This guide covers a workflow that moves from project parameters to generated floor plans, 3D perspective views, exterior design exploration, and site context visualization, using AI tools in place of preliminary CAD and rendering work.

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Lake Verea is composed of Francisca Rivero-Lake Cortina (Mexico City, 1973) and Carla Verea Hernández (Mexico City, 1978). They have worked as a duo since 2005. Their practice focuses on experimenting with photographic techniques and formats to achieve a personal and intimate perspective. They live and work in Mexico City and around the world. Their research interests center on the portraiture of architecture and the architecture of portraiture, the search for modern ruins, and the emotional interpretation of the spatial journey.

Their latest contribution is a series commissioned by Gabriela Etchegaray for the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Featured in the Mexican Pavilion, “Echoes of a Land,” they conceive architectural portraits through an intimate approach, using fragments to compose a narrative where the architectural subject is personally reinterpreted.

One of the most traditional festivals in Brazil's South region, Oktoberfest has launched a sustainability-focused initiative. In addition to serving thousands of liters of draft beer, the event's 2018 edition will support the environment by transforming plastic cups used during the 19-day festival into bricks and furniture for community gardens.

Dubbed "Oktober Consciente" (Conscious Oktoberfest), the initiative was created by the Instituto Gigantes da Ecologia (IGE), a non-profit civil association based in Blumenau, Santa Catarina. The project aims to raise awareness and promote environmental best practices among attendees of what is considered one of the largest German festivals in the world.

At the height of the railways in the mid-20th century, the state of São Paulo had around 500 railway stations. With the end of long-distance passenger train services during the 1980s and early 1990s, much of this heritage was abandoned, and those structures that escaped looting and vandalism eventually collapsed due to a lack of maintenance. Today, fewer than 50% of these stations remain standing, according to the Brazilian Association of Railway Preservation (ABPF).

On Wednesday, February 28, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) released the 2018 edition of its annual ranking of the world's best universities. In the field of architecture, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States once again leads the list for the fourth consecutive year.

In Latin America and Spain, the ranking has shifted once again compared to 2017: a Mexican university has broken into the top five, while Spain has expanded its representation at the expense of Brazilian institutions. Furthermore, two universities have entered the regional ranking in this edition. Discover the top institutions below!

On February 10, the Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts) in Berlin opened the Spanish photography exhibition UNFINISHED, which won the Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Biennale.

Spain is one of the countries where the economic crisis has most severely affected architectural practice. Many publicly and privately funded buildings were under construction when the crisis hit, and a large number of them were left unfinished.

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Walking the streets of Bogotá, one is inevitably captivated by the mix of artistic currents across every block. The diverse constructions reflecting history, the passage of time, and the survival of houses and buildings in the face of the city's imminent spatial shifts create a sort of architectural palimpsest—where some structures are repurposed and spaces are renovated, yet the imprint of history endures.

Indeed, the Niza Antigua neighborhood was one of the districts declared a cultural heritage site. Designed by architect Willy Drews in the 1960s, its location—at the time far from Bogotá's financial and commercial center—prompted a series of shifts in the lifestyles of its residents, while the absence of fences and the proximity between houses fostered a strong sense of community among neighbors.

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Bixiga, one of São Paulo's most traditional neighborhoods, has gained significant historical and tourist importance over the years, thanks to its cantinas, street festivals, and vibrant cultural scene. However, many of the neighborhood's other layers and histories are harder to discover and access. Recognizing these numerous attractions, heritage sites, and the overall complexity of the area, and believing in the importance of walking, the NGO SampaPé! has launched the "Bixiga a Pé!" map, which highlights Bixiga's diverse historical and cultural layers for those exploring the neighborhood on foot.

Teresa Novais, co-founder of the firm aNC arquitectos in Portugal, works actively to advocate for professional rights.

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During the recent Architecture Month in Mendoza, we had the opportunity to learn more about the work of architect Adolfo Mondejar and their studio. We were particularly struck by their graphic style and how they use sketching as a communication tool to abstract key aspects of their projects and designs. Axonometric views, the use of color for emphasis, and loose lines shape the visual landscape of the architect's travels and projects.

Museo Jumex presents 'Propuestas para una plaza', a collaborative project by artists Fritz Haeg (United States, 1969) and Nils Norman (United Kingdom, 1966). This temporary installation, commissioned as part of the series 'Ágora: un anteproyecto para la utopía', will invite the public to imagine and participate in an alternative vision of the museum's plaza.

Fernando Guerra, one of the most prolific photographers in the field of architecture, is set to be the subject of a documentary directed by Sara Nunes and produced by Portugal's Building Pictures. The Flying Photographer, the film's working title, is drawn from a dedication by Álvaro Siza, an architect whose works and life Guerra has been extensively documenting.

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Designed by the Mexican firm RA!, the HXQ Linear Park project is an urban intervention located on the eastern side of the municipality of Huixquilucan, State of Mexico, where three parks are currently fragmented by ravines, streets, and underutilized spaces. The park is divided into three distinct zones—Tecamachalco, La Herradura, and Bosques de Minas—all connected by the high-voltage power lines around which the parks were originally created. Over time, rugged topography and busy roadways have isolated these areas, turning them into desolate, unsafe, and neglected spaces. 

