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.

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In Latin America, the concept of emergency architecture refers to spaces that serve as temporary shelter in the face of adverse circumstances, such as earthquakes, floods, and migration. Various countries, including Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Panama, have faced events that required redefining emergency housing according to each nation's specific needs.

Bookshelves are one of the elements present in almost every interior space, whether in homes, retail, offices, or even pavilions. Yemail Arquitectura, a Bogotá-based firm, shares its exploration of this element, which plays a key role in the spatial configurations of its multi-use projects.

Why stay in the city?

For many urban dwellers, the answer is obvious: “It’s hard to find a job in a smaller town. Plus, there’s not even a movie theater, restaurant options are limited, and the schools aren’t that great.”

Still largely overlooked by the international media, Angola's contemporary architectural production faces, much like many of its African neighbors, social and economic realities that do not favor its dissemination. When the typical challenges of architecture are compounded by others stemming from an intense process of neocolonialism, taking good ideas off the drawing board and actually building them becomes a formidable task. Stretching the relationship between the physical and the digital, the Angolan collective Banga turns to virtual space to bring to life projects that blend architecture, sensory experiences, and art.

Colombia has an immense territory with some of the greatest biodiversity in the world thanks to its privileged geography, and human presence spans the majority of this territory, regardless of how far it is from urban centers. Below, Sebastian Contreras of Estación Espacial Arquitectos presents the experience and both the human and architectural challenges of building a Maloca with and for the Ticuna community deep in the Colombian Amazon.

On July 31, during the 103rd Ordinary Plenary Session, the CAU/BR Temporary Commission on Gender Equity released the 1st "Gender in Architecture and Urbanism" Diagnosis. Conducted online from July 2019 to February 2020, the survey was answered by 987 professionals (767 women and 208 men), with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.11%.

The place where we are born, where we live, and our urban reference points are part of history and shape our identity. Can we decipher what these spaces tell us? Can we express our perception of them? Vale do Anhangabaú signals an essential part of São Paulo's development and is woven into the imaginary of those who have built memories there. This article is an exercise in traversing different themes to instigate multiple possibilities—collective and individual, real and utopian—of experiencing this space.

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The following article is the result of a thesis research project by Colombian architect Sebastián Rojas (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana), which explores the materialities and vernacular construction techniques across 23 prototypes from regions such as the Coffee Axis, the Colombian Amazon, the Cundiboyacense Highlands, and the North Coast.

This article by Alberto Bravo de Laguna Socorro was originally published in the 12th issue of revista rita_ under the title "Transgression, experimentation and communicability of the graphic in collective architectures: Indices of an engaged graphic expression."

Within the framework of the 27th Colombian Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (BICAU XVII), the Colombian Society of Architects (SCA) has announced the winners of the parallel IV Colombian Biennial of Architecture Students. For these awards, the proposals were selected across four categories: Architectural Project; Research, Theory, and Criticism; Urban, Rural Design, and Territory Planning; and Architects as Agents of Change. Meet them below:

Brutalisim is an architectural movement that emerged in Europe in the 1960s and became one of the most controversial yet popular styles worldwide. This was due to various factors, including its use of raw concrete and, more broadly, its ideals focused on public service through monumental works. Furthermore, it became a new medium for expressing contemporary political stances through functional public spaces.

While some works serve as monuments to the egos of those who practice this profession, other architectural approaches propose the exact opposite. These practices deliver projects that—almost poetically—harmonize built elements with the surrounding natural environment. There are also designs that adapt to the morphological order of nature, resulting in an organic language that generates highly unique and singular interior spaces. 

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Driven by a personal quest to explore heritage and preserve Mexican traditions, architect Ana Ibañez has created a collection titled “Barraganescas,” featuring jewelry pieces inspired by the houses designed by architect Luis Barragán in the city of Guadalajara.

Videos

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Chuchín is that endearing figure whom you always remember despite the passage of time, whether you are a student, architect, professor, staff member, or fellow worker. Felipe de Jesús Cortés Guevara—or Chuchín, as he is commonly known—seems to go nowhere else; he is always watching over what he considers his second home, the UNAM School of Architecture.

In the early hours of January 11, 1967, a polar air mass swept into the country, bringing snow to Mexico City and blanketing the entire capital under a soft, pristine white layer. One day, more than 50 years ago, our urban sprawl woke up covered in white. It was not smog, nor the pollution of an unrelenting beltway; it was pure snow. The last time it snowed in Mexico City was January 11, 1967. That day, schools closed, people went outside to build snowmen and throw snowballs, and emergency services were overwhelmed by the beautiful catastrophe of so much snow.

