Identity is a complex, constantly evolving concept—a social construct built from historical elements, cultural factors, circumstances, and phenomena manifested in a specific place. In Mexican architecture, this identity is reflected in works conceived through the vision of artists and architects like Diego Rivera and Agustín Hernández. In projects such as the Anahuacalli Museum and Casa en el Aire, they captured the colossal proportions, symmetry, and simple forms of Mexico's pre-Hispanic past. Similarly, distinctive attributes, such as the folklore of traditions, are reflected in the sensitive use of color in the work of Luis Barragán and Javier Senosiain, creating a rich amalgam of artistic expressions that embody Mexican architectural identity in its diversity and ongoing evolution.
https://www.archdaily.com/1136310/evolving-ceramic-tiles-mexican-architectural-identity-in-the-interior-design-of-the-futureEnrique Tovar
Downtown São Paulo. Image courtesy of AsBEA-SP / Disclosure
The central region of São Paulo holds a significant part of our history, which can be read through its buildings. For many locals, the emotional connection to this area is clear when recalling moments spent in these historic buildings—which carry deep cultural and religious meaning—and along these bustling commercial streets.
Over the last few decades, however, this relationship has eroded due to the obsolescence of buildings, poor habitability, the deterioration of vacant properties, insecurity, and other factors that have driven residents away from downtown—which remains an area with high foot traffic, vibrant commerce, extensive transportation infrastructure, and a unique connection to the rest of the city. An urban space with such infrastructure cannot be abandoned in a city with a high demand for housing, culture, and leisure.
A few years ago, one of my favorite university professors (who inspired me to study urban planning) approached me with a small request: she wanted to transform her small bedroom window into a balcony so she could look out onto the street.
In September 2022, Ricardo Carvalho and Leonardo Monastério published the paper FAR Regulations and the Spatial Size of Brazilian Cities. Available at the link above, the study evaluates the influence of density restrictions on the expansion of the urban footprint.
The term FAR, or floor area ratio, é known in Brazil as the *coeficiente de aproveitamento máximo* (maximum CA). This metric is the ratio between the total built area permitted by law on an urban plot and the plot's total area. Therefore, if a 200 m² plot has a maximum CA of 3, the building permitted on that site cannot exceed 600 m² of total built area.
Initial section of the Wild Mile. Photo: Colin Boyle / Wild Mile
The Wild Mile project is an ambitious initiative by the nonprofit organization Urban Rivers, aiming to restore a 1.5-kilometer stretch of the Chicago River in the United States. The project involves creating a vibrant and sustainable urban oasis with boardwalks and floating gardens.
Since the opening of its first section in July 2023, the Wild Mile has already attracted over 30,000 visitors, including local residents, educational programs, and special events. Leaders at Urban Rivers express pride in the project's achievements, highlighting the transformation of a once-neglected stretch of the river into a thriving public space for both wildlife and people.
https://www.archdaily.com/1136315/floating-gardens-are-transforming-the-chicago-riverMayra Rosa
Dérive LAB is a multidisciplinary laboratory based in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, that seeks to explore, understand, and inspire other (new) ways of living and thinking about city life. Through research, design, and action, they have focused on developing projects in art, architecture, urban design, and other disciplines that impact three specific scales: public life, the built environment, and everyday objects.
With the rise of social media, we have entered an era of a multimedia "society of the spectacle," where the influence of images on the public grows year by year. Visually-driven media platforms are increasingly dominating the market, serving as an alternative form of travel that allows people to experience breathtaking scenes from around the world without leaving home. Dedicated to bringing design inspiration to the public, ArchDaily established its presence on Instagram years ago. In 2022, we expanded onto China’s Xiaohongshu (RED), hoping to share exceptional projects with a broader audience. As expected, the influence of star architects remains strong, while playfulness, aesthetics, and relevance emerge as key terms guiding reader interest. Here, we present the top 20 most-liked architectural projects of 2022 on ArchDaily’s official Xiaohongshu and Instagram accounts. Read on to discover the public's architectural preferences.
As part of the Mexico City Art Week lineup, a monumental mural was unveiled on Wednesday, February 1, transforming the facade of Frontón México—a historic downtown building that customer-exemplifies Art Deco architecture in the country, originally designed by architects Teodoro Kinhard and Joaquín Capilla and later renovated by Moyao Arquitectos. The installation was created by Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel in tandem with an immersive experience running inside the venue until March 11.
