THIS YEAR’S CHALLENGE The Covid-19 pandemic is far from being over; nevertheless, architects and designers are already beginning to envision its effects on how buildings are designed and inhabited. The pandemic – particularly its lethal transmissibility that is exacerbated by human proximity – exposed the fragility of the spatial arrangements and technologies that organize our everyday life, be it in the home, the workplace, educational institutions, or shared cultural and civic activities. The accelerated integration of remote modes of communication due to social distancing challenges the very need for designating buildings to host productive and collective activities, and undermines the economy that relies on revenues generated from these activities. Moreover, the airborne transmission of the virus is compelling architecture to address issues, such as building environmental systems, that it has traditionally delegated to technical advisers and experts.
Focusing on a post-pandemic context, 'Emergency' is the theme of the 2021 CASA – Coimbra Architecture Summer Atelier. CASA explores a (re)emergence of the synchrony between creating and inhabiting, drawing on operative design strategies within Coimbra's urban territory and its various occupations.
The Félix Candela Award is an international architecture ideas competition conducted in Spanish that takes place in two phases. Organized annually by the Instituto Español de Arquitectura (IESARQ), it is open to students of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and design, as well as architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and designers up to 35 years of age, participating individually or in teams of two to three members.
The 21st Annual Steel Design Student Competition challenges undergraduate and graduate students, working individually or in teams, to explore a variety of design issues related to the use of steel in design and construction. Steel must be used as the primary structural material and contain at least one space that requires long-span steel structure, with special emphasis placed on innovation in steel design. The 2021 Steel Design Student Competition will offer architecture students the opportunity to compete in two separate categories:
Professionals seeking to influence and transform the built environment require competencies that transcend architectural design and building construction. With this premise, the Master's in Strategic Management of Architectural Projects offered at the Universidad de los Andes focuses on developing capabilities that allow for proposing ideas that create value and alternative approaches to practice within the field of architecture.
City is Nature / Agura (cross-legged) Tea Ceremony
Now being used as a common word after been used as a slogan for environmental and human rights issues, the word “Symbiosis” was originally used in the field of Biology. This word “Symbiosis” became widely known has a lot to due from architect, Kisho Kurokawa, who has been putting forward the “The Philosophy of Symbiosis” since the 1970s. Being trained by Fumihiko Maki who was part of a project that originated in Japan called “Metabolism” with Kurokawa, Norihiko Dan who is active in both Japan and abroad will curate this exhibition.
Amid the health and socioeconomic crisis caused by the coronavirus, we have seen how prolonged physical isolation can affect citizen behavior and generate uncertainty about returning to the streets—that is, to the city itself. The emergence of this pandemic has cast public space as the antagonist in a real-life drama, exposing us to potential contagion. However, public space is also a central part of the solution. As we navigate the daily recovery and reopening phases of our cities, we face the challenging task of ensuring that daily activities are conducted under safe protocols.
The 13th International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo centers its 2022 edition on the theme of RECONSTRUCTION. The premise involves rebuilding, recasting, and renewing the relationships between social groups and their domestic spaces, between citizens and public spaces, and the personal and professional networks that unfold in both confined and collective spaces during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Registration for the Ideas and Practices Competition: City, Housing, and Health extended to August 3rd
Registration for the Ideas and Practices Competition: City, Housing, and Health has been extended until August 3. Launched on July 1, the competition aims to promote Technical Assistance for Social Interest Housing (ATHIS) as a strategy to address Covid-19.
The current pandemic has prompted academic reflection across various disciplines, highlighting the need to create spaces for dialogue, debate, and contribution. This allows the current generation to address the new challenges posed by this global crisis and to adapt attitudes and behaviors across different fields and areas of work, ultimately aiming to shape better environments that foster resilient communities.
On Monday, July 27, at 8:00 PM, Gregório Duvivier will be the guest on the next episode of Meia Hora com o BrCidades. Duvivier is an actor, writer, columnist for Folha, host of HBO's Greg News, and a comedian with the Porta dos Fundos channel. He will discuss humor and democracy with Paolo Colosso and Tainá de Paula. The program will be broadcast live and simultaneously on BrCidades' Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter channels. Click the link, set a reminder, and join BrCidades:
Selection process open until August 16, 2020. Image: André Moraes
The application process is now open for the first edition of Comuns, a virtual laboratory for experimental and participatory architecture, organized by Marcella Arruda and Marina Frúgoli in partnership with the Marieta cultural center in São Paulo, Brazil. The laboratory aims to foster the exchange of new experiences and reflections on social, ecological, and political technologies for transforming Latin American territories.
Gala 2020: Open Doors Open Minds by Chicago Architecture Center (CAC)
Save the date and join us—from anywhere on Earth—for an entertaining virtual event to support the CAC. Listen in on a roundtable discussion between Juan Gabriel Moreno, Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, and alumni from CAC Education programs for teens.
Videos
NESS.docs 2 LaUA_Cover_Photo: Pelagic Alphabet_LCLA Office_Luis Callejas and Charlotte Hansson
NESS and Lots of Architecture –publishers are pleased to present the second issue of our monographic series NESS.docs 2: Landscape as Urbanism in the Americas. The issue reflects on the project of Landscape as Urbanism in the Americas, led by Charles Waldheim and the Office for Urbanization at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and was done with the support of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. Curated together with Mercedes Peralta and Jeannette Sordi, it explores the potentials for landscape as a medium for urban intervention in the specific contexts of Latin-American cities.
