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.

Water, in addition to being a design resource widely valued for its aesthetics and functional contribution, can become a formidable adversary when it infiltrates through cracks and fissures in built surfaces. Consequently, waterproofing is not merely a protective measure; it is an essential strategy to extend the lifespan of structures, ensure the habitability of spaces, and prevent issues like leaks and premature deterioration. From terraces and green roofs to heavy-duty surfaces, controlling moisture represents a constant challenge for architects, engineers, and builders. This is especially critical in a context that demands increasingly efficient waterproofing materials with greater resistance to adverse environmental factors.

External factors shaping the built environment play a decisive role in building configuration, particularly with respect to facades. These factors can encompass physical phenomena, such as wind pressure or seismic activity, as well as climatological aspects, including precipitation, solar radiation, and temperature changes.

Consequently, facades have evolved to adapt to the design conditions they face, driving the integration of lightweight building envelopes. In this context, the exterior wall solutions by Panel Rey stand out. These systems are used as exterior cladding, incorporating various substrates, profiles, and other components. Together, these provide the facade with lightness and strength.

Year after year, interior design surprises us with new trends in colors, materials, textures, and patterns that take center stage in the spaces we inhabit. Maintaining a balanced dialogue, considering both the needs to be met and the emotions to be conveyed, is central to the design of diverse environments. Ceramic, mosaic, and porcelain coverings allow for the creation of spaces ranging from warm and cozy to elegant and sophisticated.

As part of Expo OBRA BLANCA 2024, held from October 15 to 17 at Expo Santa Fe in Mexico City, Porcelana Corona México and Ambiance showcased their latest innovations in sanitaryware alongside a wide range of products for architects, builders, and distributors at booth 224 of the Bathrooms and Fittings Pavilion.

In ancient Greece and Rome, agoras and forums were spaces where merchants and artisans displayed their products. Although they were not showrooms in the modern sense, they already operated as arenas for visual stimulation. The concept we know today took shape centuries later during the Industrial Revolution, when novel tableware began to be presented in carefully designed settings. And therein lies the key: designing. Over time, spaces dedicated to displaying materials, furniture, and objects have been much more than mere showcases; they have functioned as platforms for exploration and experimentation. What we call a showroom today inherits this spirit: spaces where design is not only observed but touched and projected in real time, giving rise to tools such as moodboards.

Videos

Recognizing the contemporary role of the kitchen as a social, leisure, and experimental hub within the home, the dialogue between technology and architecture becomes increasingly relevant by bringing movement, adaptability, and flexibility to domestic spaces. While kitchens embody the essence of diverse cultures, preserving everything from ancient recipes and techniques to heritage and tradition, their architectural design increasingly integrates innovative material finishes and invisible technologies, seamlessly combining durability, energy efficiency, and design.

+ 19

The way we perceive a space does not depend solely on its scale or form, but on a series of decisions that shape our experience from within. Certain gestures are decisive: clear height, the organization of vertical planes, or the size of the bed. Others operate more subtly, such as the play of light, the tonality of materials, or the use of color. All these variables influence how a space manifests—whether it feels open or contained, segmented or continuous. Along these lines, the use of large-format flooring becomes a key strategy, reducing visual fragmentation and reinforcing surface continuity.

The design of public restrooms has historically been linked to satisfying a common need for hygiene, health, and well-being in communities. By condensing different spaces, materials, and sanitation elements within their typologies, the architecture of public restrooms has adapted to contemporary demands for hygiene, care, and aesthetics. From sinks, toilets, and drinking fountains to partition systems, showers, changing tables, or lactation rooms, these features shape the dynamics of these spaces. Whether in airports, parks, clinics, hotels, or other sites, these elements aim to provide privacy and comfort, deliver efficient cleaning solutions, and integrate accessibility criteria across all components, supported by contemporary tools and technologies.

In its constant quest to create functional spaces that also establish a visual and emotional connection with their inhabitants, architecture has found a source of inspiration in nature. From the golden ratio, present in biological structures, to the use of site-specific materials, the natural environment offers a lesson in shapes and textures that nourish architectural thinking. An iconic example is Fallingwater, where stone acts as an integrating element between the building and its surroundings. While this work demonstrates the potential of stone, its presence and character have evolved into new formats, such as porcelain tile, expanding design alternatives and consolidating the importance of stone textures and tones in contemporary projects.

