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Bogotá, through the photography of Paul Beer

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The modernization of Bogotá between 1940 and 1970, captured in urban and architectural photographic reportages, has been documented in various books, magazines, and photobooks of the era, as well as in images from the city's public and private archives. All these shots reveal an intentional, and even critical, approach to how modern architecture reconfigured city centers and connected new buildings and urban spaces with the existing cityscape.

When analyzing the impact of photography from an architectural perspective, it is essential to discuss Paul Beer and Germán Téllez. Within their broad spectrum of subjects, these two photographers dedicated themselves specifically to architectural photography. They received commissions from the most prestigious architecture firms of the time, and their shots reveal different, complementary values, relationships, and aspects of modern architecture and the city.

In this edition of Bogotá through the Lens of 10 Photographers, we explore the legacy of Paul Beer:

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'Section': Pilar Pinchart explores the definitions of the drawing that synthesizes a work of architecture

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Cortesía de Pilar Pinchart

Through March 10, Chilean architect Pilar Pinchart presents her exhibition “Sección” at Galería PanAm.

The exhibition is divided into two parts showcasing the interests that have shaped Pinchart's work over the last ten years, synthesized in a conceptual installation on high-rise housing.

The first part of the exhibition features a study of Le Corbusier's 1992 sketch for the City of Three Million Inhabitants, understood as the section of an envisioned city—the starting point for the exhibition #100andesfrommywindow, presented in Aarhus, Denmark, in May 2017. It comprises 15 pop-up models and fragments of balcony facades built in Santiago, Chile, between 1940 and 2015, which show the evolution from the balcony to the terrace and to the concept of the high-rise garden. This gives rise to the centerpiece of the exhibition, a complex installation displaying five built structures designed to be read through the information provided by their sections in relation to vegetation and use.

16 Classics of Chilean Architecture Through Their Plans

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A mint that became the government palace of Chile. A pavilion in Paris that became a children's museum. The first work of the Modern Movement in Chile, and a revolutionary urban master plan that never materialized.

These and other examples in our selection of Chilean architectural classics, explained through their floor plans.

The Humanity Behind the Concrete: The Construction of the National Holocaust Memorial in Buenos Aires

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'Monumento: Humanity Behind the Concrete' is a documentary by Fernando Díaz on the construction of the National Holocaust Memorial in Buenos Aires, designed by architects Gustavo Nielsen and Sebastián Marsiglia.

The film establishes a dialogue between Holocaust survivors living in Buenos Aires and the construction of the monument, addressing the need to keep humanity's memory alive.

Watch the trailer for the documentary below.

Bogotá, according to the photography of Manuel H.

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The modernization of Bogotá between 1940 and 1970, captured through urban and architectural photo essays, has been documented in various books, magazines, and photobooks of the era, as well as in the city's public and private archives. These images reveal an intentional, even critical, approach to how modern architecture reconfigured city centers, bridging new buildings and urban spaces with the existing cityscape.

When analyzing the impact of photojournalism, it is essential to examine the work of Sady González, Manuel H. and Daniel Rodríguez. In their work, architecture and the city serve as the backdrop for scenes of urban life, figures, historical events, and daily activities; their photographs offer an indispensable visual record for understanding the city's transformation and its historical context.

In this edition of Bogotá through the Eyes of 10 Photographers, we explore the legacy of Manuel H.:

8 Actions to Improve Road Safety in Cities

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Imagine the scale of effort required to prevent 1.24 million deaths annually. This is the average number of traffic fatalities worldwide. Cities must urgently improve protection for their citizens to ensure that, amidst current urban population growth trends, this figure does not climb even higher. Yet, what if just eight actions were enough to prevent hundreds of deaths and serious injuries?

The publication “Cities Safer by Design” outlines “eight actions to improve road safety,” and we have looked at best practices and research that reflect some of these measures.

Citizen Parliament

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El Campo de Cebada has become a benchmark for self-management and the collective construction of public spaces, closely linked to the Spanish *acampadas* of 2011. In this article, the architecture collective Zuloark reflects on the key principles that made the experiment work.

Floating Cemetery, one of the 10 winners of the 2018 Arquitectura Caliente Competition for thesis projects

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Designed by Fabián Leiva, the Floating Cemetery project was selected as one of the 10 winners in the Thesis Project category of the 2018 Arquitectura Caliente Competition (CAC 2018), a Chilean contest organized by Grupo Arquitectura Caliente and funded by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage.

