Articles

Blind walls are known as the side walls of a building, typically designed to run along neighboring constructions. Even in buildings with more generous side setbacks that allow for door and window openings, these walls can be kept as large, continuous surfaces, creating a blank facade.

In this context, exposed concrete walls—which leverage the material's texture without requiring additional finishes—can be used as aesthetic elements in the building's formal composition. As part of the Brazilian Houses series, we present 10 residences featuring concrete blind walls below:

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Halloween is a holiday that centers on space and ritual. Most likely originating from Celtic harvest festivals, Halloween is tied to processions like trick-or-treating, as well as history and spatial stories. The holiday celebrates imagined settings, characters, and events. In similar celebrations like Mexico's Día de Muertos, people gather in unlikely places; cemeteries and graveyards become the backdrops to picnics and celebrations. There, families offer flowers and food to deceased relatives as they celebrate history and the lives of loved ones.

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The Avions Voisin C7 was manufactured between 1924 and 1928 and featured a groundbreaking design for the time. The extensive use of glass, aluminum bodywork, and sharp angles hinted at the shapes of an aircraft. This was the car that Le Corbusier liked to park in front of his buildings - the architect considered this car to be the ultimate translation of modern age and technology combined into a single object. He was convinced that architecture had much to learn from this machine.

With 3 gears and a 30-horsepower engine, it is hard to imagine anyone using this car today since the automobile industry has experienced countless innovations since that time. Corbusier's architecture, however, doesn't seem so outdated, but the cars pictured alongside the brand new buildings are actually what reveals how old the photograph is. Locating elements that can point out the time period of a photograph is very effective, especially in architecture. Some elements can make this task much easier, for example, household appliances, computer monitors, or other particular details.

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IE School of Architecture and Design is announcing the 7th edition of their IE Architecture+ Prize for young architects and designers, looking to attract top talent from around the world to take part in one of the school’s master’s programs for the upcoming academic year. For all those who believe that business and design are stronger together, if you graduated between 2010 and 2020 and were ranked in the top 25% of your class, you are eligible to compete for the IE Architecture+ Prize.

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Wooden floors are know for their warm appearance, rich texture, and natural tones that vary according to the origin of the planks, changing with the weather and the passage of time. Outdoors, wooden surfaces are widely used for terraces and living areas, taking advantage of these inviting qualities to bring people together on warm and welcoming floors. Built with modular pieces, wooden decks can easily form artificial topographies, shaping creative and effective public spaces for rest, sports, games, and collective gathering.

Criticism of the most common models of social housing (HIS) in Brazil is quite frequent. Indeed, these critiques are generally well-founded, given the architectural and urbanistic deficiencies of most completed developments—particularly those built in areas far from urban centers, which deny residents their right to the city.

There are, however, successful examples: projects built on the premises of access to urban infrastructure, connectivity with the immediate surroundings, construction efficiency, environmental comfort, and healthy living conditions inside the housing units. Below, we have compiled six examples of social housing—designed by Biselli Katchborian Arquitetos, Jirau Arquitetura, MMBB Arquitetos, H+F Arquitetos, Boldarini Arquitetura e Urbanismo, and Vigliecca & Associados—that offer compelling solutions to such a complex and delicate program.

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The recent controversy surrounding a bill that would permit the privatization and subsequent development of reclaimed waterfront land along the Río de la Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has prompted renewed engagement with metropolitan infrastructure and regional planning issues. It has also sparked reflection on the role of society in urban planning, reopening debates over the transformation of the city's waterfront.

Urban development in China has been a contentious issue, represented by megacities and endless gated communities, remnants of the country’s large communal working and living units, the ‘danwei’. However, in recent years, the paradigm has been shifted largely by developers for more innovative living concepts, the practice of designing inclusive communities anchored by public and cultural buildings serving the wider community. One of the earliest experiments, Liangzhu New Town by Vanke is now a benchmark for creating diverse community.

10 projects, 10 functions. Featuring a multitude of different programs, this week's curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights diverse and innovative conceptual approaches. Submitted by our readers, this variety of proposals includes sports, religious, cultural, educational, and social purposes.

