In Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, nearly 800 students from Latin America kicked off the 27th edition of the 2019 Latin American Encounter of Architecture Students. This event provides a platform for collective participation, integration, and learning, organized by the Latin American Coordinator of Architecture Students (Co.L.E.A - Cono Sur)—currently comprising Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, and Paraguay—with local support from the Paraguayan Union of Architecture Students (UPEA).

As is custom, connections were established with architects and workshop leaders to reflect under the theme "Designing a Sustainable Culture," focusing on three main axes: environmental and urban; sociocultural and political; and technological.

In this edition, official activities began on Saturday, October 28, with the Jaguata urban recognition walk, followed by the first lecture, 'Ecosystemic Urbanism,' by Salvador Rueda, Director of the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona. Rueda reflected on the importance of taking immediate action against the climate emergency, presenting examples of new urban models in cities.

At each Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, the Ibero-American Prize for Architecture and Urbanism is awarded: a recognition for those who have worked to promote and defend the values of the discipline in the region.

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Mares is an urban transformation and social economy project developed by estudio SIC, VIC (Vivero de iniciativas ciudadanas) and TXP (Todo por praxis) in Madrid, Spain. The project reclaims four former buildings across four different districts of the city, converting them into innovation hubs. Each hub is linked to key urban challenges: Mobility, Food, Recycling, Energy, and Care.

Santa Lucía Esplanade aims to connect Vicuña Mackenna Square with the adjacent, renowned public hill of Santiago, Chile. The goal is to improve the urban space and connectivity of this historic monument and tourist attraction within the district.

The project is funded by the Regional Government, and the corresponding works have been authorized by the National Monuments Council and the Municipal Works Directorate. Learn more about the project in detail below. 

The winners of the Richard H. Driehaus Building Arts Awards, presented annually to four master craftspeople in various traditional building trades in Spain, have been announced.

The article "A Decade Without Direction in Downtown Lima" published in El Comercio presents a discouraging scenario for urban renewal and architectural preservation in Lima.

During Chilean architect Felipe Assadi's course at the 2019 Summer Workshop of the Faculty of Architecture of the IUAV University of Venice, students reflected on the idea of a floating city and its inhabitants, resulting in floating architecture for a fluctuating population. To this end, the architecture students built a wooden floating pavilion as a scale prototype of a micro-dwelling, which forms part of a geometric system for expanding the city over water.

Read about the project in detail below, in the words of its designers.

What Will Happen Here? (O que vai acontecer aqui?) is a new documentary by Left Hand Rotation, in collaboration with Stop Despejos and Habita, on the housing struggles in Lisbon—a city where rents have increased by 50% over the last three years and that has become the leading European city for real estate fund investment.

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Ecosistema Urbano, after winning a public competition, has developed the Landscape Design Project for the Louis Pasteur Boulevard and the main public spaces of the Teatinos University Campus in Málaga, Spain.

The project presents a new campus that is both open to the natural landscape and digitally connected, allowing users to interact, view real-time information, and adapt various public space elements to their needs, including the configuration of bioclimatic conditioning systems.

In Barranquilla, we spoke with Manuel Moreno, dean of the School of Architecture, Urbanism, and Design at the Universidad del Norte, on the occasion of the VIII International Seminar on Project Representation, organized jointly with the Universidad del Valle and the Universidad Nacional's Medellín campus.

The theme of the event, which explored Web 2.0 in architecture, prompted us to ask whether students today are learning what they should, or if there is a gap between academia and the professional world.

From October 10 to December 12, the second edition of the MUGAK International Architecture Biennale of the Basque Country is taking place. This event not only explores the link between art and architecture, but also aims to engage the public and foster reflection and connections with other disciplines, serving as a forum for dialogue and debate to achieve better, more balanced, and fairer cities.

The Universidad Austral de Chile will build the Museo Humano—which will house works by artist Mario Irarrázabal—at the UACh Museum Campus on Isla Teja, Valdivia. Cristián Undurraga is leading the project, an architect who is also heading the restoration and expansion of the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC Valdivia).

From La Candelaria to Teusaquillo and Santa Fe, Bogotá's modern architecture not only stands in stark contrast to the historical legacy of local forms, but also served as a call to rethink the modernization of the Colombian state around 1930.   

The featured city sites serve as a starting point—an invitation to explore the capital and discover an architectural heritage that is distinct, yet remains an integral part of the urban fabric and the daily lives of Colombian citizens. 

Even if you already know the answer, it is always worth reviewing key considerations regarding a building's square meters. Not only are they fundamental to determining construction costs and materials, but they also lay the groundwork for tax assessments and regulatory compliance. 

"Since childhood, I had lived by the warmth of the stove that heats and at the same time gathers the family. Seeking that warmth was a necessity in southern Chile. Here in the tropics, it is the cooling shade that gathers us, and unlike the stove, it is everywhere."

Based in Costa Rica, Bruno Stagno does not simply initiate reflections on how environmental responses can form the basis of architectural inspiration and identity; he proposes to go further, advocating for an architecture tailored to a specific latitude.

Luis Rojo de Castro and Begoña Fernández-Shaw Zuleta received the 2019 First COAM Award and Luis M. Mansilla Award for the renovation of Aulario B Founder's Hall, located on the Runnymede College Campus in Alcobendas, Madrid. 

For 25 years, the MAC Valdivia Museum of Contemporary Art has hosted exhibitions by more than 2,000 artists. Now, construction is set to begin on its latest restoration and expansion project, designed by Cristián Undurraga, under an agreement signed by the Los Ríos Regional Government, the Directorate of Architecture of the Ministry of Public Works, and the Universidad Austral de Chile.

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"Photogrammetry is a technique used to obtain a three-dimensional model from a series of photographs," notes the video tutorial developed by 'Antes del Olvido'. The initiative seeks to generate a collective online archive to document the daily transformations seen in cities—particularly on monuments and facades—following Chile's social uprising.