Following an invitation from the Municipal Government of Puebla, Mexico, through the Office of the Historic Center and Cultural Heritage, "Patio Efímero, the festival of contemporary art, architecture, and heritage," better known as "Patio Efímero," will represent Puebla at Berlin Design Week 2023. This year's central theme is resilience; accordingly, the Puebla-based collective responsible for organizing the festival will address the September 19, 2017 earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic—events that have shaped all three editions of the project.
When considering the segment of the elderly population aged 60 and over, the 2022 survey by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) recorded a total of 32,113,490 older adults, representing approximately 15.6% of the current population. In 2010, this same age group represented 10.8%, indicating a 4.8% increase in just 12 years. The median age of the Brazilian population has increased by six years since 2010, reaching 35 in 2022, while the aging index rose, indicating 55.2 older adults for every 100 children aged 0 to 14, compared to 30.7 per 100 in 2010.
Interior design is the art of transforming the experience of interior space by manipulating spatial volume and treating surfaces to enhance the inside of a home, apartment, building, or restaurant. Closely related is landscape architecture, which focuses on shaping open, outdoor spaces.
“Together we are stronger,” read the signs at the massive Latin American marches on International Women's Day. Women build networks across all their spheres of action: their families, communities, and workplaces. The world of architecture is no exception. Among women architects, these bonds foster connection, as seen in the nearly 30 networks of women architects in the region featured below.
Architects Smiljan Radic and Nicolás Schmidt designed an inflatable structure for the XXII Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism. Located in the urban setting of the Palacio de La Moneda in Santiago, it served as a temporary venue for meetings, debates, and lectures that brought public discussions to the forefront regarding the event's central theme: "Vulnerable Habitats."
A subjective understanding guides us when we think about real estate values—one deeply connected to how markets shape cities. While the spatial distribution of prices leads us to place higher value on land in urban centers, the same economic model conversely assigns lower values to more remote areas.
Historically, central port areas were responsible for developing many cities into commercial hubs, which also expanded along geographical and economic lines. In a standard urban model, it is from the center outward that market forces dictate land prices and densities, factoring in transport costs, income, and total population.
Recycling is the process of reclaiming discarded materials. Its goal is to reintroduce them into the production chain to continue generating value and enable their reuse, enhancing the preservation of natural resources and improving quality of life. It is considered one of the most efficient alternatives for managing solid waste from both an environmental and social standpoint, and is directly integrated into the framework of the circular economy.
Play represents a key opportunity for children to acquire skills and knowledge in a natural and engaging way. Among the key innovations in early childhood and primary education, play stands out as a central axis of the learning process, serving as a fundamental pedagogical principle to achieve educational goals. Combining play with outdoor learning fosters exploration, experimentation, sensory stimulation, and motor development during childhood.
Featuring diverse materials, designs, and dynamics, the playground equipment represented by Urbanplay fosters open, spontaneous interactions, providing children with spaces to take risks, explore, and connect with nature.
Buildings consume natural resources. Whether in their construction or during their operation, architecture can have a significant impact on the environment. Promoting sustainable practices to minimize energy, water, and material consumption is essential to reduce carbon emissions and help mitigate the climate crisis. With the ongoing debate surrounding sustainability, environmental consciousness has not only become vital, but it has also started to add value to properties built with this focus. Therefore, moving beyond mere greenwashing, we must look for solutions that make a real difference.
genarchitects was founded in Shanghai in 2013. Whether operating in dense urban environments or amidst natural landscapes, the firm remains committed to the authentic realities of design and construction practice. By carefully balancing site conditions and functional requirements, genarchitects seeks to find calm and honest solutions for complex and uncertain realities.
Led by founding partners Fan Beilei, Kong Rui, and Xue Zhe, genarchitects engages in a comprehensive range of design work. Their projects span from schools and art museums to bridges, sports fields, furniture, and urban design. Representative works include the Dingshu Vocational School, the Pavilion of One Court, the Aranya MCSC Hotel, and the Wallpaper* Apartments at Friendship Bay. The firm's work has received numerous honors, including the Architecture China Natural Construction Award, the WA China Architecture Award, the Architectural Creation Award of the Architectural Society of Shanghai, the AIA Shanghai Design Award, the German Iconic Awards (Best of Best), and Italy's THE PLAN Award.
