Launched as part of the 1st International Architecture Biennial of Lima – BIALIMA 2021, the call for entries aimed to design public infrastructure that harmoniously integrates with its natural and built surroundings to rehabilitate the stairways connecting different areas within the settlement. The international jury, composed of Michael Smith (Costa Rica), Luis Rodríguez (Peru), and Marta Morelli (Peru), selected 4 winning proposals that stood out for addressing community needs through interventions on the stairways of the San Juan de Lurigancho locality.

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The CA Awards, organized and curated by the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile, aim to recognize professionals who stand out for their "excellence, work, and contribution" to the field of architecture across the country. Marking the end of the institution's 79th anniversary celebrations and Architecture Month, the awards honored 12 members who, according to the National Board, are "role models for architects throughout the country." See below the awards and distinctions for each category in this new 2021 edition.

The climate crisis, resource scarcity, and socio-spatial inequality are among the challenges currently facing the architectural discipline and the construction industry. In the Chilean Altiplano—a territory marked by a wealth of natural and cultural treasures contrasting with the scarce natural resources of the desert—the Fundación Altiplano invites us to rethink heritage restoration through the lens of sustainability, community-based conservation, and participatory processes. Developed and implemented alongside the communities themselves, this model leverages ancestral knowledge and local materials, offering not only answers but also critical questions for navigating our turbulent contemporary context.

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As part of the 1st Lima International Architecture Biennial (BIALIMA), the intervention on the San Luis Building, named the Zepita Building - Bicentennial Project, received the highest honor at the 2021 Architectural Quality Competition. This competition sought to recognize exemplary cases of excellence and creativity in buildings across the Lima and Callao regions, selecting 13 winning projects across 8 different categories. 

As part of the 2021 CNPP National Undergraduate Project Competition organized by Grupo Arquitectura Caliente and Graphisoft Archicad, a total of 127 proposals were submitted from 20 architecture schools across Chile. The jury highlighted three projects that, through their formal and conceptual diversity, achieved the highest recognition within their respective categories. Explore the winning proposals of this latest edition of the competition below.

Videos

As part of the 79th-anniversary commemoration of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile, the "Architecture as an Agent of Change" series will be held. This series consists of free virtual events focused on examining case studies that illustrate the public or political role of the discipline. On Wednesday, August 18, at 1:00 PM, an international conversation will take place featuring Colombian architect Giancarlo Mazzanti (El Equipo Mazzanti) and Brazilian architect Marta Moreira (MMBB Arquitetos + Paulo Mendes da Rocha), who will present the SESC 24 MAIO project.

Refocusing attention on the work of women architects in shaping Chile's modern legacy is the primary objective of the open-access research project titled Entre Líneas. Structured as a visual narrative built around five pillars, the project can be explored directly on its digital platform. Through archival research, document collection, and the creation of analytical graphics, the initiative aims to rewrite the history of 20th-century Chilean architecture from a gender perspective.

The adaptive reuse of the former production center seeks to revitalize the history of local industry through the preservation of its physical and cultural heritage. Transforming the historic building of the former Limache Brewery in Chile into a museum open to the public is the primary goal of the open call launched by CCU. Submissions for the heritage adaptive reuse of this industrial building will remain open until August 15.

For more than three decades, Chile's Norte Grande region positioned itself as an important modern laboratory and a hub of development on both a national and international scale. It embodied the potential to decentralize access to services and infrastructure, as well as territorial management itself. Driven by an economic boom, a project of modernity was promoted, spanning comprehensive investment plans to the management and construction of modern architecture projects. However, following the coup d'état and the subsequent militarization of the border, resources were once again concentrated in Santiago, bringing this regionalist momentum to an end. Below are details of some of these hybrid works which, shaped by both the desert climate and European influence, responded to a local context defined by an incomplete project of modernity.

The team comprising Alexis Olivares Valencia, an architecture graduate from the Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM), and Gonzalo Mazzey, a student at the same institution, won first place in the "A Bench in Venice" competition with their project titled “La Banca del Mundo” (The World's Bench). Within the framework of the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, the National Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates curated by Wael Al Awar, in collaboration with the Curators Collective, launched an international open call for students. The competition challenged participants to design a bench made from recycled materials, which will be installed during the upcoming summer inside the Arsenale.

Although the Olympic Pool of Arica, built in 1972 by architect Alicia Meza and former CORMU members Nelson Berthelon and Sergio Román, received widespread national and international recognition at the time, today it is far from being part of the collective imaginary of modern architecture in Chile.

The Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage, in collaboration with the developer Constructora Presidente Riesco, has signed a historic agreement to launch the restoration and preservation of the remains of Block 14, where the new museum will be located. The project will maintain the complex's original height of 10.62 meters, with a floor area of up to 800 square meters. It will be accompanied by a landscaping project across the 1,000-square-meter surrounding protected zone in the eastern sector of Santiago.

Fundación Mi Parque in collaboration with Transelec, has developed a manual focusing on the technical and landscaping aspects of pruning urban trees near power transmission lines. This task is identified as an opportunity to move toward building an integrated and sustainable city image.

A new digital platform aims to reappraise and promote the legacy of the renowned Chilean architect and academic Glenda Kapstein. This website compiles a series of projects and publications chronologically, shaping a linear narrative around her career-long focus on the relationship between architecture and the environment.