This guide covers a workflow that moves from project parameters to generated floor plans, 3D perspective views, exterior design exploration, and site context visualization, using AI tools in place of preliminary CAD and rendering work.

Publishing architecture is necessary for the discipline itself to be understood as such. Without it, architecture becomes an endeavor devoid of public inquiry, confined to private practices. Yet its presence opens up a field that translates a material language into a written one, reformulating the discourses emerging from this arena. Among the “smallest” of these publications are fanzines—mediums that arise from a desire for self-management and low-cost, small-run production, capable of adapting to diverse content, whether in the form of a booklet or simply folded paper.

The playful potential of the fanzine has sparked growing popularity in Chile, culminating in its inclusion in the XXI Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism in 2019. Although awareness of this medium predated this event, there is still a gap in understanding its characteristics. This necessitates asking simple, almost naive questions about the specific conditions of its production—discussions that ultimately reveal an invisible network woven among individuals who, without knowing it, were already connected.

Is there a future for our cities without a sustainable way of life? For some time now, urban sustainability has been viewed primarily through the lens of climate change rather than a holistic vision that integrates society and the way we live in community.

What new ways of living are we experiencing amid social, economic, and ecological shifts? We need to bring to the table different reference cases from around the world and understand the latest trends shaping how we live in our cities.

We want you, our readers, to not only be the first to share examples of co-living, cooperatives, and any new types of social housing you consider benchmarks, but also to share your thoughts on the matter in the form below. Selected comments will be published in an upcoming article.

Following the 60th anniversary of the iconic Casa en Jean Mermoz—a precursor to the ideas of Ciudad Abierta in Ritoque—Igor Fracalossi, PhD, proposed a reconstruction of its wooden formwork system. He knows the building well; since 2012, he has dedicated his research to studying "the most complex residential project in Chile to date.”

While walking through the exhibition of the reconstruction in the gardens and galleries of the Centro Cultural Las Condes in 2022, he explains in detail the innovative and unique construction aspects of this demolished work. The house was originally designed by Fabio Cruz Prieto, architect and founding master of the School of Architecture and Design at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.

How do we experience cities? What moves us? What do we remember about them? Monuments? Museums? Are we merely tourists, or do we live the city as an experience? Art is part of the urban fabric—a way to create new paths, lifestyles, and reference points that lead us to identify the unique spaces and moments experienced within it. Art is not confined to museums; it is in the streets, on the walls, and on the buildings that shape the city. Public space dialogues with artistic expression, engaging people, neighborhoods, cities, and an interconnected world to create new modes of community within a culture that is attentive to and understands our contexts and ecosystems. 

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As part of the cultural agenda for Art Week 2022 in Mexico City, guadalajara90210—in collaboration with Michan Architecture and Luis Young—presented the exhibition "YACIMIENTOS," featuring works by 53 artists and architects. The venue, a building currently under reconstruction in the Condesa neighborhood, hosted the exhibition from February 12 to 20.

Set in the heart of one of the world's most arid deserts, the Nasca aqueducts form a hydraulic system that, for nearly two thousand years, has demonstrated advanced geological and hydrological knowledge. This system allows water to be sourced for both human consumption and agriculture, creating fertile oases in the desert. The Nasca Aqueducts represent a unique hydraulic system in the Americas, owing to their distinct design, construction technique, location, and function. They serve as an exceptional testament to the capacity of ancient societies to overcome adverse conditions, offering solutions that could be applied to the climate challenges of our time.

What do we mean by heritage? This is one of the main questions raised by Alejandro Orellana, director of Relatos de Barrios—a Chilean project that seeks to reclaim the heritage and historical value of housing complexes, highlighting the community dimension behind the lives of their residents.

A documentary and a book are the results of their experience with the “CCU Worker Housing” in La Serena, later renamed the “Rengifo Housing Complex.” Designed in 1957 by architect Carlos Feuereisen Polanco and built in 1958 by Negochea and Vergara, it represents a characteristic housing typology of the city.

This article by Maya Orzechowska was originally published under the title "Five Principles for a Vulnerable and Intimate Architecture: Drawing Alternative Boundaries and Openings to the Home and the Self" in the 31st issue of Dearq journal on September 1, 2021 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.18389/dearq31.2021.04).

This article investigates how the boundaries and openings of the home are not separate from one another; rather, they play an active role in the politics of bodily and social health. For an increasing number of people, both the idea of the home and the reality of housing fail on a daily basis; therefore, this article seeks alternatives to the narrative of the home, of a utopian internal intimacy that endorses withdrawal, and of a non-responsible relationship toward the public realm. It suggests that the result is dystopian, concealing and exacerbating vulnerability and its resistance to change. In contrast, a vulnerable and intimate architecture focuses on the vulnerable body, drawing the uncanny, repressed, and emotional into the home.

We present it below as part of a joint collaboration to contribute to the dissemination of research, analysis, and opinion produced by the national and international academic community on architecture, urban issues, and related fields.

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Recently, Tec de Monterrey unveiled “Skyspace: Espíritu de Luz,” an installation designed by American artist James Turrell that now joins DistritoTec in Monterrey, Mexico, as a cultural destination that enhances spatial quality through innovation. Arising from the “Light & Space” art movement, this piece was designed as an observatory to generate a unique visual experience through a sequence of lights every 12 hours, at dawn and dusk. It also serves as a tribute to the life and legacy of Don Eugenio Garza Sada and Eugenio Garza Lagüera.