In 2004, the Ralco reservoir in the Biobío Region was unexpectedly and irreversibly flooded, burying the local Pehuenche community's cemetery beneath its waters. Following years of trying to recover the bodies, studies demonstrated that salvage was unfeasible, leaving the inhabitants helpless in the face of the millions of cubic meters of water separating them from the cemetery. This situation sparked the idea to create a space in memory of a sacred, violated, and unrecoverable site—one that would bring the community closer to their deceased and eternally condemn the event.

RCR Arquitectes: territory, landscape, and life as a single immanent narrative

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The Catalan archipelago is shaped, across almost its entire length, by a small mountain range running along it, rising from the coastline tangent to the sea to form cliffs, and extending barely a dozen kilometers at its greatest extent.

The architecture native to this coastal strip of land is repeatedly categorized as Catalan architecture, thereby overlooking and overshadowing the architecture of the inland—dark, somber, heavy, and intensely material. An architecture—that of the interior—of slow digestion, backlights, and still air, carrying a different scent.

To the northeast, we find a region where beech trees stand still, growing at a lower altitude than anywhere else in the country. Where the light is softer, more diffused; where shadows are both fainter and deeper. Where it rains differently. Where people speak differently. Where the masias are different. There they live. There they work. We are speaking of Olot. We are speaking of RCR.

The Other World Cup, or Playing for the Sake of Playing: Three Soccer Fields in the High Atlas, Morocco

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Architects Rafael Pina and Nicolás Maruri, from the ARKRIT Collective, reflect on the soccer fields nestled within the adobe and rammed earth settlements of Morocco's High Atlas. Having barely altered the territory, these spaces integrate and merge into the topography through minimal modifications and actions for a single, simple purpose: to play.

Construction requires mobilizing material resources and human labor, inevitably transforming the territory. Building with what is readily available is a stance that can be driven by ethics, but also by necessity. In either case, the outcome is usually economical and fitting. Resource consumption is kept to a minimum, and adaptation to the environment becomes a natural consequence.

10 Projects in the 10 Years of the Multidisciplinary Collective Todo X La Praxis (TXP)

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Since the installation of Speculator in 2008 —the year the Spanish real estate bubble burst— the Spanish multidisciplinary collective has been characterized by its collaborative practices, co-production processes, and civic management models. Over ten years, the numbers speak for themselves: 15 countries, 18 agreements, 29 institutions, 43 grassroots organizations, and 96 projects, including Campo de Cebada in Madrid and the La Y Cultural Hub in Caracas (Venezuela), as part of the government project Espacios de Paz.

TXP explains their methodology: "We start with a preliminary diagnosis that allows us to understand the keys, codes, and particularities of each process. We then define a context for collaborative design where the proposal is prototyped based on collective interests."

"In our practice, we propose a dynamic combination of scopes that tailors the project based on available parameters, allowing us to define a consensus-driven model that responds resiliently. We establish frameworks for collective construction that foster learning environments, serving as tools for civic appropriation and empowerment. Finally, we design management models that address the specific needs of each case, establishing protocols for use and maintenance," they add.

The demolished Guzmán House by Alejandro de la Sota

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On this occasion, architect Jaime Nadal, representing the ARKRIT Collective, brings us an article that delves into the controversial demolition of the famed Casa Guzmán by architect Alejandro de la Sota—a highly praised, widely published, and iconic building of the architectural renaissance in Spain.

The Future of the Netherlands: The Polder Method as a Solution

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When discussing cities like Amsterdam, we inevitably recall its network of canals and streets interwoven with water. Yet water is also one of the most pressing challenges the city faces. With 60% of its territory below sea level, climate change—and the rising sea and river levels that come with it—is a matter of survival not only for Amsterdam, but for the entire country.

A selection of the best projects of 2018 by ArchDaily Mexico

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Throughout 2018, we selected thousands of projects for publication on our site, occasionally highlighting a few for their innovative techniques and materials, their integration with their context, or their community engagement. Working daily with editors in Brazil, the United States, Mexico, Chile, China, and Northern Ireland, and thanks to the extensive network we have forged with institutions worldwide, we have the tools to gain a much broader perspective on current architectural production—not only in Mexico, but globally.

10 Songs About Cities

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Music is a vital connection to culture. While it serves as a source of entertainment, it is also a medium for communicating ideas and expressing artistic creativity. Through romantic, social, political, or historical themes, every song evokes memories and emotions.

Although there is an endless array of genres today compared to decades past, music still allows us to travel the world without leaving home through its lyrics and music videos. With this in mind, we have compiled a list of 10 songs that not only feature the names of cities in their titles, but also, through their lyrics and visual storytelling, capture the essence of each place—whether capitals or not—bringing to life the magic of their architecture and streets.

