More than a decade ago, a new initiative emerged to redefine the architectural pedagogical system. With an influence that today spans countries like Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, and the United States, the Virtual Workshop of the Americas (TVA) successfully and synergistically brings together education, collectivity, and virtuality. Architects Nahuel Salcedo and Celeste Gómez Lahoz are part of the coordination team driving this project forward year after year. Here, they explain the initiative in greater detail.

Barcelona is a city that has been studied countless times—for the blocks of the Cerdá Plan, its chamfered corners, its historic center, the wars waged there, and the architecture of the Modernistas and their monumental buildings. However, there is little record of it ever being studied in depth through the lens of a traditional cladding material and artistic medium like sgraffito.

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The Catalan firm Batlleiroig, founded in 1981 by Enric Batlle and Joan Roig, has designed the first residence for the British group Vita Student in Barcelona. With this project, Batlleiroig joins an innovative proposal that aligns with the firm's other works, where the primary focus is urban renaturalization, landscape regeneration, and the creation of healthy spaces. The firm promotes an innovative design seeking a new way of living for students and faculty, featuring increased contact with nature, a strong focus on sports areas, and large common spaces for the entire community.

The contemporary urban footprint seems to expand its boundaries virtually without restriction while increasing in complexity. Major cities like Barcelona have expanded to the point where political boundaries merely represent the lines of administrative jurisdiction—which, in satellite imagery or everyday experience, often virtually cease to exist or are barely recognizable. On the other hand, a contemporary reading of its Metropolitan Area, stretched between mountain ranges, rivers, and the sea, demonstrates that this progressive expansion has always been shaped by its unique geographical enclave.

The Museo ICO in Madrid presents “Anna Heringer. Essential Beauty.” From February 9 to May 8, it will host the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the German architect in Spain. Curated by Luis Fernández-Galiano, the show is organized by the Fundación ICO.

The 16th edition of the Europan awards, launched in the spring of 2021 under the theme "Living Cities: Metabolic and Inclusive Vitalities," has announced its results. “The Incredible Story of the Seasonal Worker Who Found His Home in Almendralejo” is a Spanish project selected as one of the seven winners within Spain.

Over the last two years, the city of Madrid has hosted, and continues to host, the traveling exhibition of the Metropolitan Forest. It has three main objectives: first, to present Madrid's residents with the winning and finalist ideas from the competition held to redefine the future of their city; second, to communicate the processes the city will undertake regarding sustainability, urban resilience, and environmental education; and finally, to foster concrete strategic alliances between the Forest and the citizens of Madrid.

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For several years, the global context of energy and ecological crises has resonated across various disciplines, and architecture has been no exception. Consequently, a crucial question arises: how do our buildings help mitigate these issues? In this context, the global architectural scene has been flooded with buildings addressing these challenges through heavy technological dependence. In their bid to tackle environmental problems, some have forgotten that architecture can offer a synthetic response through an understanding of place and the deliberate manipulation of form, matter, and energy. 

At first glance, textile materials and clay do not share many similarities. However, Oficina Penadés brings these two concepts together, showcasing the potential of a new textile-based material combined with clay processing techniques in “Looks like magic!”, an exhibition held during the recent Milan Design Week.

Spanish architect Lluís Comerón, who recently passed away at 62, has been recognized for his tireless professional practice with the Gold Medal of Architecture. The High Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE) has posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Architecture to Catalan architect Lluís Comerón Graupera, who served as president of the institution during the 2018–2022 term.

The CCCB is launching the call for entries for the European Prize for Urban Public Space, a biennial competition organized to recognize and promote projects that create, restore, and improve public spaces in European cities. This honorary award—with registration open from April 20 to May 17, 2022—will recognize works completed between 2018 and 2021. Teresa Galí-Izard, an agricultural engineer, landscape architect, and professor at ETH Zurich, will chair the prize's international jury. The rules and all information regarding participation are available on the website.

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El colectivito came into being about five years ago. Lacking both a name and a defined shape, it brought together, in an almost casual way, a group of students interested in critically reflecting on architecture and territory. Its name ironically references the historical moment of its birth: it views itself as just one of countless architectural collectives, adopting a diminutive suffix to reflect its awareness of its own budding development. Today, it serves as a meeting space where architects and architecture students from the province of Misiones, Argentina, share and discuss interests and concerns regarding the architectural culture of the unique region they inhabit.

Solar Greenhouse is a greenhouse designed for energy generation and self-sufficient food cultivation. Its creators define it as the next step toward a greener agricultural transformation and an advancement in the fight against food and energy poverty. The project was carried out by a group of students, professionals, and experts from the Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities (MAEBB) at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) Valldaura Labs, and was built in the Collserola Natural Park on the outskirts of Barcelona.

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Two decades ago, at the "International Congress on Construction in Architecture and its Teaching" held in Barcelona, Helio Piñón spoke of attention to materiality and construction as a fundamental condition of conceiving architecture. Today, in 2022, Equipo 01 Architecture & Design—composed of Jesús San Vicente and Franca Colmenarez—reverses this statement by presenting the National Paradores Pavilion at the FITUR 2022 International Tourism Fair.

Pedro Pitarch Architectures & Urbanisms, a Madrid-based architecture office, has recently designed a project for the Special 40th Anniversary Section of the ARCO Fair called "ARCO 40+1." This exhibition space commemorates 40+1 years of the art fair. The exhibition, where nineteen galleries present their works, was curated by María Inés Rodríguez, Sergio Rubira, and Francesco Stocchi.

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“What's color? for architects and designers” is an exhibition by the artist Claudia Valsells. Curated by Julia Ruiz-Cabello and Gonzalo de Benito, the exhibition brings together testimonials from architecture practices on the use of color in their projects. It took place from December 10 to 14, 2021, at the Pavilion space of the architecture firm PLANTEA, in Madrid. The exhibition design, mirroring the studio where the artist has worked for more than two decades to create her own color chart, shapes the space.

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Okay, let's assume the metaverse is our only option. Let's ask some questions.

“The House Through the Dining Room: Architecture Around the Table” is a research project conducted by architect Francisco Javier Fernández García as part of the Master’s Degree in Advanced Studies in Architecture at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB). Advised by Xavier Monteys and written in the style of an “editorial essay,” the work aims to bring to the table—quite literally—the role of the dining room as a domestic space capable of reshaping our understanding of the home. Rather than simply compiling a collection of dining rooms, it features a diverse range of images in a comparative exercise, juxtaposing them to reveal shared characteristics. Discussing the dining room serves as a pretext to illuminate many other issues related to the home and the act of dwelling.