Gathering spaces in rural areas play an important role in improving the quality of life for local communities. In April 2022, Fundación Mi Parque launched the book “Rural Public Spaces: Community, Architecture, and Landscape” as both a contribution and a guide for a design discipline that seeks to highlight and address the need for meeting spaces in rural environments. The book is the culmination of five years of fieldwork, during which 37 community spaces were built, benefiting more than 26,000 residents in the Choapa Province of Chile's Coquimbo Region.

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“Mercado Retablo” is the winning proposal of the II Semilla Competition organized by MURU, presenting a new design for the Playa Grau Municipal Market, located in the city of Ayacucho. Architects Santiago Nieto Valladares and Lucía Uribe Osores explain how “the market proposes quality public spaces that establish it as a gathering place, moving beyond a mere site for transit and commerce to host and foster social interaction.”

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Exacerbated by the pandemic, the housing crisis has become a global phenomenon. Rising prices, lack of access, and poor housing policies have resulted in greater scarcity and precarious conditions. Chile is no exception. Indeed, according to the latest reports issued by the Chilean Chamber of Construction (CChC), there are “more than 700,000 families experiencing overcrowding and irreparable housing, in addition to 81,000 families living in informal settlements.”

Although the construction industry has spent years making strides in new fields such as biomaterials, nanotechnology, and 3D printing, it simultaneously remains one of the slowest to adopt new technology. Many of these innovations never progress past the experimental stage. How can this situation be reversed?

The results of the XIV Yucatan Architecture Biennial have been announced. A total of 17 accolades were awarded, including 1 gold medal, 6 silver medals, and 10 honorable mentions across 15 different categories. The jury comprised architects Edgar Herrera, Manuel Herrera, Felipe Leal, and Carlos Rodríguez. Read on to discover the winners.

The bookstore and publishing house Arcadia Mediática, alongside the architecture, design, and construction magazine Arkinka, began 2022 with the launch of their first joint editorial project, “Ideas de Hábitat. Arquitectura en Perú 2010-2020”. Through built projects of varying scales and territories represented by more than four generations of architects, the book aims to showcase the finest works of contemporary architecture in Peru over the last decade.

Born in Quito in 1947, Guadalupe Ibarra settled in Cuenca during her adolescence due to her father's military career. It was there that she decided to study architecture, enrolling at the University of Cuenca in 1963. An outstanding student, Ibarra earned her degree in 1970, becoming the first Ecuadorian woman to graduate as an architect in the country. 

In November 2022, the Network of Latin American Architecture Biennials REDBAAL will mark its first ten fruitful years, celebrating this milestone by launching the Fourth Edition of the Oscar Niemeyer Award for Latin American Architecture, the prestigious ON-04 Prize. This August, the jury's decision was announced, revealing the top three winners and recognizing the work of architects from Brazil and Mexico.

The first woman to receive an architecture degree in Argentina was Filandia Pizzul in 1928 from the University of Buenos Aires, more than 50 years after the program was first established. Starting in 1874, the architecture program operated independently of the Department of Sciences, where these studies had been housed since 1865. She was a pioneer in several fields, also becoming the first woman to complete courses at the Civil Aviation Directorate in 1928, earning pilot's license No. 181.

Paint is synonymous with color, even when it is white. It is the simplest way to restore and correct imperfections on any surface, whether interior or exterior. Without detracting from this significant aesthetic benefit, paint also possesses composition-based properties that turn an attractive, well-finished project into a healthy building—one with a lower environmental impact throughout its life cycle.

Fernando Abellanas had already shown us how to take refuge from the city within the city itself, with an installation that invited shelter in the interstitial spaces of an existing bridge. This time, he presents Urban Macroparasite: a habitable and connective structure created during the UIT Urban Festival in Tartu, Estonia.

This mobile installation adapts to achieve structural parasitism, prompting us to rethink how we occupy the inert and hidden spaces that make up our cities.

The 2022 Shenzhen Creative Home Design Week (hereinafter referred to as "Design Week") has successfully concluded. Against the ongoing backdrop of the pandemic, ArchDaily partnered with MEFine to present a themed design forum, "One Step Ahead: Contemporary Reflections on Dwelling." Hosted as part of "Design Out Loud"—a forum series dedicated to design and creativity curated by Design Dome—the event has successfully come to a close, leaving behind a wealth of memorable insights.

Videos

How do we actually give citizens the ability to discover and understand what is happening around their cities? This is one of the key questions raised by Eva Franch, artistic director alongside Beth Galí and José Luis de Vicente of Model - Barcelona Architectures Festival.

How do we bring these issues to the table, into public debate, and into the public sphere? One answer could lie in augmented realities—technologies that allow us to visualize parts of the real world overlaid with new information through a technological device. For this architecture event, in addition to the five temporary physical installations scattered throughout the city, five augmented reality installations were produced, reflecting the event's different themes: Between-Generations, Between-Cultures, Between-Species, Between-Classes, and Between-Materials.

Established by master plans, zoning indexes consist of a set of regulations that govern building dimensions relative to the lot on which they are built. These requirements vary according to the zone in which the land is located and are divided into three main principles: Lot Coverage, Floor Area Ratio (FAR), and Permeability Rate. Learn what each one means and how to calculate them below.

Featuring a spectacular amorphous structure, Bloodlust Wine Bar is located in Ejido El Porvenir, in the heart of Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, Mexico. Its origins date back to late 2019, conceived by the vision of Juliette Cheanne, Poncho Muriedas, and Yuri Muriedas—three highly creative minds with a single shared mission: to bring to life a gastronomic space that, in addition to featuring an inimitable architectural facade designed by surrealist illustrator Jaime Zuverza, would offer an immersive auditory and visual experience to all who visit.