Compiling projects from all over the world, this article puts together a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand, a ring-shaped experience center and eco-tourism catalyst for Latvia, a cemetery in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the biggest extreme sports park in Russia. Moreover, unconventional office spaces are underlined with an innovation start-up center in Vietnam, headquarters in Shenzhen, and Tirana's new municipality building.

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Who said three’s a crowd? With the new Livre armchair, Manto dining table and Bonfire table lamp, Italian furniture specialists Gallotti&Radice have added a trio of designs to their range that are all big on personality.

This article is part of a collaboration with the website coolhuntermx, and was originally published under the title "Decolonial Practice in Design."

If you have not read “Decolonizing Design: Towards an Inclusive Practice” by Ashby Solano, I recommend starting there to engage with a discussion that is gaining increasing resonance—though still not enough—across various design circles. But what exactly is decolonial thinking in design? Can we believe in the decolonization of design in Mexico and Latin America when its professionalization was established under the dogma of Eurocentric thought? In other words, we were taught what correct design is, what good design is, and what deserved to be professionalized.

The pursuit of security in architecture is closely linked to creating sheltered interiors that allow us to carry out our daily activities comfortably and without unforeseen disruptions. However, the challenges involved in protecting people and property have shifted dramatically in recent years. Today, we seek to feel safe wherever we are, and in an increasingly open and transparent architecture, the building envelope material becomes more and more critical, particularly in its glazed areas.

What parameters should be considered when choosing safety glass? We spoke with technical experts from Cristales Dialum, who have developed solutions with different resistance levels for single- and double-glazed units.

You probably see brick on a daily basis, whether it’s structuring a building, paving the road, or perhaps serving as a fireplace or chimney. But do all these applications use the same type of brick? How are the bricks supporting or being supported? What are these bricks actually made of? Brick’s versatility and ubiquitous nature mean there’s more than one answer to these questions. Even among brick’s most common applications as a building facade and/or structural wall material, there are a variety of types and construction methods employed.

Idaho's nickname is "The Gem State" for its abundance of natural resources and scenic areas, from steep canyons and valleys to snow-capped mountains. It's no surprise that the state's architecture draws from this context, especially for remote housing projects. Reinterpreting building methods, materials, and spatial relationships, architects have designed a series of incredible homes across Idaho that are redefining how to live in nature.

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Ranging from yellow, to gray, to traditional red and orange, bricks are ubiquitous in many of our cities and widely used in construction. Briefly, the manufacturing process of traditional bricks involves molding clay and firing it in ovens, facilitating the creation of solid blocks, perforated blocks, cobogós, tiles, and other shapes. Ceramic bricks are inexpensive; easy to find; boast strong resistance, thermal inertia, and finish; and do not require such specialized labor for construction. But if the installation is done near sources of high heat, the common brick will end up cracking and breaking, making refractory bricks more suitable. But what does that mean?

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Historically, bamboo has been used as a raw material in traditional low-income construction, serving as a substitute for other woods to build structures, cabinetry, and even furniture. Today, due to its numerous advantages regarding durability, strength, versatility, and low environmental impact, it has earned the moniker "vegetal steel," securing a privileged place in the construction industry. The current search for sustainable development materials has generated new construction fusions that bring contemporary materials and techniques into play with traditional elements, merging and highlighting the unique qualities of materials from each region.

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For decades, companies have relied on disposable plastic packaging to bag and contain products worldwide. Today, the staggering detrimental effects of this plastic dependence are well-known: since the 1950’s, over 9 billion tons of plastic have been produced, only 9% of which was recycled; around the world, one million plastic bottles are bought every minute and two million plastic bags are used every minute; and per the Plastic Pollution Coalition, by 2050, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by weight. Moreover, plastic is a petroleum product, and its production only further contributes to the devastating climate effects of mass fossil fuel use.

The study of architecture and its relationship to daily life and gender has prompted researchers to seek new sources and expand the analysis of their ideas and achievements. This essay explores the female presence in urban spaces through fragments of daily life gathered from columns, news reports, and advertisements published in the newspaper *O Estado de São Paulo*.

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