Nicolás Valencia

Award-winning architect Nicolas Valencia is the former Head of Editorial at ArchDaily, leading a global editorial team ---- @nicolasvalencia.cl | nicolasvalencia.cl | hellonicolasvalencia@gmail.com

BROWSE ALL FROM THIS AUTHOR HERE

"Moving Ecologies": Chile Announces Pavilion for the 2023 Venice Biennale

The Chilean Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage selected architect Gonzalo Carrasco and Beals Lyon Arquitectos as curators of the Chilean pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2023 with their proposal themed "Moving Ecologies" ("Ecologías en Movimiento").

"Moving Ecologies" will address how "architecture and science made it possible to imagine the future of a country that was entering modernity" in the XIX century in such a project as the Quinta Normal park, according to the organizers. Moreover, the proposal parallels the current challenges around ecological repair and restoration with the study of soil recovery processes with endemic seeds.

Meet the Participants of the International Architecture Exhibition at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale

Subscriber Access | 

Since 1998, the Venice Architecture Biennale has been divided into three pillars: the national pavilions (each country chooses its own curators and projects), the international exhibition (curated by the Biennale's curator), and the collateral events (approved by the Biennale's curator).

In the 2023 edition of the event, the international architecture exhibition curated by Lesley Lokko is structured in six parts, including 89 participants. Over half of them are from Africa or the African Diaspora, with a 50/50 gender balance, and an average of 43 ages for participants.

Meet the Participants of the International Architecture Exhibition at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale - Image 1 of 4Meet the Participants of the International Architecture Exhibition at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale - Image 2 of 4Meet the Participants of the International Architecture Exhibition at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale - Image 3 of 4Meet the Participants of the International Architecture Exhibition at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale - Image 4 of 4Meet the Participants of the International Architecture Exhibition at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale - More Images+ 5

ArchDaily’s Readers Select Who Should Win the 2023 Pritzker Prize

As part of our yearly tradition, we have asked our readers who should win the 2023 Pritzker Prize, the most important award in the field of architecture.

For those who don't know, the Pritzker Prize is funded by Jay Pritzker through the Hyatt Foundation in the United States and has been awarded to living architects, regardless of their nationality, whose built work "has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity through the art of architecture."

Who Should Win the 2023 Pritzker Prize?

Once the Pritzker family of Chicago through the Hyatt Foundation has revealed the announcement date of the 2023 Pritzker Prize Laureate, the speculation has begun to swirl around which architect or architects will be honored with "the profession’s highest honor."

Since the foundation does not allow public nomination nor disclosure of its selection methodology, the architecture and design community speculates who can be the laureate. If you take a look at the list of architects who have won already, you might realize that anything is possible.

Why Are Liminal Spaces Eerie? The Case of The Backrooms

Subscriber Access | 

A24 and Atomic Monster have recently confirmed a movie adaptation of The Backrooms, a Youtube short horror film (expanded to a series) created by 17-year-old director and VFX artist Kane Parsons.

Based on the namesake creepypasta, The Backrooms is set in a seemingly infinite labyrinth of yellow-tinted, carpeted office spaces, bathed in fluorescent indoor lighting, like an abandoned building, in 1996. Its kitsch corporate aesthetic is reinforced by the imitation of the VHS tape recording style that allows Parsons to hide imperfections (or avoid an uncanny valley effect) of a simple 3D scenario created in Blender and edited in Adobe After Effects during the post-production stage.

From ELEMENTAL to Emilio Duhart: the Concrete Architecture in Chile through Jakub Sawosko's Lens

Subscriber Access | 

From Taiwan to the Netherlands to Uruguay, Jakub Sawosko has extensively been photographing concrete architecture all over the world and displaying them on Instagram as @sh_sh_welt.

After living surrounded and fascinated by post-war concrete architecture in Europe in his early years, Sawosko moved to Taiwan where he eventually realized that Modernism had heavily influenced Taiwan as well. "I felt that [Taiwan's distinctive style of architecture] deserved more recognition", explains Jakub in conversation with ArchDaily via Instagram.

From ELEMENTAL to Emilio Duhart: the Concrete Architecture in Chile through Jakub Sawosko's Lens - Image 1 of 4From ELEMENTAL to Emilio Duhart: the Concrete Architecture in Chile through Jakub Sawosko's Lens - Image 3 of 4From ELEMENTAL to Emilio Duhart: the Concrete Architecture in Chile through Jakub Sawosko's Lens - Image 4 of 4From ELEMENTAL to Emilio Duhart: the Concrete Architecture in Chile through Jakub Sawosko's Lens - Image 8 of 4From ELEMENTAL to Emilio Duhart: the Concrete Architecture in Chile through Jakub Sawosko's Lens - More Images+ 5

The Best Architectural Drawings of 2022

Every year, ArchDaily honors the best architectural drawings of the year in an annual tradition that has now been going on for eight years. The 2022 edition is particularly special, as it showcases a wide range of techniques and representations in the field of architecture. From traditional painting to digital collages and axonometric drawings, this year's selection truly has something for everyone.

An Artificial Intelligence Bot Picks The Architecture Trends of 2023

2022 could be remembered as the year when surprising AI-fueled tools became accessible to a larger audience: from text-to-image generation Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DALL-E 2 to unsettling design experiments such as This House Does Not Exist, to surprisingly smart OpenGPT, a language-processing designed artificial intelligence to generate human-like text.

Cautiously described by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as "a preview of progress", any user can talk with OpenGPT about almost anything: the results are astonishing and it easily can embody an umpteenth so-called threat for creative-related jobs. However, OpenGPT does not have access to browse the internet. Instead, it interacts based on the gigantic database that it has been trained on. As expressed by Gannett's Eric Ulken, "even the best generative AI tools are only as good as their training", so what an "inappropriate request" is has previously been tuned (by humans) as well.

ArchDaily Selects the Best New Practices of 2023

Subscriber Access | 

25 practices, sole practitioners, and startups from 5 continents and 18 countries have been chosen as part of the 2023 New Practices, the latest edition of the global annual survey by ArchDaily. Ongoing since 2020, the review detects and showcases those who are taking architecture in its new direction under unstable times and demanding challenges.

ArchDaily's New Practices has invited not only designers to apply but those practicing within the broadest definition of architecture and its exercise to share their innovative, fresh, and forward-thinking mission with us. As a result, the 2023 edition features designers, landscape architects, researchers, curators, activists, writers, and three ground-breaking startups—the modular construction U-Build, Urban Beta with their Beta Port building system, and the "Google Doc of Space Design" Rayon—thus joining previously highlighted firms: AEC-industry-oriented management software Monograph, energy transition startup Baupal, online design platform and marketplace CANOA, and 3D-printed housing company ICON.

12 Architecture Events to Pay Attention to in 2023

As expressed by 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale curator and architect Leslie Lokko, "after two of the most difficult and divisive years in living memory, architects have a unique opportunity to show the world what we do best: put forward ambitious and creative ideas that help us imagine a more equitable and optimistic future in common."

From Venice's approach to Africa as the lab for the future to Seoul's road to its next 100 years as a megapolis; from Chicago's art-meets-architecture-meets-civic-participation to Sharjah's "beauty of impermanence" in the Global South motto, 2023 will witness a series of architectural events trying to embody those forward ambitious and creative ideas, as explained by Lokko.

Santiago Architecture City Guide: 41 Buildings, Complexes and Parks to Visit in the Chilean Capital

Subscriber Access | 

Founded in 1541 by the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia on indigenous settlements in the valley of the Mapocho River, Santiago is the capital and most populated city of Chile. This South American city is enframed by the Andes Mountains to the east and the Chilean Coast Range to the west, in addition to 26 island hills (cerros islas) scattered throughout the city. Some of these island hills have been converted into urban parks, such as Santa Lucía and San Cristóbal, while Chena, Calán, and Renca are in the process of expansion.

When is Architecture Day?

Subscriber Access | 

In 1996, at the International Union of Architects Congress held in Barcelona, Spain, the organization established that World Architecture Day should coincide with UN-Habitat's World Habitat Day. Therefore, World Architecture Day is celebrated on the first Monday of every October, to celebrate the architect's commitment to our societies, our ecosystems, and our cities.

The Mies Crown Hall Prize Announces Finalists for 2022 MCHAP Award for Emerging Practice

The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) has announced four finalist projects designed by emerging practices in the Americas for the 2022 MCHAP.emerge, the fourth cycle of the award.

Selected among a set of 50 projects by emerging practices, the four finalists' architects will present their work next September 21, 2022 at Mies van der Rohe’s S.R. Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, before the official announcement to be held at the end of the evening. Moreover, the 2022 MCHAP primary prize winner will be announced in April 2023.

What Is the Difference between Plagiarism and Inspiration? A Lawyer Explains

Subscriber Access | 

The Chilean lawyer, Juan Pablo Klenner, has dedicated himself to investigating one of the most discussed and least in-depth topics in architecture: copyright in our discipline. Plagiarism, referents or inspirations? It is a discussion that surely falls on deaf ears every time we talk about it among ourselves, but in the legal world it is clearly very well developed. If for some people creativity should not be measured in these terms, for others it is an issue that can go to court.

Following the publication of his book "Architecture too. Copyright for Architects", we talked to Klenner about what we have always wanted to know, but never dared to ask. "The idea of total originality must be rejected, no one is capable of creating something out of nothing, even in the work with the least external influences," he warns.

Andrés Jaque Named Dean of Columbia GSAPP

Andrés Jaque has been appointed as the new dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Having taught at Columbia since 2013 and directed the School’s Master of Science program in Advanced Architectural Design since 2018, Jaque will assume his position on September 1, 2022.

The Mies Crown Hall Prize Announces Shortlist for 2022 MCHAP Award for Emerging Practice

After a two-year suspension due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize has announced that 10 projects designed by emerging practices in the Americas have been shortlisted for the 2022 MCHAP.emerge.

The MCHAP.emerge acknowledges the best architectural project in the Americas by practices within its first ten years of operation: Pezo von Ellrichausen's Poli House won the inaugural MCHAP.emerge in 2014. Two years later, Mexican office PRODUCTORA was awarded for their design for the Pavilion for the Culture Fair at the Zocalo in Mexico City. In the latest cycle held in 2018, Rozana Montiel's Common Unity was chosen as the winner—the design of public space in a housing complex in Mexico City.

JDS + Coldefy + Carlo Ratti Associati + NL Architects + Ensamble Studio to Renew New EU Parliament Building in Brussels

The European design team integrated by architectural firms JDS Architects, Coldefy, Carlo Ratti Associati, NL Architects, and Ensamble Studio has been announced as the winner of the international design competition for the renewal of the Paul-Henri SPAAK Building, the European Parliament plenary building in Brussels, Belgium.

Martha Thorne on Francis Kéré: "He Gives a Powerful Message about the Expanding Role of Architecture"

Pritzker Prize 2022 Laureate Francis Kéré is known for “empowering and transforming communities through the process of architecture”, as the jury stated in its citation. In this recently published video, Martha Thorne, Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design and former executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, shares some of the reasons why Francis Kéré has won the Pritzker Prize 2022.