The atmosphere of a home is gradually built through the interaction between architecture, furniture, and materials. Each component contributes color, texture, and depth, making the living experience sensory and immersive. Among these, materials play a decisive role: they define more than just the visual aspect, conveying tactility, light, temperature, and a connection to the environment, thus transforming our perception of the home. When viewed contextually, they reveal new possibilities for designing and experiencing interiors and exteriors, reminding us that every choice influences comfort and functionality.

+ 10

What role does street furniture play in public spaces? In response to human social behavior, the design of public spaces is part of a complex inquiry. Alongside the analysis of uses, community participation, the study of climatic and geographical conditions, and resource efficiency—among many other factors—it involves selecting appropriate urban equipment and elements to meet the needs of a large share of the population. As the Spanish architect and urban planner Oriol Bohigas Guardiola maintained, architecture is not only an art but also a direct service to society. Consequently, harmony among the multiple disciplines involved should yield tools that improve and facilitate community life. Understanding the role of street furniture—how it supports specific activities depending on its layout, dimensions, materials, and long-term lifespan—is essential to the current and future functioning of urban spaces.

The construction industry faces growing pressure to adopt more sustainable practices due to the need to mitigate climate change and protect natural resources. Traditional construction has a significant environmental impact, ranging from the destruction of ecosystems to high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, sourcing and manufacturing materials contribute to water pollution and hazardous waste generation. However, new products are emerging that offer more environmentally friendly solutions without compromising quality or performance, catering to architects committed to creating sustainable projects.

Indeed, selecting the right materials to help minimize negative impacts on the planet is one of the most effective ways to implement sustainable construction.

As a building material, stone has been fundamental since the dawn of human society, present in various forms throughout our surroundings. From post-and-lintel structures to robust dry stone walls, its deep-seated presence in both our environment and early construction is undeniable. Alvar Aalto highlighted this, asserting that this early architecture could be considered the "genius of discovery," as nature was then the sole provider of building materials.

Over time, as processes for transporting, handling, and working stone have been refined, this material has become far more sophisticated and manageable. While preserving its fundamental characteristics, it is now possible to expand its application as cladding—primarily in bathrooms and kitchens—using smaller stones known as pebbles. This transforms them into a design element that integrates visual interest and a new tactile experience, adding an extra dimension to their use.

After receiving more than 70 submissions from various Argentine universities and cities, our editorial team selected 10 of them, focusing on projects that demonstrated critical thinking regarding contemporary issues, formal execution, and representation. The selection not only highlights projects that delivered the best possible architecture through simple design tailored to their context, program, and users, but also those showing significant attention to human scale, mediation, transition, and new ways of approaching urban architecture.

Discover our 10 highlighted projects below.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD AS A CULTURAL CENTER: Alejandro Asens - Victoria Carbonin - Juan Cardozo Sánchez - Italo Parietti

When developing an architectural project, regardless of scale or program, architects face a series of decisions regarding the construction method to adopt, considering various aspects—structural, economic, available labor, aesthetics, among others—in pursuit of the best solution.

To address the many questions that arise during design development regarding the choice of structural systems, we have prepared a practical guide to the main types of cast-in-place and precast concrete slabs that designers should know, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Learn more below:

On Friday, December 22, 2017, the inaugural MUGAK Basque Country International Architecture Biennial opened the exhibition "The City We Lost: Urban Heritage Management in San Sebastián, 1950-2017" at the Santa Teresa Convent in San Sebastián, Spain. The exhibition showcases recognizable local buildings that have disappeared over the last few decades. 

Curated by the Áncora association, the exhibition traverses San Sebastián's neighborhoods to examine a city that now exists only in collective memory—specifically, buildings lost over the past seven decades. Stretching from Martutene to Igeldo, and including Alza, Amara, El Antiguo, and Ibaeta, the survey goes beyond the city's iconic heritage, looking past San Sebastián's most prominent areas to highlight other architectural works.

+ 15

Born in Artigas, Uruguay, in the second decade of the twentieth century, Eladio Dieste became an exceptional builder, with most of his work located in Montevideo, the capital of his home country, and its adjacent cities. However, his work gained broader international recognition posthumously, after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) celebrated it in 2005 through the theoretical work of Stanford Anderson. Trained as an engineer, his relationship with the construction site and in situ experimentation allowed him to push materiality and structural possibilities to their absolute limits.