Charlas de Terraza is an initiative hosted at the office of OPUS in Medellín. It features conversations that extend beyond architecture and, adapting to the COVID-19 lockdowns, is currently being held virtually. Alongside these talks, there is another initiative dedicated to sketching called Club de Dibujo (Drawing Club). In this session, both formats merged as the Medellín-based practice, along with Alejandro Enriquez from Bogotá, discussed the sketch and its process.

This article is part of our new Opinion section, a format for argument-driven essays on critical questions shaping our field.

Before architecture students become authors of space, they are subjected to one. For years, they work inside a building that teaches without announcing itself as a teacher. It organizes their exhaustion, their ambition, their visibility, their solitude, their friendships, their sense of scale, and their relationship to judgment. Long before a student can articulate a position on architecture, the school has already offered one in its implicit built environment.

This is not to suggest that buildings determine architects. The influence is slower and less complete than that. A school building operates more like a hidden curriculum: a spatial discipline that works alongside faculty, syllabi, institutional culture, and student life. It teaches through access and obstruction, program adjacencies, daylight exposures, and scale. It produces habits of attention before it produces explicit beliefs.

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This week on the TERRAZA podcast, Nicolás Valencia speaks with Chilean sociologist and Universidad San Sebastián academic Ricardo Greene, editor of the landmark book "Ciudad Fritanga," published by Editorial Bifurcaciones in 2014.

"Ciudad Fritanga" compiles 34 chronicles of non-metropolitan Chilean cities like Arica, Talca, and Punta Arenas through the lens of poets, artists, and writers such as Lina Meruane, Jorge Baradit, Marcelo Mellado, and María José Navia.

"When people write about cities, they write about London, Berlin, and New York.  That is the urban chronicle. However, non-metropolitan cities are also cities," Greene comments in this interview.

This week on the TERRAZA podcast, Nicolás Valencia speaks with Argentine-Spanish architect Zaida Muxí, author of the book “⁠Mujeres, casas y ciudades⁠” (Women, Houses, and Cities), published by dpr-Barcelona in 2018.

In “⁠Mujeres, casas y ciudades⁠”, Muxí proposes rewriting the history of architecture and urbanism by incorporating the contributions of the many women who have been silenced in mainstream historical accounts.

“If we want to play by market rules, housing will never be a right,” Muxí posits in this interview.

The rise of sustainability and the circular economy is transforming the construction industry, driving a growing demand for new specialized roles. Positions such as sustainability managers or circular economy consultants are becoming increasingly common in contemporary projects.

In 2024, the evolution of porcelain tiles has elevated the tactile experience to a new level, transforming them into true works of art. Produced with mineral texture printing technology, the collections feature striking reliefs in dimensions of 120 x 120 cm, 100 x 200 cm, 120 x 250 cm, 160 x 160 cm, and 160 x 320 cm, designed to awaken all the senses. Behind this advancement is Roca Brasil Cerámica, part of the Mexican LAMOSA Group, leading the Roca Cerâmica and Incepa brands.

"Drinking Caracu is drinking health." This is what read on the massive blank wall of a building in downtown São Paulo on the morning of May 1, 2018. Hidden for decades, the advertisement for the famous beer brand now loomed before a massive heap of concrete, twisted metal, and shattered glass. This was the rubble to which the iconic Wilton Paes de Almeida Building had been reduced—a modernist landmark designed by architect Roger Zmekhol and the subject of the documentary Skin of Glass, directed by his daughter, Denise Zmekhol.

The film transcends traditional architectural documentation by blending a personal narrative with the political complexities of contemporary Brazil, a country shaped by deep inequalities and erased memories. At the heart of the story is the building itself, considered a landmark of Brazilian modern architecture, which collapsed in 2018 after a tragic fire.

This Wednesday, October 9, the 19th edition of the Buenos Aires International Architecture Biennale will open to the public. The event, held once again at the Faena Art Center, will run until Sunday, October 13. Over the course of five days, the city will serve as a stage for reflections on sustainability, the environment, and new technologies applied to architecture and design. Alongside the central exhibition, the program will feature international lectures, workshops, and various installations distributed across key locations throughout Buenos Aires.

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Stone and marble continue to establish themselves as essential materials in architecture and design, for both interiors and exteriors worldwide. CHC offers a curated selection designed to create spaces with a timeless, elegant character. Discover how to incorporate marble and stone into your projects to add a touch of modern style.