Articles

A study by the Journal of Transport and Land Use (JTLU), published in early 2022, revealed that 37% of single-family homeowners in Sacramento, California, did not park their cars in their garages. Instead, these spaces turned into storage units or large closets, as researcher Catie Gould notes in an article for the Sightline Institute. While this represents just one city, the data aligns with findings from a series of global studies highlighting the underutilization of residential parking spaces. In San Francisco, also in California, a survey found that 49% of the 97 garages analyzed in the Mission District were not used to store vehicles, Gould points out.

This year, Porcelanosa celebrates 50 years of inspiring architects, stimulating creative exploration in design, and bringing memorable projects to life. Since its founding in 1973 in Vila-real, Spain, Porcelanosa has become a benchmark for architecture, design, and interior design, focusing its production on flooring, single-fired wall tiles, stoneware, and porcelain tiles. Moving away from traditional red clay manufacturing, José Soriano and brothers Héctor and Manuel Colonques introduced the distinctive touch of ceramics to design.

Alongside developing comprehensive space design solutions, year after year, Porcelanosa sets trends in materials, textures, and interior design. Additionally, since 2018, the company has organized an international exhibition showcasing annual design trends in flooring, wall coverings, kitchens, bathrooms, and other elements such as wardrobes, furniture, and lighting.

Architecture is a complex and diverse discipline with multiple approaches and perspectives. Throughout history, numerous studies, theories, and treatises have emerged focusing on different architectural expressions. Vitruvius's treatise *De Architectura* is one of the oldest and most influential in the field, proposing that architecture is based on three fundamental principles: beauty, firmness, and utility. For a work to be considered truly architectural, there must be a balance between these three components. Moreover, other approaches, such as the five points of modern architecture, and more recent research, like Supra Order, enrich contemporary architectural theory.

In August 2022, the Puebla City Council, through the Historic Center and Cultural Heritage Authority (GCHPC)—in collaboration with the World Heritage Director's Office of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the Puebla Association of Architects (CAPAC), and the Amparo Museum—invited professionals and undergraduate students in design, architecture, urban planning, and related fields to participate in the competition “Rehabilitate and Inhabit: First Ideas Competition. New Perspectives for the Historic Center of Puebla,” which focused on rethinking architectural practices, ways of dwelling in the Historic Center, reclaiming public space, and conserving cultural heritage through active civic engagement.

Designing a new apartment or renovating an existing one is always a major challenge. To simplify what is typically a long and complex project, the VOXBOX software, developed by experts from the VOX brand, helps visualize the design of a future home quickly and efficiently. Unlike other interior design programs, VOXBOX does not require specialized knowledge in architecture or design, as it utilizes an intuitive and user-friendly interface.

Available to everyone on the web, this digital tool allows users to quickly design a bedroom, living room, apartment, or an entire house. In addition, users can visit VOX showrooms, where their team of interior designers offers guidance for designing specific spaces. As an architect, you can also meet with your clients at VOX showrooms to show them their future interiors in virtual reality and present material and furniture board samples.

Paradise beaches can quickly lose their appeal for tourists when invaded by sargassum, a brown algae of the genus *Sargassum C. Agardh* distributed across tropical and subtropical oceans. In Mexico's Riviera Maya, this seaweed was once considered a major problem. However, Omar de Jesús Vazquez Sánchez saw it as a raw material for homebuilding—transforming sargassum into sustainable bricks.

Floresta Cidade is an extension program, research, and teaching initiative at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of UFRJ. Initiated in 2020 and coordinated by Professor Iazana Guizzo, the program addresses urban life in Rio de Janeiro through the lens of the Anthropocene and the displacement of the anthropocentric perspective, aiming to foster the exchange of knowledge around dwelling in the metropolis. Transdisciplinarity across various fields of knowledge, along with sensibilities connected to the forest that have been historically silenced, pave the way to shift conventional ways of thinking.

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The Tren Maya is an infrastructure project currently being developed by the Mexican government in the country's southeast, involving the construction of approximately 1,525 km of railway lines that will span the states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo. It will offer three types of services: passenger, tourist, and freight trains. The route comprises seven sections: Section 1 runs from Palenque to Escárcega (228 km); Section 2 from Escárcega to Calkiní (235 km); Section 3 from Calkiní to Izamal (172 km); Section 4 from Izamal to Cancún (239 km); Section 5 from Cancún to Tulum (121 km); Section 6 from Tulum to Chetumal (254 km); and Section 7 from Chetumal to Escárcega (287 km).