The lack of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation is an issue that still affects millions of people worldwide; even in the 21st century, a large portion of the population lacks full access to these basic resources. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) show that about 3 in 10 people—equivalent to 2.1 billion people globally—do not have access to safe drinking water at home, and approximately 60% of the global population lacks access to safely managed sanitation services, including many living in urbanized areas.
Instalación LAGUNA. Image Cortesía de Diego González Albarrán
The Doctores neighborhood (Mexico City) is a complex territory; understanding it requires observing the interrelations between objects in space, rather than space and the objects in themselves. Formerly known as Colonia Hidalgo and later renamed after its streets, it has undergone multiple processes of transformation and appropriation over time, ranging from the construction of its first homes during the viceregal period to the spatial and social shift brought about by the 1985 earthquake.
Seattle-based Olson Kundig is a prime example of how a firm's design approach is shaped by geography and culture. Founded by Jim Olson (Jim Olson) in 1966, the firm now comprises hundreds of employees and four other partners, including Tom Kundig. The practice boasts a wide and diverse portfolio. In lectures and interviews, Kundig frequently discusses how his upbringing in a region with a rich history of mining and logging influenced his industrial and rational aesthetic, his use of durable, low-maintenance materials, and his keen focus on craftsmanship. At the same time, an imaginative approach that emphasizes kinetic elements and blurs the boundaries between indoors and outdoors is a hallmark of many of the firm's designs. This is often achieved through the integration of manual, hand-operated devices that allow users to physically activate the building, connecting them to the environment, the architecture, and its kinetic mechanisms.
Established in Shanghai in 2016, Atelier tao+c’s practice spans a diverse range of typologies and scales, from a single pendant light to an entire neighborhood, from micro-apartments in the city to the renovation of old rural houses, and from street-front shops to youth communities. Alongside our design practice, we are dedicated to research initiatives focusing on the renewal of existing buildings and the spatial organization of objects within residential environments.
Unconstrained by typology or scale, our projects focus on scale, construction, proximity, intimacy, and the dialogue between the past and the immediate. Through an exploration and deep understanding of typologies, we seek to uncover the latent potential within each site.
Our design methodology begins with a retreat to the interior, allowing space to grow outward from within, breaking boundaries and forging connections within the often-overlooked interstitial spaces between architecture and interior. We employ elemental forms, clear proportions, and unexpected sectional variations to cultivate a nuanced and cohesive sense of scale across interior and exterior realms. By elevating direct, everyday local materials and vernacular construction methods into a profound expression of craftsmanship and detail, we aim to allow life to unfold in all its complexity within a framework of simplicity.
The studio's work has been featured in books by prominent publishers such as Gestalten and Phaidon, and widely published in leading international design media, including The Architectural Review, Domus, The Plan, AIT, Azure, Wallpaper*, ArchDaily, Dezeen, Yellowtrace, and Divisare.
The composting system can be built with various materials. Photo: Paulo H.Carvalho | Agência Brasília
The average Brazilian generates nearly one kilogram of waste per day, according to a survey by Selurb (National Union of Urban Cleaning Companies). Meanwhile, according to Abrelpe (Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies), organic waste represents half of the total urban waste generated in Brazil every year. This is waste that could be repurposed for composting, biodigestion, and/or energy production, but is instead sent to landfills—where it contaminates the soil and produces polluting gases.
Founded in Paris, France, Tektonn Architecture established its permanent office in Chengdu, China, in early 2018. Architecture connects places and people through the act of building; it is about life, environment, memory, and heritage. We strive to respond through sincere design, build with ingenuity, and observe from an objective perspective. Creating from the environment is the very origin of the name Tektonn.
We excel at observing and listening, where every design begins with a rational and meticulous reading of the site. Driven to explore, we continuously push established boundaries to discover creative ideas and realization possibilities. Methodical by nature, we uncover latent connections and site logic amidst complex realities, evaluating how scale impacts the environment. Committed to the pursuit of detail, we study spatial experience through openness and closure, yin and yang, and proportion, analyzing shifts in human behavior. We are architects in action, dedicated to researching materials and finding the most appropriate local construction methods to build comfortable spaces where stories can unfold.
weico is a newly established architecture firm founded by a group of highly experienced industry professionals. Located in a small courtyard near the East Gate of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, the studio currently comprises about 20 team members. Beyond building design, weico’s practice spans interior design, urban design, architectural programming, and large-scale project management. The firm places a strong emphasis on the cross-disciplinary integration of design with technology, industry, economics, and the humanities, and has recently begun incorporating graphic design into its project workflows. Led by Principal Architect and Partner Sun Wei, weico—established just over a year ago—has already won bids for and taken on major projects, including the T3 Headquarters, Hengli International Headquarters, the Hongqi High-End Customization Center, and consulting for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) Phase II. The firm was also shortlisted for the CGN Scientific Research Base and the Bay Area University, drawing significant attention within the domestic industry.