Alfred Willer, a Czech architect who built his career in Brazil, has his story told in the feature-length documentary Red Trees [Red Trees], directed by his daughter, designer Marina Willer. After making its world premiere at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and opening in theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, the documentary will have its national premiere on March 29.

Carla Juaçaba is an architect working in Rio de Janeiro, where she designs diverse spaces through a practice that emphasizes the unique and vibrant Brazilian context.

Practice breeds true knowledge. As architectural design is a highly practical discipline, designers must continuously refine their creative philosophies through hands-on experience. With this in mind, the forum was themed “On Practice,” aiming to showcase the extensive creative work of China IPPR’s Third Architectural Design Institute over the past year—highlighting outstanding designs, refining creative methodologies, and demonstrating team vitality. We hope this forum marks a promising beginning, encouraging more architects to step away from their computers, pick up the microphone, and actively participate. By sharing their built works and welcoming diverse dialogues, they can help realize a creative vision where theory and practice complement and enrich each other.

Videos

Have you ever heard of the term “hostile architecture”? Coined in June 2014 by reporter Ben Quinn in the British newspaper The Guardian, the article originally titled Anti-homeless spikes are part of a wider phenomenon of 'hostile architecture' [1] surprised readers worldwide, who began to notice these practices in their own cities. In the piece, Quinn discussed how urban design influences behavior and social interaction, criticizing how contemporary design approaches seek to exclude unhoused people from urban centers.

Last October, we published the winners of the third call for final graduation projects in Colombia, also known as undergraduate theses, receiving 94 submissions from more than 10 cities and 22 universities.

Our editorial team selected six winning projects, and for the first time, a jury composed of leading Colombian architects was tasked with choosing the 2018 Grand Prize Winner: Lina Toro, Carlos Cano (OPUS, Medellín), and Jorge Noreña (Ruta 4, Pereira).

The jury awarded the Grand Prize to the thesis project Rehabitar la ladera, designed by Daniela Núñez and Roger Escalante, graduates of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín campus. "The project does not limit itself to describing and documenting a housing situation based on that built intuition as a testament to local dwelling; instead, it proposes an open design project that generously and simply outlines the guidelines for intuitive yet regulated growth," Toro noted in the jury's official statement.

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In this piece, Daniel Morales Escudero offers a reflection on the Terminal 2 project in Valparaíso, addressing the proposal through the lens of Chile's three legal grounds for abortion.

The ATRIO Towers —the tallest project in Colombia— reached a new milestone in Bogotá with the structural completion of its North Tower, the first of the development's skyscrapers, which has topped out at 201.6 meters and 46 stories.

During a ceremony held on Friday, August 24, on the rooftop of the North Tower, the final two steel beams—each 10 meters long and weighing 3.3 tons—were installed. The event symbolically marked the completion of 20 months of construction for the first phase of the skyscraper complex.

The team comprising Giovani Valeria, Nitzy Vera, Sofía Vargas, and Stefanía Ruiz (Universidad San Sebastián) has been awarded third place in the XXXII CAP Chile Competition. Designed for Teja Island in Valdivia, the competition jury praised the greenhouse system's "innovative and well-thought-out steel structure, with exterior and interior pathways that highlight the flora. It must, however, pay close attention to the scale of the structural elements in the smaller spaces."

The stories of women in architecture are often less known than those of their male counterparts. Here, we focus on the biographies of women architects who form a crucial link in the chain of architecture, highlighting the most-read profiles we have shared courtesy of Un día | Una arquitecta.

Un día | Una arquitecta seeks to bring visibility—through an impressive catalog of over 700 biographies—to the contributions of women architects across various fields: architectural, urban, and landscape design, technology, curatorial work and publishing, artistic production, politics, social habitat management, theory, and education, sharing a glimpse into their stories, backgrounds, and inspirations.

Below, discover twelve stories of women architects who stand out in the field.

The Habitação e Cidade (Housing and City) graduate program at Escola da Cidade invited architect Luis Kehl to speak about the growth of favelas. Characterizing the favela as an “urban fossil”—a centuries-old form of spatial occupation through irregular housing clusters—the lecture offers a chronological overview of informal occupations across different geographical and historical contexts.

Under the title “La vida de los edificios” (“The Life of Buildings”), the latest book by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo—1996 Pritzker Prize laureate—was presented in late December. The volume represents an attempt to view architecture from “within, from its very core,” focusing on three structures: the Mosque of Córdoba, the Lonja of Seville, and the Carmen de Rodríguez-Acosta in Granada. These three buildings, located in three different cities, are considered by Moneo to be essential for anyone wishing to understand Spain and its architecture.

As such, the book is structured around three essays, each dedicated to one of these buildings. Written under different circumstances, they have been compiled to shape this volume by the renowned Navarrese architect and 1996 Pritzker Prize laureate.

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Through biomimicry, GCP Arquitetura & Urbanismo designed a hotel in southern Bahia that draws inspiration from solutions found in flora and fauna to ensure greater thermal comfort in the buildings and lower the environmental impact of its operation.