With a practice deeply connected to the relationship between materiality and the construction site, he developed a rich architectural output based on studies of thin ceramic shells, which he termed reinforced ceramics. Alongside this construction technique, Dieste found that ceramic bricks offered the essential structural resolution he sought. The material possessed excellent structural properties—highly resistant to compression, quick to build with, and easy for local labor to handle—while the addition of steel reinforcement allowed it to resist tension and bending. Consequently, he found in brick the ideal medium for the plasticity and structural design he envisioned, enabling him to span large distances with slender self-supporting structures anchored only at their ends. Free of central supports, these structures unified walls, floors, and ceilings into a single cohesive body.

But what makes Eladio Dieste such a remarkable builder?

Since the mid-20th century, the Castagnino Museum has established itself as one of Argentina's most important cultural spaces. The historic building by the architectural firm Hérnandez Larguía-Newton (1937) was built in a privileged setting, conceived as the gateway to the city—a condition that will be further emphasized by the new intervention.

There is nothing personal against the color yellow, but let us be honest: we were saturated by the monotony.

We love yellow, but not when it is used tastelessly and to mask corruption. We like the yellow that is natural to Lima, like the one in the header image—that earthy tone, the tone of every sunset, the one that shines like the sun. In recent years, our city has been forcibly invaded by this color: yellow staircases, yellow bridges, yellow walls, yellow railings... perhaps too much. And even if certain works were not yellow themselves, the intentions behind them carried a distinct whiff of that hue.

Architect Antonio Miranda, writing for the ARKRIT Collective, invites us to reflect in this article on romantic subjectivism in criticism, presenting a simple example in defense of the objective criticism of the object, which speaks to us much more honestly and sincerely than the author of the work themselves. He puts this assertion to the test by comparing two famous buildings in Madrid's Plaza de España: the Edificio España and the Torre de Madrid.

Whenever I cross the imaginary line on the Monumental Axis connecting the National Congress to the Itamaraty Palace, catching a glimpse of the Three Powers Plaza from the top of the ramp leading into it, I am overcome by a genuine emotion that never fades with repetition. This privileged view of the plaza as a whole, flanked by its three main buildings and framed by the perspective of the Itamaraty Palace on the right, is an image comparable only to the great iconic urban spaces of the world.

The Three Powers Plaza is a contemporary construction that evokes classical urban planning tradition, whether that of the "people's Versailles," as Lucio Costa envisioned, or the ancient Greek agora. Yet, there are also references to the "plazas mayores" or "plazas de armas" of Iberian and Spanish-American cities, as well as the plazas of the Brazilian colonial period. This mix of influences could have resulted in a postmodern pastiche of styles were it not for Lucio Costa's genius in translating it into the clear, elegant synthesis of a modernist design, complemented by Niemeyer's architecture, which has already been so widely discussed and praised. 

Today in Brazil, there are several groups spearheading initiatives aimed at improving our living environment. Unfortunately, many face difficulties in getting their ideas off the ground, primarily due to a lack of financial resources, as shown by data gathered by the Como Anda Project.

The Fenômenos Foundation sees this demand as an opportunity: through the Fenômenos Challenge, the organization supported the implementation of three ideas with great transformative potential in the city of São Paulo. The challenge's premise was to select initiatives promoting physical activity and sustainability in vulnerable areas, offering solutions to local issues. The selected groups were: Cidade Ativa, Canto da Arte Jaguaré, and the Dente de Leão Collective. The selection process considered criteria such as impact, feasibility, and how the program could help boost the projects.

My mind is undoubtedly diffuse and scattered, gathering and comparing disparate elements, architectures from distant eras, reading and enjoying them with equal passion. There is no doubt that an early reading of this article's protagonist has shaped my thoughts and those of many of us. Having just passed away (on Tuesday, September 18), Robert Venturi, at the age of 93, remains an essential reference for us.

And why is that? Robert Venturi wrote a book titled Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, which acted as a catalyst for the entire discipline. It seems that in this book, Venturi set out to explain a quote by Charles Rennie Mackintosh: “There is hope in honest error; none in the icy perfection of mere stylisticism.”

+ 2

There is no denying it: Revit is a sensation. And if you haven't fallen in love with it yet, get ready: you will.

I don't understand why some people are still so resistant to this software. No, I am not an Autodesk employee, and I am not paid to speak well of their programs—in fact, they don't even need me to. I am saying this as an architect, designer, project manager, virtual construction modeler, and BIM manager.