator of the Met’s Costume Institute—to exhibit her collection of clothing and accessories.
'Los Ríos Territorio Arquitectura' is a program that seeks to highlight the value of architecture in Chile's XIV Region, while bringing visibility to the work of the territory's architects through three short films featuring interviews with 15 professionals across 22 different locations.
Furniture is essential to enhancing the quality of residential interiors. The choice of colors, textures, and materials applied to each design is crucial to a successful spatial composition. Whether through a curated selection of furniture or a standalone piece that takes center stage, each item helps shape the spaces and the circulation flow of a project.
COP27, held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, concluded with a historic breakthrough to help vulnerable countries cope with the loss and damage resulting from climate change. However, negotiations also disappointed many stakeholders by failing to include any significant new measures to reduce emissions, which is essential to keeping global temperature rise below 1.5°C. Regarding adaptation, despite some positive signs, progress also fell short of expectations.
On Thursday, January 12, 2023, Italian architect Vittorio Garatti passed away in Milan, Italy, at the age of 96. His work was highly influential in Cuba, where he designed significant buildings such as the National Art Schools of Cuba with Ricardo Porro and Roberto Gottardi.
In an inflatable pavilion designed by Smiljan Radic located in Plaza Bulnes, opposite the La Moneda Palace, visitors can enjoy free screenings of the films selected by the Santiago Architecture Film Festival for the XXII Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, themed this year as “Vulnerable Habitats.”
I am a software engineer (commonly called a programmer). Creating software involves many different roles. Different companies have different roles and different names for them, but it typically involves software engineers, product managers, and UX (user experience) designers.
Each role has its own strengths and its own responsibilities. Product managers identify user needs and dictate what we should build. UX designers determine the look and feel of the product — the layout, different screens, copy, images, branding, etc. Software engineers handle the actual implementation: they solve the technical problems required to build the product.
The architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) sector plays a highly significant role in global energy consumption and CO2 emissions, accounting for approximately 40% of the total. In Brazil, buildings (residential, commercial, and public) consume roughly 50% of all supplied electricity, while the cement, metal, and ceramic industries account for about 10% of the country's final energy consumption. Compounding this, the country faces a severe housing deficit of over 6 million homes, alongside a well-documented infrastructure deficit that must be addressed in the coming years.
For architects and urban planners, perhaps the most difficult part of the city development process is dealing with the political strategies used in issues that, to us, should be purely a matter of urban planning. In the past, we imagined that cities were created and transformed solely through the architect's design, even though we knew that multiple forces have always been at play. In the case of Inhoaíba, located in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, the forces beyond architects and urban planners are, unfortunately, far more present than we would like, which has prompted me to write this piece.
Structural design is predicated on ensuring the stability of a proposed building based on the chosen materials and construction techniques. To do so, calculations must account for different types of loads, such as the self-weight of the materials, the building's use, and its occupancy patterns, which are classified as either variable or permanent.
Marta Elena Campos Newman is one of the first female architects to graduate from the school of architecture at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. From early in her career, she specialized in interior architecture, building a professional legacy that continues to bear fruit today. Furthermore, throughout her career she has collaborated with Mexico's most prominent architecture firms of the second half of the 20th century, while her work as a professor at UNAM's Faculty of Architecture has allowed her to shape entire generations of architecture professionals.
On Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 7:00 PM, the exhibition "Sara Topelson: Architecture and Life in Diversity" opened at the María Luisa Dehesa Gómez Farías Gallery of the Faculty of Architecture of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The event marked the culmination of the 2022 Federico E. Mariscal Extraordinary Chair, which celebrates the outstanding career of architect Sara Topelson.
Within the scope of construction, a budget is a technical planning tool that forecasts project expenses, combining materials, labor, monthly overhead, and indirect costs. Nevertheless, many risk starting a build without a detailed budget, often falling into the traps of an unplanned project—which is invariably more expensive and time-consuming than anticipated.
In civil construction, a budget is a document that outlines all the services to be executed during the project, totaling the necessary materials and required labor. In addition, the budget can factor in fixed monthly operational costs, such as utilities, or include an extra percentage for contingencies.
About thirteen kilometers from Punta del Este stands the complex known as Casapueblo, a manifest expression of sculpted architecture that has become a cultural and architectural landmark in Uruguay. The work of artist Carlos Páez Vilaró, it was initially conceived as a summer home and studio before eventually becoming his permanent residence and workspace. Today, it is renowned for its museum, art gallery, café, and hotel.
The built environment has historically served humans as a mechanism of environmental control. Through our intellectual capacities and ability to organize, we have used buildings to actively influence and terraform the immediate context in which they are inserted, often treating geography, water, and ecosystems as resources to be extracted and managed. However, more and more, architecture is transitioning from exploiting physical and biological matter to actively collaborating with it. This shift demands that architects explore how buildings and their materials grow, transform, decay, and persist beyond human timelines. This thinking also serves as a starting point for the profession to reflect on how it influences the natural world, as well as the non-human species around it, creating networks and connections between humans, buildings, living organisms, and natural environments.
Some buildings have stood the test of time. After centuries or even millennia, they remain structurally sound, revered as living testaments to history and human innovation. Some are still in use today, many lifetimes after their original designers passed away.
These buildings, whether by design or accident, were built to last—a concept that is increasingly relevant today. Building construction and operations account for a concerning share of carbon dioxide emissions. The embodied carbon resulting from building material production and construction makes up about 11% of all global carbon emissions. According to a new book on long-life buildings, designing structures to stand much longer—and to survive the various twists and turns that come with an extended lifespan—is a new imperative for architects.
As part of the exhibition program of the Museo Experimental El Eco, the call for entries for the Eco Pavilion 2023 was launched, inviting professionals involved in architectural practice in Mexico to engage in dialogue with the museum's space. This edition marks the 13th anniversary of the Eco Pavilion, a competition initiated in partnership with Buró-Buró with the mission of offering a platform for architectural production with an emphasis on experimentation and spatial reflection.