Avenida Paulista. Circa 1920. Photo: Guilherme Gaensly (Acervo Instituto Moreira Salles)
A major urban axis where thousands of people, subways, buses, cars, and bicycles pass daily. High-rise buildings, cultural centers, banks, and shopping malls. As the symbol of São Paulo, Avenida Paulista once looked very different. As difficult as it may be to imagine today, it was once lined with grand mansions of the most diverse architectural styles, and its destiny was altered in a matter of days by heritage preservation disputes and... a pizza.
The TEMA Pavilion Competition was established to give young architects and students from the University of Guadalajara community the opportunity to design ephemeral projects that express ideas beyond the typical demands of an architecture or design school.
UnB Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism. Photo by Murilo Abreu, via Flickr. Licensed under CC-BY-2.0
The purpose of this article is to expand on the relevant debate proposed in Marília Matoso's piece, titled We Need to Rethink Architecture Programs, published on ArchDaily in January 2023. Indeed, rethinking architecture education is a task that is not only necessary but also urgent. However, I believe this discussion is inseparable from debates about the profession itself and how we educate future professionals. Rather than simply attempting to formulate definitive answers, I think it is important to raise further questions that contribute to our collective reflection.
To us, architectural practice is an organic process of construction. Within this framework, we emphasize three dimensions of practice: research, design, and execution. Rather than being strictly sequential, these three aspects are parallel and intersecting. Refined through both built works and speculative projects, our daily collaboration has become increasingly grounded and stable. Consequently, our practice has crystallized around three main pillars: historical context, community placemaking, and a smart future. In recent years, guided by a diverse, multifaceted, and open-minded architectural perspective, we have strived to create vivid scenarios and spaces tailored to the unique narrative of each project, seeking enduring poetry and value. Our ultimate goal is to create dignified human habitats for society through precise and poetic architectural design.
Since 2021, to provide more specialized services for local projects in Hangzhou and the Yangtze River Delta region, ALYA established its Hangzhou studio and formed an urban design team. Over the years, the firm has received widespread international media attention, numerous awards, and exhibition invitations, including the ARCASIA Gold Medal, the UK's Dezeen Awards (Hotel Building of the Year), the UK's BUILD Award for Architecture and Sustainable Design, the DFA Design for Asia Awards, the Venice Architecture Biennale, Wallpaper* Design Awards, WA China Architecture Awards, and the IDEAT Future Award. In 2021, Yuyang Liu, founder of ALYA, was appointed by the Hangzhou Canal Group as the Chief Planning and Design Advisor for the Cultural and Tourism Integration of the Hangzhou Grand Canal. Following three challenging years of the global pandemic, ALYA will celebrate a series of project completions in 2023, while systematically launching high-quality, meticulous, sustainable, and highly creative projects aligned with future trends.
For those who are passionate about the healthy development of premier Chinese architectural practices, value a pioneering spirit and precision, enjoy exploring the unknown, and seek to grow with us into a world-class professional design team based in the Yangtze River Delta, we warmly invite you to join ALYA.
As part of the FUGAZ Greater Concepción Urban Interventions Festival, a team comprising Álvaro Parraguez, Beatriz Harriet, Bárbara Schumacher, Josefa Acevedo, and Luis Cambiaso developed an installation at the Villarrica coastal resort in Dichato (Concepción, Chile) that won the 2022 Ephemeral Installations Competition. The competition called for an ephemeral installation to serve as a functional venue for the festival, accommodating various daytime performances and activities across dance, theater, music, and other disciplines.