Right to housing, access to one's own home

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September 27, 2010 

“It was that one over there, look. That one. See?”  Dona Ana pointed to the seventh-floor apartment where, a week earlier, the fire had broken out.  Further down, on the fourth floor, Anastasia, Aécio, and Itamar offered strained smiles from a campaign banner .

No one knows how the fire started in one of the subdivided apartments in Tower 100, occupied by a waste picker. But the spectacle that followed played out comme il faut.  Panic, screams, flames, flashing lights, a helicopter hovering overhead, journalists accosting the supposedly injured and devoring improbable accounts, sirens, smoke, commotion, action.

New digital tools help urban leaders turn ideas into action

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By 2050, more than two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities – hubs that catalyze economic, cultural, and political progress, but also consume vast resources and account for 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To avoid catastrophic climate change while ensuring a prosperous and sustainable future, we must act quickly.

What is the impact of the first Complete Street in São Paulo?

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The concept of Complete Streets has gained prominence in recent years and has arrived in Brazil bringing the vision that streets must be planned, designed, operated, and maintained to allow safe, convenient, and comfortable travel for all users, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation.

Argentine Representation at the 2018 Venice Biennale: 46 Projects Exploring the Collective and Democratic

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Starting in May, Argentina reaffirms its presence at the Venice Biennale with an invitation to critically rethink the territory.

The "Imagined Lines" exhibition in the Argentine Pavilion, Horizontal Vertigo, curated by architects Javier Mendiondo, Pablo Anzilutti, Francisco Garrido, and Federico Cairoli, is a proposal to rediscover the territory as a collective construction—based on the potential of the relationship we perceive between territory and society—understanding architecture through its capacity to spark unexpected possibilities in each project.

Explore the selected projects and a statement from the curators below.

Architects and Families Unite to Build Social Housing in Peru: CITIES [in] VISIBLE

Placing five low-income families from a settlement in southern Lima, Peru, at the center of local and global design. That is the vision behind CIUDADES [en] VISIBLE.

CIUDADES [en] VISIBLE will be the flagship competition of MUTUO, and this is its pilot edition. MUTUO is a collaborative project dedicated to the dream of decent housing, founded in 2016 by Mar Layseca and Sebastian Paredes Smith, both architects who graduated from the School of Architecture of the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas.

The competition focuses on designing homes for five low-income families within the 3 de Diciembre settlement in Lurín. The Acarraz, Huamán, López, Salazar, and Teccse families will be the protagonists of this architectural challenge.

Mirador La Cocha Botanical Garden, Second Place in the 9th Alacero Colombia Competition 2018

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The Mirador La Cocha Botanical Garden proposal by students Germán López, María Echeverry, and Julián Villescas was awarded second place in the ninth edition of the steel design competition for architecture students in Colombia (Alacero Colombia), which focused this year on a greenhouse pavilion for a botanical park.

Under a unified structural concept, the project is divided into three blocks—an entrance building, a circulation ring, and greenhouse pavilions—and aims to establish itself as "a space of high educational and research value that seeks to promote the preservation and conservation of representative and threatened botanical species" in the Colombian department of Nariño.

9 Portuguese-language podcasts about architecture and cities

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Media and technology have been revolutionizing content creation across diverse niches, and architecture is no exception. YouTube channels, television shows, and specialized playlists on architecture and urbanism are just a few examples. Over the last few years, however, podcasts have emerged as a powerful alternative. Unlike other media, podcasts are an audio-only format shared across a wide range of platforms—from specialized websites to blogs. Today, there are countless listening options available, both Brazilian (as listed below) and international, as previously published by ArchDaily.

Finding specialized podcasts can be a daunting task. To help, we have gathered a list of nine Brazilian podcast channels for you to listen to. Put on your headphones and check them out:

After 19S: New Jarocho Documentation Center / RA!

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The Son Jarocho Documentation Center is a cultural venue in the city of Jáltipan de Morelos. Dating back to 1998, its former headquarters suffered severe structural damage during the 2017 earthquakes in Mexico, which affected several regions. As a result, municipal authorities determined that it was necessary to rebuild the facility.

Bringing this project to fruition required the involvement of various institutions and fundraising events. Among these was a campaign led by Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade titled 'Un Canto por México' in Anaheim, California.

Restoration of the Salvador Cathedral reveals 17th-century rarities

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Listed as a World Heritage Site, the Historic Center of Salvador, Bahia, in the heart of the Pelourinho neighborhood, is home to the city's Cathedral Basilica, which dates back to the 17th century. One of Brazil's most significant sacred buildings, the basilica underwent a three-year-and-eight-month restoration process. Beyond returning its celebrated features to public view, the intervention revealed spaces and artifacts previously unknown or long thought lost.

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