The casa chorizo is a residential typology historically used in Argentina, primarily in the city of Buenos Aires. It consists of a succession of similarly sized rooms connected along a longitudinal axis that open onto a gallery or courtyard, from which they receive light and ventilation. Typically built on plots between party walls, their service areas are grouped at the back. Today, numerous projects address the rehabilitation of this type of housing. These can be understood as research initiatives exploring how a city's characteristic construction matrix can be reviewed and updated to adapt to contemporary ways of living.
Hello WoodArgentina, the creative, professional, and social program that aims to teach thinking with one's hands, has announced the 10 projects designed by architects, designers, artists, professionals, and academics that will be part of its fourth edition. The event will take place in March 2020 in the Municipality of Ceibas, Entre Ríos Province.
Buenos Aires, Argentina. Image via Gobierno de Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires under CC BY 2.5 AR license
The Global Power City Index (GPCI) is an annual report that evaluates the conditions of the world's major cities and urban centers, ranking them according to their "magnetism," or their comprehensive power to attract people, capital, investors, and businesses from around the globe. In 2019, the index included three Latin American cities—Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Sao Paulo—among the world's 50 most attractive for investment and talent.
Facultad de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Mendoza / Enrico Tedeschi. Image Cortesía de Archivo Descotte. Facultad de Arquitectura Urbanismo y Diseño. Universidad de Mendoza
On November 27, four major works of brutalist architecture in Argentina were declared "National Historic Monuments" four: the Mariano Moreno National Library, the Manuel Belgrano School of Commerce, the 6 de Julio Municipal Palace, and the School of Architecture at the University of Mendoza. These buildings, considered outstanding examples of brutalist architecture, will be protected under Decree 791/2019, which establishes that they cannot be modified, sold, encumbered, or alienated, nor can their facades be altered without the prior intervention of the National Commission of Monuments, Museums, and Historic Places.
Today, architecture is a fertile ground for experimentation—a laboratory for testing solutions and building theory. It offers an opportunity to question paradigms, rethink contemporary ways of living, and understand our inherent cultural heterogeneity. Ultimately, it provides a space to enhance the critical value of design and investigate the current place of local practices within a global context.
With a deep understanding of their territory and an exploratory spirit, these emerging firms approach the discipline in innovative ways. Many are defined by an open and evolving character, featuring a multidisciplinary makeup where architecture, urban planning, design, and art seamlessly merge. Below, we present six architecture firms based in Argentina whose work prompts us to reflect on contemporary needs, domesticity, objects, the city, and local production:
To mark World Architecture Day, the architects' collective efimerARQ, alongside the Association of Architects and the School of Architecture of Valladolid, developed a design exercise involving collaboration between students and professionals. The activity, titled “Ephemeral Architecture as a Pedagogical Device,” took place at the Patio Herreriano Museum of Contemporary Art in Valladolid, Spain, aiming to create an open-air classroom that allowed students to study current and past trends through fieldwork, viewing the discipline as a medium for exploration, research, discussion, and collaboration. The base structure used to build the three installations was a fundamental "auxiliary" construction material: scaffolding.
The School of Architecture, Design, Art, and Urbanism at the University of Morón (UM FADAU, Buenos Aires, Argentina) concludes its academic cycles with an Integrated Final Project (PFI). Through this project, since 2016, architecture students have designed full-scale community projects—designing, managing, building, and donating their work to non-profit organizations and local municipalities. The initiative is part of the Academic Program of Federal Assistance “PAAF!!”, created by the school, which allows students to graduate by building a fully operational building and donating it to a community in need in Argentina.
Música para volar is the winning project of the “Micro Urban Architecture – Caminito” experience, a joint exercise conducted by the School of Architecture, Urbanism, and Design at the National University of Córdoba, Buenos Aires (Cátedra Equipamiento A, FAUD UNC) and the Politecnico di Milano.
