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Under the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,” Expo Dubai 2020 —held from October 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022— is the first world expo hosted by an Arab nation and the Middle East region. The Spain Pavilion, under the slogan “Intelligence for Life,” synthesizes the idea of preserving a high quality of life on our planet for ourselves and future generations.

Designed by the firm amann cánovas maruri, the building is located in the expo's Sustainability District and stands out for its series of prominent truncated cones that rise above the landscape, evoking the feel of a traditional public square. Inside, the Pavilion houses two complementary thematic exhibition areas designed by the joint venture between External Reference and Onionlab. Here, the Barcelona-based firms have applied a striking blend of design, art, and technology to create a uniquely immersive experience.

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Through its Seminar on Culture and Contemporary Reality course, Escola da Cidade hosted sociologist, professor, and researcher Jessé Souza to discuss social classes in contemporary Brazil, exploring the challenges of overcoming inequality and the impact of these issues on the city.

“Moving Masses” is the slogan of this year's World Bicycle Forum, which will take place for the first time in Argentina. This annual international event, held in different cities around the world, is aimed at all citizens with a central objective: to promote sustainable mobility. Through its theme, the proposal aims to represent the movement of masses, people, the river, bicycles, ideas, and energy. But how can we make our cities more inclusive and equitable? What infrastructure can be implemented to foster sustainable mobility?

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The tension between architectural form and structural feasibility is long-standing; the bold, avant-garde visions of architects often remain on paper due to structural requirements and technical constraints. How can projects that break traditional architectural forms be realized? How do we translate these imaginative concepts into reality?

In this feature, ArchDaily introduces Eckersley O’Callaghan, a structural and facade engineering design firm. The practice has collaborated successfully with many of the world’s leading architects. Notably, their long-standing partnership with Foster + Partners has yielded several of Apple’s iconic, minimalist "all-glass" retail stores worldwide. They have also established strong collaborations with Zaha Hadid Architects, SOM, Gensler, KPF, Snøhetta, and Heatherwick Studio. Through numerous innovations and breakthroughs in glass manufacturing technology and structural design, Eckersley O’Callaghan has demonstrated world-leading capabilities in structural innovation and project execution.

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“Shared Streets” (Calles Compartidas), a project by the Chilean Urban Innovation Lab Ciudad Emergente, was recognized at the Scroll of Honour Awards for the urban impact of transforming certain streets in Santiago, Chile, into gathering spaces capable of significantly reducing the city’s carbon footprint. The UN-Habitat initiative seeks to encourage the work of those dedicated to innovation in sustainable urban development. In this edition, the 80 nominations were evaluated based on their response to the crisis caused by the pandemic and the theme of World Habitat Day 2021, “Accelerating urban action for a carbon-free world,” as well as their potential for replicability in different cities around the world. Below, discover the five winners that stood out for the resilience, sustainability, and inclusivity of their proposals. 

Synonymous with light and loyalty, the lighthouse takes us back to antiquity. Conceived for utilitarian purposes, these architectural structures have accompanied thousands of sailors for decades, illuminating the coasts and warning of potential dangers and geographic hazards. Rooted in the collective memory, they represent specific historical moments depending on the country or region in which they stand.

Along Argentina's uninterrupted coastline, which stretches from Buenos Aires to Tierra del Fuego, lighthouses rise like columns. Emerging from the waves, they mark the edge of civilization, enabling dialogue and integration with nature.

The shortage of affordable housing is an issue that, when combined with challenges like gentrification or touristification, creates a highly volatile mix. ATRI (Tactical Groupings for Inclusive Repopulation) is a strategy that uses public or public-community co-produced housing as a tool for urban improvement to protect established urban fabrics from gentrification. It achieves this through the joint and simultaneous management of a constellation of small-scale developments that are faster, more affordable, fairer, and more sustainable to implement than conventional public housing systems.

Universities, particularly in China, represent a critical transition period where exam-oriented learning gives way to independent thought. Prior to higher education, students largely absorb established knowledge within a singular campus environment; afterward, they must project their own creative and innovative ideas into a complex social landscape. Today's society demands more than ever from higher education. College should not merely be a place to acquire a trade; more importantly, it must teach life-enriching wisdom, foster critical inquiry and independent thinking, offer problem-solving methodologies, build personal knowledge systems, and cultivate the ability to connect and integrate into a broader social network.

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Generally, termoarcilla blocks are ceramic bricks made from clay and secondary aggregates (typically expanded polystyrene beads or other granular materials). These secondary aggregates play a key role in manufacturing: during firing (at temperatures exceeding 900 °C), they undergo a gasification process that creates pores in the material, reducing the block's density and making it lightweight (hence why in some countries they are commonly called lightweight clay blocks). This porous structure enhances the block's thermal and acoustic insulation performance, offering significant advantages over similar materials.

When the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, proposed the development of apartment buildings and commercial spaces on an empty industrial site, an op-ed in Growler Magazine compared the proposed development to a metal shredder. “Rather than conserving and enhancing the qualities and character of the neighborhood,” writes Charles Hathaway, “the redevelopment endorsed by the city's plan disregards the unique characteristics of the neighborhood and diminishes its quality.”

Supra Order is an ongoing research project focused on studying the operational and performative possibilities of order. The project is presented as a collection of floor plans in the form of an accumulative archive that intensifies and reclaims the existence of a common, timeless, and universal architectural language. Curated by Iñaki Harosteguy, Supra Order uses comparison as a critical mechanism to relate, link, and establish connections between diverse architectural projects that operate through neutral and radical architectural supports based on isotropic grids. In a way, the methodological tools surveyed and exhibited by Supra Order form a kind of manifesto that seeks to recover disciplinary autonomy as a fundamental reference for contemporary practice.

