Today, February 17, the exhibition "Urban Transformation: Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos" opens at the Palacio de Cultura Citibanamex - Palacio de Iturbide in Mexico City. Organized in collaboration with the Banco Nacional de México, through Fomento Cultural Citibanamex, A.C., and the Fundación Sordo Madaleno A.C., the exhibition chronicles the firm's 85-year history. It constructs a narrative drawn from more than 450 projects, presenting a curated selection of 62 architectural works built in Mexico and abroad to serve a variety of programs.

This article by Antonio Giráldez López was originally published in the 17th issue of revista rita under the title "Making the City Through Soft Architectures." Through excerpts from conversations with the Usina de Innovación Colectiva, it reconstructs an experience of ephemeral urban transformation in the former Mercado Modelo of Montevideo, Uruguay. In this intervention, actions and programs take precedence over rigid, permanent structures, allowing us to imagine new possibilities for disused infrastructure. This interdisciplinary proposal arises from the principle of fostering communities, citizen laboratories, and "in-between times" to counter the private management dynamics that increasingly threaten these types of spaces.

Neuroarchitecture can be highly valuable in helping people with dementia maintain their autonomy. Creating stimulating, supportive, and safe environments helps them remain engaged and independent for longer. Designing a practical, supportive home that promotes cognitive function, emotional well-being, and social interaction is essential.

Given the rapid growth of the global elderly population, studies show that more than one-third of older adults live in their own homes despite declining cognitive and physical abilities. However, not all can be considered fully autonomous, as they often require assistance to perform some of their daily activities.

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Over the centuries, the history of architectural visualization has undergone numerous shifts. Its intrinsic relationship with architecture itself has sparked movements and critiques that, beyond serving as tools to represent the inhabited world, directly shape our perception of it and influence the production of the built environment. At ArchDaily, we have explored the history and evolution of post-digital representation through various articles, a subject that has been deeply explored in Mexico specifically.

Addressing the climate crisis urgently requires transforming urban lifestyles, as cities are major polluters and energy consumers. Re-evaluating motorized vehicle use, particularly individual transport, is one of the necessary shifts in urban centers. Cities that offer safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and an efficient public transit network are increasingly essential.

Encouraging the development of urban centers where people can move actively—on foot and by bicycle—for their daily activities is the path promoted by the Instituto Caminhabilidade. To this end, it established the Walkable City Award, which highlights and inspires initiatives for walkable cities in Brazil.

Jundiaí (SP) has implemented its first pilot complete street project as part of the creation of an Early Childhood Area. The intervention redistributed space on Lacerda Franco Street more democratically among its various users, incorporating a bike lane, sidewalk extensions, and other traffic-calming measures. As a result, it expanded communal spaces and increased safety for children from several local schools in the area.

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Habitat X is part of an ongoing research initiative developed over more than 12 years, led by Argentine architect Alejandro Borrachia, involving over 100 professors, students, and graduates from the University of Morón – School of Architecture and Design (UM-ESAD) alongside multidisciplinary actors and strategic partners from both the private and public sectors. Focusing on theoretical inquiry and the physical realization of a series of prototypes, the project engages with a specific program based on contemporary societal concerns and needs, connecting with processes, hypotheses, and case studies that spark unprecedented disciplinary shifts.

A resident of Vitória might not think of the Jucu River Basin forests when pouring a glass of water. Uruguayans likely do not think of the Amazon Rainforest when they watch rain fall on city parks. And residents of Addis Ababa are probably not thinking of the Congo Basin when they eat injera, a traditional Ethiopian staple made from teff grain.

Yet, forests near and far affect the daily lives of these people more than they realize.

Composed of extremely fine mineral particles and formed through the long-term weathering and erosion of rock, clay possesses unique properties that make it highly versatile. When wet, it becomes highly plastic and malleable, allowing it to be molded into virtually any shape. Once dried and fired, it becomes hard and durable, leading to its widespread use in construction and ceramics. In outdoor applications, clay pavers are particularly common, favored for their durability, resistance to weathering and traffic, natural earthy tones, and ease of installation.

This research on cultivable components as a replacement for petroleum derivatives in products used to manufacture materials from waste is carried out within a UBACyT Project directed by architect Marta Yajnes, within the framework of the Centro Experimental de la Producción (CEP) of the School of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism at the University of Buenos Aires.

Over the last two decades, the reach of public transit and ridership in one of the world's largest cities, São Paulo, have grown, reducing the share of trips made by car. Yet, despite exceptionally strict restrictions on certain cars and trucks during business hours, congestion—as conventionally understood—remains virtually unabated.

Adequate housing, and everything it encompasses in a broader sense, is one of the essential principles of humanity, established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, according to statistics from the United Nations (UN), 150 million people experience homelessness worldwide, and 1.6 billion live in inadequate housing conditions. The housing crisis is a multifaceted issue faced in different ways and on different scales by many cities across various countries and continents. One of its most difficult and complex aspects is precisely the deprivation of this basic right, affecting people in diverse ways and for different reasons.

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OTROCAFÉ is located on the ground floor of the iconic YWCA building, in the heart of Mexico City's Historic Center—a space steeped in over a century of history. The project was conceived as an integrated architecture and design proposal, a vision reflected in its creative framework. The cafe's design combines several key elements: subtle red accents, wood featured in both the custom furniture and as a continuous envelope wrapping the space, raw walls pigmented with a lime-based plaster, and soft, warm lighting that completes the atmosphere.