Infrared thermal imaging showing a lack of thermal insulation. Image via Ivan Smuk / Shutterstock
As widely reported, the global building sector is responsible for 36% of final energy consumption (Global ABC, 2022)—across its full life cycle, from material extraction to end-of-life. Crucially, the energy consumed during building operation accounts for more than 80% of the building's total life-cycle energy. Furthermore, 66% of this energy is known to be consumed primarily by HVAC systems [1].
Against this backdrop, a series of global measures have been promoted to reduce building operational energy, such as improving the thermal insulation of building envelopes, implementing solar shading, incorporating renewable energy, and upgrading to more efficient equipment, among others.
https://www.archdaily.com/1136409/relevance-and-calculation-of-building-energy-demandPaola Valencia M.
Hushoffice acoustic pods are designed to meet all the functional requirements a modern office might need. HushMeet can accommodate a table for four and allows for a screen to be mounted inside the pod.
The theorization of the workplace has become a global discourse, spanning research on new spatial trends, experiments in hybrid models, the digital revolution and its impact on productivity, workplace wellness, and the elusive balance between life and work. Yet, as a New York Times article on the digital workplace notes, while this theoretical debate has spanned decades, successful implementation remains in its infancy. Propelled by the rise of tech giants like Slack and Zoom, alongside the global disruptions of recent years, our working patterns have fundamentally shifted. We have seemingly adapted to remote work, often forgetting the efficiency of physical presence and the nuanced connection of face-to-face interaction. As “digital distraction” increasingly permeates our daily lives, this is a challenge we must confront when rethinking the design of the physical office.
Can our work, then, be fully digitized and done remotely?
https://www.archdaily.com/1136383/hushoffice-at-home-at-work-returning-to-the-office-from-remote-work韩爽 - HAN Shuang
As part of a new collaboration between Mexican firms Dellekamp Arquitectos and Rojkind Arquitectos, Casa Roca is presented in Puerto Los Cabos, San José del Cabo, Mexico. Inspired by the rock formations at the site's summit, the project features a radial layout carefully organized in response to its topography. Sited on a 5,000 m² lot, the 1,200 m² house organizes its program along the natural landscape, minimizing its footprint and establishing a close relationship with nature as the core living experience.
Recently, many Brazilian cities have turned to tactical urbanism as a way to intervene in the design of their streets, making them safer and more appealing—all at a low cost and on a short timeline.
The volume and nature of these interventions have been particularly remarkable in addressing the immediacy imposed by the pandemic in our cities. They seek to adapt street layouts to modes of travel that reduce the risk of transmission during daily commutes, even amidst scenarios of restricted activities.
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Hospice care is a specialized form of palliative care that seeks to provide comfort and quality of life to patients facing serious and terminal illnesses. These environments play a crucial role in the patient's final journey, and the intersection of neuroscience and architecture can be a powerful tool to make them even more welcoming. In these settings, neuroscience applied to architecture can be used to design spaces that promote the emotional and physical well-being of patients.
Tietê River, São Paulo. Photo by Ana Paula Hirama, via Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Swimming in the Tietê. Although many people did so until the 1930s — when the river was already polluted, though much less than today, and swimming and rowing competitions were held even along the stretch within the São Paulo capital —, no one believes this will be possible in the coming years. Cleaning the river, however, is a feasible ambition, provided we understand that there are various gradations within the category of “clean.”
https://www.archdaily.com/1136457/is-cleaning-up-the-tiete-river-possible-or-a-utopiaDavid A. Cohen
For two hundred years, New York City has been the largest metropolis in the United States and continues to outpace its competitors. The city is one of the oldest and most prosperous in the country. Its metropolitan area produces goods and services equivalent in monetary terms to half of Brazil's total GDP. Its urban structure, productive capacity, and high per capita income reflect its privileged global standing. One of the keys to understanding its rise lies in the very beginning of its history and its long developmental path. In 1624, the land of Manhattan Island was purchased from the indigenous Lenape people by Dutchman Peter Minuit of the Dutch West India Company, who founded New Amsterdam. The island is an extensive, flat 59-square-kilometer area situated at the mouth of the Hudson and East rivers. The bay allowed large ships to anchor and offered a strategic, easily defensible position.