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Antonio Lamela's Torres Colón is "an unprotected Madrid icon set to change completely." The twin buildings by the Spanish architect—who also designed the renovation of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium and Terminal 4 of the Madrid-Barajas Airport alongside Richard Rogers—will undergo a renovation that adds four new floors and a new facade by 2022.

Throughout history, simple structures have constituted one of the most common forms of human expression. Small-scale housing, shelters, and viewpoints have been shaped by myriad materials that effectively created - depending on the techniques used - different forms of response to the same need.

Here is a compilation of 20 small-scale projects that stand out due to their small size and their simple, practical structures.

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The interview Per Kirkeby: "We Build Upon Ruins" published on Louisiana Channel not only showcases the colorful canvases of the Danish painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and writer, but also his own reflections on the importance of surroundings that "give us so much baggage." It's this very idea that Kirkeby brings to his brick sculpture displays, where something simple and sometimes useful puts aside inaccessible conceptualism to pay homage to the surroundings rather than the sculptures themselves.

Global South, resilience, buildtech, and new materials: as 2019 comes to a close, we look back on a year rich in research and reflection, approaching architecture from different perspectives to support the millions of readers worldwide who visit ArchDaily every day.

Aiming to offer inspiration, knowledge, and tools, we have published hundreds of articles on topics as diverse as your views on the built environment. With this in mind, read on for our selection of the year. Goodbye 2019, hello 2020! 

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In an ongoing effort to provide tools, inspiration, and knowledge, in 2019 ArchDaily editors and contributors engaged in numerous conversations with distinguished figures from all corners of the design world and the built environment.

To demonstrate this and reflect on how much we and our readers have learned—especially regarding the roles of representation, academia, cities, technology, and architecture itself—we have selected the 20 best interviews published on ArchDaily throughout the year.

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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.

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Grigri Projects defines itself as a platform dedicated to cultural research, creation, and production, focusing its work on participatory design, urban intervention, and transdisciplinary community processes through collaboration with other collectives and agents at local and international levels.

Among its various projects—such as Cocinar Madrid, Pincha tu Deuda, Templete Fantástico, Haciendo Plaza and Fuencarral Experimenta—they develop the residency, workshop, and seminar program Grigri Pixel in collaboration with Medialab-Prado, aimed at exploring practices of cultural cooperation and citizenship between Africa and Europe by creating objects through artistic, collaborative, and experimental practices.

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.

The characteristics of Corten steel has been respected by all architects, both for its strength and for its particular color. It corresponds to a type of steel manufactured with a chemical composition that provides an oxidation that protects the piece, practically without altering its mechanical characteristics. The architectural details of Corten steel present a diversity of situations and connections, not only the obvious constructive factor but it also gives an aesthetic value to any architectural project.

We have compiled this list of 6 eye-catching Corten steel construction details that stand out the most.

The Spanish Architecture Prize (Premio de Arquitectura Española) has been awarded biennially by the Higher Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE) since 1993 to promote the quality of architectural works built across Spain.

The award has recognized built works by architects such as Enric Miralles, Mansilla y Tuñón, Sara de Giles, and Francisco Mangado Beloqui, among others, with projects including the Royal Collections Museum and the Palma Convention Center and Hotel. Explore all the winning projects below.

Flying Panels: How Concrete Panels Changed the World is the latest exhibition at ArkDes. Designed by Swedish studio Note Design Studio, it is co-curated by Pedro Ignacio Alonso and Hugo Palmarola, creators of the Monolith Controversies exhibition, which won the Silver Lion at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014.

The exhibition brings together an array of models and material culture—such as posters, paintings, films, toys, cartoons, and opera sets—reflecting how concrete panels influenced culture to build a new society.

The new edition of the Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (XI BIAU) poses a different challenge. This time, along the shores of the peaceful Paraguay River, the Ricardo Brugada neighborhood, known as La Chacarita—one of the oldest in Asunción's historic center—takes center stage.

Together with the residents—who also exhibited the biennial's award-winning projects in their own private homes—national curators led 13 working groups to develop proposals for the improvement and transformation of a sector historically overlooked by the city, often associated with crime and unemployment. Some of these initiatives have already been put into practice.

The following story takes place during the twenty-seventh edition of the Latin American Encounter of Architecture Students (ELEA) in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, where nearly 800 students from Latin America gathered for a collective experience of participation, integration, and learning. Among other activities was the construction of two wooden structures in two distinct locations: the "Lake Pavilion" in the backyard of the Virgen de Fátima school—separated from a private school by a polluted creek—and "The Cloud" in an unmaintained public square in the Don Bosco neighborhood on the outskirts of the city.

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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Flying Panels - How Concrete Panels Changed the World is a new ArkDes exhibition designed by Note Design Studio and curated by Pedro Ignacio Alonso and Hugo Palmarola - authors of the Monolith Controversies exhibition, the winner of the Silver Lion award at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014.

It brings together a series models and material as posters, paintings, films, toys, cartoons and opera sets are gathered to reflect on how concrete panels influenced culture for the construction of a new society.

Concéntrico 06, the International Festival of Architecture and Design of Logroño, will take place from April 29 to May 3, 2020. The festival invites reflection on the urban environment and the city through architecture and design proposals in various formats.

To this end, the festival is launching three international competitions for three specific sites. The objective is to create a Pavilion in the Plaza de Escuelas Trevijano and two installations: one at the Paseo del Espolón and another at Viña Lanciano for Bodegas LAN.

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.

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.