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Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, global tourism ground to a halt for over a year, yet the desire to seek the inspiration that comes from traveling and experiencing new places remained. While experiencing spaces firsthand is undoubtedly one of the best ways to study architecture, reconstructing these structures through drawings and visualizations serves as another valuable educational tool, fostering a deeper awareness of the intricate details that compose them.

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The Arctic covers one-sixth of the Earth's surface. Much of its territory is covered by water, with the rest comprised of vast expanses of land. It is home to approximately 4 million inhabitants, including more than 30 Indigenous peoples. Eight states (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States) possess territories in the Arctic region. Its significance lies, among other things, in its role as the planet's air conditioner—reflecting sunlight and regulating global temperatures.

Founded in 2010 by He Zhe, James Shen, and Zang Feng, People’s Architecture Office (PAO) maintains offices in Beijing and Boston. Guided by the principle of “Design for the Masses,” the firm drives social impact through a multidisciplinary, innovative design approach that spans urbanism, architecture, and product design, with a focus on education, offices, housing, and urban renewal. PAO is the first architectural practice in Asia to achieve B Corp certification, serving as a model for social enterprise. Since 2017, the firm has also collaborated extensively with the Leping Social Entrepreneurship Foundation on various social innovation initiatives.

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Architectures of the Global South is the title of the course taught by architects Marco Artigas and Pedro Vada through the Escola da Cidade Association. The program aimed to broaden perspectives on contemporary architectural production, considering the urgent need for new, fundamentally counter-hegemonic viewpoints. Grounded in the concept of the Global South and a shared vision of unity among countries shaped by colonization, the course, held between September and December 2020, established ongoing dialogues with architects practicing or residing in these nations.

The goal of these sessions was to discuss what and how people are building in these countries through direct conversations about the challenges posed by different territories, societies, and cultures. By exploring the processes and decisions behind each project in greater detail—using richer documentation than typically found in publications—the course addressed structural reflections and urgent issues.

The days of gasoline-powered cars are numbered in Japan. Indeed, within 15 years, the country will phase out vehicles that run on gasoline. Announced by the Japanese government in late 2020, the measure is part of its goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The green growth strategy also aims to generate $2 trillion a year through the adoption of new energy sources, such as hydrogen, and the expansion of sustainable industries.

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Through IMPSOL (Metropolitan Institute of Land Development and Property Management), the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) has begun construction on a new series of **social housing** units (VPO) on **plot 18J**, located in the Les Bateries sector of **Turó del Sastre in Montgat**, Spain. The design's primary focuses are environmental sustainability, inclusivity, and flexible uses for the various spaces.

On Friday, December 10, it was announced that Carme Pinós has won Spain's highest architectural honor: the National Architecture Prize, awarded by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.

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The Government of São Paulo has announced the start of construction on Pinacoteca Contemporânea, the new building of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo. Combined with the Pinacoteca Luz—a building that earned several awards for Paulo Mendes da Rocha—and Pinacoteca Estação, the Pinacoteca de São Paulo complex will become, in terms of area and visitor capacity, one of the largest art museums in Latin America.

Archivo de Ideas Recibidas is an interdisciplinary research and dissemination project that seeks to document and connect the ideas of individuals who contribute to the contemporary creative ecosystem from the fields of art, design, and architecture. It is built on conversations between the team and various creators, exploring topics related to memory, academia, cultural context, key influences, and working methodologies. On this occasion, they share their interview with designer Mariana Otero, who, alongside Yerko Zlatar, leads the design and interior design studio PUNA, based in Lima, Peru.

Awarded second place in the “Earth Architecture Competition,” organized by the NGO C-re-aid, the primary school in Moshi, Tanzania, designed by a team of students from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, aims to promote education and sustainability as a means of spatial and social integration within the local reality. Varying heights and lengths of the horizontal planter beds enhance safety in the school environment while maintaining its connection to the street.

The school unfolds from a central corridor that reveals various distinct spaces, allowing children to develop creatively and connect with their surroundings, according to the project's authors: Ana Luísa Schoenell, João Victor Ortiz, Julia Stopasolla Copat, and Mariana Bruggmann Spricigo Pfleger. The program is divided into blocks, with classrooms and services connecting to this central corridor to foster physical and visual integration across all spaces. 

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LafargeHolcim—the world's most significant competition for sustainable design—has announced the results for the Next Generation category, which recognizes the most visionary and bold concepts by young professionals and students. In the European competition region, the jury selected four winners to receive Next Generation awards.

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The project “Tequiocalco. Campa tlachializtli mozcalializtli in totlamatiliz huan toyuhcatiliz” –located in the state of Tlaxcala, Mexico– which translates to Spanish as the Autonomous Center for Research and Revitalization of Community Knowledge (CAIRSCO), is the “place where our wisdom and culture, ways of being, or what is lived in the community are observed, researched, and revitalized.”

What happens when more than 100 architectural proposals are called upon to support the residents affected by Hurricane Iota on the Caribbean islands of Providencia and Santa Catalina? The Colombian Society of Architects, through its Center for Innovation and Productivity (CIPSCA), selected 8 finalist projects for the housing typology architectural design competition—a comprehensive guide to repairing damage from an architectural design perspective.