'Ecological Design: Strategies for the Vulnerable City' is a publication series produced by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to assess the impacts of the climate crisis on the most underserved areas of our cities, while exploring initiatives to improve their spatial and environmental quality. The first volume, launched in early 2021, recognized the challenges of adapting vulnerable areas of Latin America and the Caribbean to climate change, and the second, released in late 2022, built upon this by presenting urban policies, strategies, and case studies to enhance public space through green infrastructure and nature-based solutions.

Dementia villages, or communities designed for people living with dementia, represent an innovative model of care for individuals experiencing cognitive decline, such as Alzheimer's disease. These environments are adapted and welcoming, fostering a sense of community while promoting resident autonomy and well-being.

Neuroarchitecture and dementia villages are closely linked, as both seek to create spaces that enhance the well-being and quality of life of those with dementia. Combining neuroscience with design, neuroarchitecture explores how the physical environment impacts the human brain and behavior.

Designed by the architects of Grass+Batz, the Dignity Memorial Mausoleum in Chile has been selected as the winning project in the architecture category of ESENCIALES x ArchDaily 2023.

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Greenhouse gas emissions from the operation of existing buildings are significantly higher than those generated by new construction—that is, from materials and their use during construction, which account for 25%, while building operations represent 75% of emissions. And this is without accounting for the vast number of buildings falling under the concept of energy poverty.

Against this backdrop, the 'Proyectar a Conciencia' (PAC) competition continues to advance the debate surrounding "building better versus improving what is already built" in its fifth edition. As always, the competition invited students and architects to present a vision of a better society through the energy retrofitting and partial physical transformation of institutional, private, or public infrastructure.

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A few days ago, on a beautiful, sunny Sunday in the middle of winter, my wife and I decided to take our two young children to visit Villa-Lobos Park, in the far west of the city of São Paulo, nearly on the border with Osasco.

It is not a park we visit often nowadays, but it undoubtedly holds a special place in our personal history. She grew up in Cotia; I, in Osasco. Both cities lie in the western part of the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, and the park was perhaps the main public space relatively close to our homes during our childhood and youth. We even have photos from when we first started dating in 2013, capturing idle moments—sometimes stretched out on a broad green lawn, other times embracing under a blossoming tree.

As if dealing with a culinary recipe, Cedric Price compared the evolution of cities to the multiple ways of cooking an egg, showing how the relationship between the yolk and the white (inherent to each preparation) resembled the configuration of different urban models that have emerged over the last couple of millennia. This evolutionary description moves from the almost perfect hard-boiled egg embodied by ancient cities (the result of walled settlements) to scrambled eggs, comparable to modern cities (sprawling shapelessly across the vast territory). It is a metaphor that exemplifies how, so often, the elements that make up the city resemble one another (like the yolk and the white) and yet, the way these ingredients intermingle is key to the final recipe—that which characterizes and explains them.

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Until a few years ago, the right bank of the Seine River in Paris was a high-speed thoroughfare carrying more than 40,000 vehicles every day. Despite being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the roadway was routinely gridlocked during rush hours or used as a speedway for cars. Consequently, it contributed to the city's air pollution levels—which frequently exceeded European Union limits—and to thousands of premature deaths in the French capital each year.

A new space has opened its doors in a 1930s house in the San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood of Mexico City. This cultural enterprise, named ARCO, merges art, design, and architecture to create a collaborative venue housing the architecture firm WORC and the furniture-focused design studio VETA.

The construction of urban highways continues to expand worldwide. In Latin America, major projects are underway in Santiago (Américo Vespucio Oriente), Lima (Línea Amarilla), Quito (Solución Vial Guayasamín), São Paulo (Rodoanel Mário Covas), and Mexico City (Segundo Piso a Cuernavaca), to name just a few.

In Colombia, the national government announced a new program to improve access to urban areas during the 18th Congress of the Colombian Chamber of Infrastructure. In the words of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, “Our goal is also to transform access to cities. It is of little use to save time on intercity trips if that time is then lost within urban areas.”

Barco gallery is located in downtown Santiago, right next to Santa Lucía Hill. It occupies an apartment in the homonymous building designed by Sergio Larraín, celebrating a pioneering work of Chilean modern architecture. It is a curatorial practice dedicated to the debate, research, and development of critical and innovative ideas concerning the discipline through exhibition cycles. Its most recent exhibitions include 1972: Cities for Downtown Santiago, You Will Only Have Stones and Additive Manufacturing Shelf.

In partnership with the Embassy of Brazil in Chile, they organized a tribute to the leading figure of Brazilian modern architecture: Lina Bo Bardi. The exhibition "Sirena" by artist Jessica Briceño, curated by Matías Allende Contador and Anton zu Knyphausen, places Bo Bardi's disciplinary work at the center of reflection through an immersive installation that brings together five pieces abstracting her most recurring motifs.

Yesterday, November 8, as it does every year, Diez Company presented the fifth edition of the Maison Diez Company project to both Mexican and international audiences. This space, dedicated to lighting design, brings together designers, creatives, architects, interior designers, business partners, lighting experts, and international brand representatives to celebrate light. Following the success of its previous annual editions since 2018, Maison Diez Company is showcasing its latest offerings in a historic mansion in the San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood.