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Architecture in the Andes: How Altitude Shapes Design Decisions

Daniela Andino — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 07:30:00 +0000

The Andes are often understood as a continuous mountain range, yet they encompass a wide range of climates and ecosystems. In Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Chile, páramos, dry highlands, temperate valleys, and snow-covered landscapes can exist within relatively short distances of one another. As elevation changes, so do temperature, solar radiation, humidity, wind, vegetation, and topography, producing environments that require different ways of building.

A Beating and Bleeding Heart: Bodies, Streets, and the Politics of Care in Bogotá

Sydney Coldren — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 07:30:00 +0000

This article is the winning entry of the Epistle Writing Prize 2025, an annual competition dedicated to recognizing outstanding writing on design, architecture, and the environment.

On Housing, Public Space, and Climate Resilience: In Conversation with the Winners of the 2026 UIA 2030 Award

Reyyan Dogan — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Established through a collaboration between the International Union of Architects (UIA) and UN-Habitat, the UIA 2030 Award recognizes projects that demonstrate how design can contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Announced during the 2026 World Urban Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan, the third cycle of the biennial award honored projects that address issues ranging from water management and affordable housing to participatory planning, access to public space, and climate resilience.

When Modernism Meets Local Resistance: Housing and Urban Friction in Latin America

Daniela Andino — Sat, 30 May 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Modern housing was one of the places where modernism made its boldest promise: that architecture could reshape not only the city, but the way people lived within it. As Argentine architectural historian Ramón Gutiérrez has argued, popular housing is "the great unresolved subject, one that usually does not appear in histories of architecture." In Latin America, this absence is significant. Across the 20th century, expanding cities turned housing into one of the clearest ways to imagine urban change, and modernism entered not only plans and drawings, but apartments, neighborhoods, streets, and domestic routines.

Building Autonomy: Latin American Communities Bringing Life’s Systems Into Architecture

Daniela Andino — Fri, 22 May 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Before a building can be inhabited, many other things need to happen. Water has to arrive, energy has to be generated, food has to be grown or transported, and waste has to go somewhere. These processes are usually treated as something outside architecture, even though they shape the most basic conditions of everyday life.

Designing Coexistence: Meet the Winners of the First Edition of ArchDaily Student Project Awards

ArchDaily — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 08:30:00 +0000

In November 2025, ArchDaily launched its first edition of the Student Project Awards. The decision to introduce this new award came from a place of hope; hope in the next generations of architects, their talent and vision, and the importance of giving them visibility and recognition. After all, the future of architecture is being shaped right now, in classrooms, studios, and workshops around the world, and it is vital to support those shaping it. The response was remarkable, with projects from students in every continent, showcasing a wealth and breadth of viewpoints, solutions and visions.

Energy Landscapes: How Infrastructure Reshapes Territory in South America

Daniela Andino — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Some of the most significant transformations of South American landscapes have been produced not by cities, but by large infrastructures built to extract and distribute natural resources. Mining operations, energy systems, and transport networks have connected remote landscapes to broader economic structures while transforming rural territories and urban settlements throughout the continent. These infrastructures do not simply occupy space; they reorganize it. They have not only supported economic growth but also reconfigured territories in ways that continue to generate political, environmental, and social debate across the continent. From this perspective, territories can be understood not as fixed geographic areas but as socio-ecological systems shaped by cultural, environmental, and political relations, a point emphasized by anthropologist Arturo Escobar in his work on territorial thinking in Latin America.

The 20 Shortlisted Projects of the ArchDaily Student Project Awards

ArchDaily — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 09:15:00 +0000

Every architecture student knows what it's like to spend sleepless nights working away, rushing to finalize a project as a deadline looms ahead. Revising every detail, putting the finishing touches and hoping for the best. The pay-off? Seeing the finished project, talking about it with your classmates, and getting to dream about your perfect idea of what a space should look and feel like.

When the School Becomes a City: 6 Projects in the Global South That Strengthen Their Communities

Camilla Ghisleni — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 08:30:00 +0000

Education and culture have long stood as strategic pillars for driving profound social transformation. In this context, the quality of physical infrastructure is not merely a functional matter, but a structuring element for the implementation of consistent public policies—particularly in areas marked by urban precarity, historical inequality, and institutional fragility. Against this backdrop, school architecture can take on a role that goes far beyond the classroom, becoming a catalyst for social transformation.

From the Courtyard to the Neighborhood: Latin American Lessons on the Collective Construction of Place

Camilla Ghisleni — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 08:30:00 +0000

In Latin America, encounters do not necessarily arise from grand architectural gestures or monumental urban plans. Instead, they emerge from the between, from intermediate spaces: the courtyard, the veranda, the sidewalk, and the shared corridor. These spaces, often considered residual or informal by traditional disciplines, are precisely where daily life builds connections.