Although we are an architecture firm, we do not view design as the end of our work, but rather as the starting point. We hope that all our work can serve as a medium to express our understanding of the world, and even as a tool to drive change.
We can define green technology as a set of instruments that enable sustainable production. This means managing product lifecycles more responsibly, always striving for minimal environmental impact.
The production stages span from raw material extraction, manufacturing, and distribution, to end-use and disposal. Consequently, the entire lifecycle can benefit from the application of green technologies, which help reduce environmental impact by using natural resources in a sustainable and conscious manner.
Project perspective for the Morro Vermelho stream, a tributary of the Lageado. Source: drawing by the author
Urban rivers, across their various scales, can serve as structuring axes for urbanization with high environmental quality. The focus of this article, based on concepts developed by the Fluvial Metropolis Group, is the Lageado Creek Basin, located at the easternmost edge of the municipality of São Paulo and part of the municipality of Ferraz de Vasconcelos. The Tietê River, into which the basin's waters flow, the Lageado, and its tributaries establish three scales of rivers and urbanization, accommodating distinct programs related to water use: from regional navigation and energy to neighborhood-scale fluvial parks, spanning water supply, drainage, energy, and irrigation.
What comes to mind when you think of technology? Of all the words that pop into your head, "ancient" probably isn't one of them. We tend to think of technology as something that belongs to the future.
In a world where high-tech solutions are virtually synonymous with development, Julia Watson has taken the opposite approach. The New York-based Australian designer has spent much of her career traveling to indigenous communities in the most remote parts of the world—from Benin to Iraq—to study how we can apply their ancient innovations to our planet's contemporary environment.
Image courtesy of Apparatus Architects and Alvaro Arancibia
The +Lapena Habitar project, a partnership between the Tide Setubal Foundation and BlendLab, seeks to contribute to the urban transformation of peripheral neighborhoods through a new production model for social housing (HIS). Building on a process started in 2020, the institutions have been developing a pilot housing supply and management project in São Paulo's East Zone that incorporates aspects of urban development, architecture, strategies for accessing quality housing, pre- and post-occupancy processes, social participation, a rental model, collective management, business model, and financing.
Photographs by Marcel Gautherot from the collection of the Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS), edited by the author
The Museum of Popular Art in Recife (MAP), opened in 1955, was one of the first museums dedicated to the genre in the country. It was organized and conceived by Recife-born lawyer and collector Abelardo Rodrigues (1908–1971) and designed by Rio de Janeiro architect Acácio Gil Borsoi (1924–2009). Although now defunct, the museum project adapted a former kindergarten into a space with modern features for the exhibition of popular art, located at the entrance of the Dois Irmãos Zoobotanical Park. The only records of this space were captured by French photographer Marcel Gautherot (1910–1996) in the year of the museum's inauguration. Despite their individual perspectives, these three figures shared a particular interest in the popular aspect of modern narratives; for this reason, analyzing the perspectives that fueled interest in the applications of this concept is essential.
What does it mean for the Costa Rican Architecture Biennial to have reached sixteen editions? Clearly, it represents a significant accumulation of exhibitions, conferences, and diverse programs that reflect the concerns and shifts in the country's architectural agenda over the past three decades.
'A Project of Trends: 30 Years of Architecture Biennials in Costa Rica' is the exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MADC) that reviews this trajectory in detail, under the precise curation of Paz Monge Cortés and José Daniel Picado-García.
As part of the agenda of What Design Can Do (WDCD)—an international organization that seeks to accelerate the transition to a sustainable and just society using the power of design—a series of events and conferences took place in Amsterdam during 2022, bringing together speakers from all over the world to present their projects and perspectives on the current challenges facing the design community today.
On January 13, the City of São Paulo, through the Municipal Secretariat of Urban Development and Licensing, published the draft bill for the mid-term review of the Strategic Master Plan (PDE)—the city's primary urban planning and development tool. In the draft, which is open for online public consultation and civil society feedback until February 17, the most controversial aspect involves changes to the parameters determining the number of parking spaces allowed in new residential developments near public transit infrastructure, such as subway and train stations, and bus corridors.