The 2019 Architecture Prize was a call for entries launched by the National Endowment for the Arts (FNA). Geared toward young architects, it aimed to highlight and showcase cultural projects built in Argentina, including museums, theaters, auditoriums, concert halls, art galleries, radio studios, cinemas, libraries, bookstores, art studios, production workshops, rehearsal spaces, and community, private, or public cultural spaces.
via Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires under CC BY 2.5 AR license
With the launch of the new Urban and Building Code, approved by the Buenos Aires City Legislature in late 2018, the city of Buenos Aires has begun to reconfigure how information is accessed in the urban and architectural fields. In line with this approach, Plano Abierto BA serves as a tool that allows any resident to access online data regarding development capacity, permitted uses, building heritage listings, maximum heights, construction records and inspections, and the current status of each individual plot in the city (including cadastral data, built area, and number of floors). This provides indicative urban planning information to facilitate the understanding of the New Urban Code of Buenos Aires.
This weekend, more than 140 buildings will open their doors to celebrate Open House Buenos Aires 2019, an international architecture and urbanism festival dedicated to showcasing works of great architectural, cultural, and heritage value, bridging the gap between the public, professionals, enthusiasts, and their city. On Saturday, November 9, and Sunday, November 10, numerous architecturally significant buildings—typically closed to the public—will open their doors to visitors, offering a unique opportunity to rediscover the architecture and history of the City of Buenos Aires.
The *Tres Turons* (Three Hills) Park is one of the most important green lungs in the city of Barcelona. Located between the districts of Horta-Guinardó and Gracia and comprising the Turó de la Creueta del Coll, the Turó del Carmel, and the Turó de la Rovira, the park features a complex topography that offers exceptional aerial views of the city. Although the Barcelona City Council has planned to revitalize the area since 1953 by creating a large green zone to serve as a green lung, leisure hub, and rest area, opposition from local residents has delayed its development. Consequently, the site is currently in a state of degradation that threatens its environmental value. To address this, the City Council recently launched a competition under the guidelines of the 2010 master plan. The initiative aims to preserve the park's biodiversity, ensure ecological resource management, redesign pathways and activity zones to encourage public use, improve connections with surrounding neighborhoods, and reorganize the Can Baró quarries area.
The winners of the National Sustainable Social Housing Competition were recently announced. Organized by the College of Architects of the Province of Córdoba and promoted by the Municipality of Villa María, the competition aimed to foster debate around the role of architecture in social issues, discussing how the discipline can generate housing alternatives that offer positive solutions to Argentina's housing crisis while incorporating economic, social, and environmental sustainability principles.
1° Premio - Fachada calle. Image Cortesía de Valentina Juanicó, Manuel Machado.
The Rifa Housing Competition is a historically celebrated event in Uruguay that gives new generations of architects from the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism (FADU – UdelaR) the real opportunity to design and build a project. Every year, the Arquitectura Rifa travel groups organize this competition to reflect the state of the discipline, offering a perspective on contemporary living and how it is conceptualized within the school.
The Night of the Museums is an annual cultural event held in the City of Buenos Aires. Since 2011, various public and private cultural spaces, foundations, and museums have opened their doors with special nighttime programming, allowing the public to visit them free of charge and enjoy their collections, exhibitions, and activities. The 2019 edition will take place on Saturday, November 2, from 8:00 PM to 3:00 AM, with a total of 280 cultural spaces, libraries, galleries, and museums participating.
On September 12, the winners of the international urban planning and architectural design competition organized by the Slovenian company Dimnikcobau to design one of the largest business parks in Ljubljana, Slovenia, were announced. Of the eight firms invited to participate, the winning project selected was by BAX studio, a Barcelona-based firm led by Boris Bezan and Mónica Juvera.
A numerical coincidence links the municipality of Escobar with the life of architect Francisco Salamone. In 2019, the district celebrates 60 years since its creation—having achieved municipal independence in 1959—an anniversary inviting its residents to reflect on both its history and its future. August also marked the 60th anniversary of Salamone's death. In 1938, he was commissioned to design the Municipal Palace in Escobar. The project, however, was left unfinished due to budget constraints, making it the only project by the architect in Buenos Aires that remains incomplete today. To mark this double anniversary, the local government is revisiting the original design to finally complete the building.