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.

Each year, the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), through the National System of Art Creators (SNCA), honors key figures of excellence in national culture through the Young Creators Program. By providing grants, the program supports the creative and educational development of young Mexican artists, fostering favorable conditions for the execution of original, meaningful, and positive creative projects. For this edition, the grant recipients in the “Architectural Design” category were Ruy Berumen, Diego González, Juan José Kochen, Ignacio Pérez, Elsa Ponce, Luca Salas, and Tania Tovar, who worked under the mentorship of tutors Elena Tudela Rivadeneyra, Rafael Ponce Ortiz, and Patricia Ivonne Álvarez De Anda.

As physical and digital commerce increasingly merge, designers and architects are creating shopping experiences that bridge the gap between physical and online spaces. We are beginning to witness the dawn of a new retail landscape that skillfully overlays disruptive digital behaviors with new aesthetics.

Choosing color palettes plays a fundamental role in any design strategy. Beyond their influence on aesthetics, spatial perception, and emotion, selected colors can define the character of an environment. When choosing a color palette, it is essential to consider the context, the building's use, and the lifestyle of its inhabitants, while also accounting for how the colors interact—whether as complementary hues, highlights, or counterpoints to predominant tones.

In addition to enhancing interior comfort, colors profoundly influence user perception and behavior. Alongside structural and ornamental elements, paint choices complete the definition of color palettes in architecture and design. As they do every year, Sherwin-Williams has presented its color trends—this year introducing Terra Colormix 2023, which features 40 trending colors inspired by the rich interweaving of our lives and spaces. Below, we present various color palettes tailored to different types of projects—such as workspaces, educational and healthcare centers, multifamily buildings, contemporary residences, and hospitality spaces—showcasing the versatility of this collection through practical applications.

Founded in 2006, Shanghai Hetai Architectural Decoration Co., Ltd. has spent the past 17 years specializing in the research and practice of fair-faced concrete restoration and long-term protection, as well as the creation of fair-faced concrete finishes (weather-resistant Portland cement and weather-resistant white cement finishes). Through rigorous product selection, performance testing, process exploration, project application, and technological innovation, the company has successfully completed the restoration and long-term protection of 36 fair-faced and conventional concrete buildings cast across various periods. Additionally, they have completed nine fair-faced concrete finish projects alongside ongoing weather-resistance and stability testing spanning 10 to 16 years.

Proper home insulation and selecting the right materials are fundamental when undertaking a construction project. These strategies enhance interior comfort and serve as a long-term cost-saving measure.

During periods of heavy rainfall, news of urban disasters such as landslides, floods, and waterlogging is recurrent, resulting in loss of life and severe property damage. In most cases, the vulnerability of the affected areas was already well known, yet their occupation was not prevented. As a rule, these devastated areas are reoccupied by survivors as quickly as possible, without any mitigation work being done to eliminate the risk.

While design has become increasingly professionalized over the years, design literacy and visual thinking—the ability to understand and interpret visual resources—are becoming non-negotiable in many workplaces, even for those who do not consider themselves designers.

Visual thinking is the tool of processing information visually, using the emotional and creative parts of the brain to organize data intuitively and simultaneously through drawings, graphics, and strong aesthetic clarity and color theory.

As part of the 66 interventions planned under the Rímac River Special Landscape Project (PEPRR)—and developed by the Public Space Projects team at PROLIMA (Program for the Recovery of the Historic Center of Lima)—the Monserrate Canal Promenade and Plaza project in the Historic Center of Lima seeks the comprehensive revitalization of the historic Monserrate neighborhood. By highlighting the archaeological heritage of the canal, the project aims to integrate the memory of the historic landscape and the identity of its residents into the public space.

Today, Brazil celebrates Student Day. Established in 1927, the date marks access to a fundamental right for all citizens: education. Nearly a century later, new pedagogies and ways of looking at learning have emerged, bringing with them new architectures that embrace both pedagogical and technical advancements. With this in mind, we have gathered seven examples of Brazilian educational spaces designed after 2020. Through solutions that highlight key design aspects, these projects help outline a brief overview of contemporary references on the subject.

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Some symbols transcend language barriers, easily recognized and understood across different cultures—such as restroom icons, the medical cross, and, more recently, the universal Wi-Fi symbol. Among these ubiquitous graphics is the "recycling" logo, conceived in 1971 by architect and designer Gary Anderson while he was a student at the University of Southern California. The symbol features three clockwise arrows forming a triangle, representing industry, consumers, and recycling, respectively.

Reintegrating what is typically discarded as waste back into the production cycle is a core tenet of the circular economy. This concept is particularly relevant to the construction industry, which has historically relied on resource extraction and destruction to sustain itself. Because the brick is synonymous with building anew, nothing embodies the circular concept quite like it. Innovators have risen to the challenge, devising solutions that transform waste into high-value resources, producing building blocks from raw waste materials ranging from seaweed and plastic to human hair. These innovations not only address pressing environmental concerns but also fundamentally redefine how we construct and inhabit our spaces. In this article, we highlight seven initiatives turning waste into valuable building blocks.

On a recent trip to the United States, looking out the airplane window while taking off from Tampa, Florida, I was struck by the pristine green landscape of the American suburb. Neatly organized rows of seemingly identical trees blanketed the flat terrain like a green carpet. To some, this abundance of green might look like a dream of environmentally integrated sustainability.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The American suburb, based on the outdated concept of the “garden city,” was designed to favor the automobile, low-density single-family housing, and single-use zoning. This model virtually rules out active transportation (walking or cycling) and makes mass transit—which relies on density and walkability—wholly unviable.

Navigating certain cities around the world is remarkably easy to grasp, just as finding an address without GPS is not particularly difficult, even for first-time visitors. Urban design explains this ease of navigation. Urban spaces designed on a grid, such as Barcelona (Spain), New York, Chicago, and Phoenix (US), and Toronto (Canada)—where streets intersect at right angles to form a gridiron pattern—make orientation intuitive and optimize spatial utility.

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There are many reasons why some urban areas deteriorate while others thrive, including economic, planning, social, and cultural factors, as well as sheer chance. Understanding these dynamics—and, more importantly, minimizing the risk of decay while fostering vitality in urban areas—is a recurring theme in urban planning, driven by the shared and legitimate desire to live in beautiful, pleasant, and prosperous environments.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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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.