“It feels like boys matter more,” says ten-year-old Molly during an interview for the podcast Visible Women, in which Caroline Criado Perez explains how the lack of data and design around how women and girls use public spaces results in public environments designed solely for the default gender: the male.

As part of the second Model: Barcelona Architectures Festival, local architecture firm H3o Architects—led by Adrià Orriols, Joan Gener, and Miquel Ruiz—presented the temporary installation “Nomad Assembly". As one of the five installations featured in this festival curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert and co-organized by the Barcelona City Council and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, the project was developed to its full materialization in the public space beneath the canopy of the Mercat dels Encants, serving as the main stage for the event.

Cities worldwide can save thousands of lives every year through fairly simple measures: traffic calming and speed management. Readjusting vehicle speed limits on urban roads is one of the key initiatives highlighted by the UN and the WHO to help countries meet the target of halving traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030.

As part of a competition organized by Fundación Casa Wabi, in 2021, the design for the "Orchid Pavilion" by the Mexico City-based firm led by Bernardo Quinzaños, CCA Centro de Colaboración Arquitectónica, was announced as the winner. Designed for Casa Wabi, the project is a permanent, sustainable, and lightweight wooden structure dedicated to the conservation of orchids in the Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca region. This proposal establishes a strong relationship between the biological and cultural diversity of the landscape between the sea and the mountains, integrating local artisanal knowledge in ceramics, clay, palm, and wood with the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi 侘寂, which seeks wisdom through simplicity.

According to recent data, Brazil's housing deficit stands at 5.876 million households: 5.044 million in urban areas and 832,000 in rural areas. In percentage terms, this figure corresponds to 8.1% of the country's total stock of private, permanent, and improvised dwellings. Aiming to address, either fully or partially, this massive social debt, the Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV) program, launched in 2009, began offering affordable housing to low-income families.

Singapore, China, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), London (England), Toronto (Canada), Hong Kong, New York (USA), and Paris (France) are examples of locations that have been verticalizing more intensely in recent years, adopting a series of measures to curb urban sprawl while seeking to meet the demand for more housing and infrastructure. Consequently, these regions have seen a growing number of skyscrapers—or tall buildings, as they are also called—being constructed in their neighborhoods, including central and historic areas.

As part of an initiative by the Federation of Associations of Architects of the Mexican Republic, a national competition was launched to design an affordable housing prototype in Los Pirules, Celaya, Guanajuato. The Municipal Housing Institute of Celaya (IMUVI) currently holds a land reserve in the northeast of the municipality, where it plans to develop a social housing complex. In collaboration with FCARM, they launched this competition to spark architectural reflection on the potential of social housing and the city. The prototype had to adapt to the post-2022 economic reality and living patterns, focusing on providing constructive alternatives and solutions responsive to the housing complex's urban, sociocultural, and environmental context.

This article by Mónica Bustos Peñafiel was originally published in issue 113 of ARQ magazine. It reflects on the Emergency Housing Plan, tracing the history of the deficit and the challenges posed by the various government plans designed to address it.

Water scarcity is seasonal in many regions, and harvesting and storing rainwater is an effective way to prepare. Another approach is to reuse domestic graywater. Gardens and green roofs can be used as cisterns for this purpose.

João Manuel Feijó, an agronomist and specialist in biophilic design, explains that graywater is wastewater from showers, sinks, bathtubs, washing machines, and dishwashers. It accounts for a large percentage of residential wastewater: between 50% and 80%.

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The satisfaction of living longer is closely tied to opportunities to lead an active life, stay engaged, and feel integrated into society. To this end, the built environment must support these goals through flexible structures that adapt gradually to users' needs, regardless of age.

The real estate sector is beginning to realize the immense potential of architecture focused on health quality and increased human life expectancy. As we look to the future of real estate, we can expect a smarter use of technology, along with innovations and new metrics to establish a better understanding of well-being and its relationship with both the natural and built environments. This quality standard will drive an exponential increase in sales by making properties flexible and adaptable throughout the different stages of their residents' lives.