São Paulo-based firm Hiperstudio has been named the winner of the national competition to redevelop Senac Belo Horizonte, organized by the Institute of Architects of Brazil. With a proposal that emphasizes the spatial quality of the ground floor, characterized by the presence of pilotis, the studio convinced the jury, which was looking for projects capable of "dialoguing with the historical and cultural contexts in which the unit is inserted, while respecting the urban and architectural configuration of Belo Horizonte's downtown area."

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"Architecture Without Architects" is a project led by Mexican artist Sandra Calvo between 2011 and 2014 in the neighborhood of Villa Gloria—a self-built housing complex in Ciudad Bolívar, a district in southern Bogotá. Working in collaboration with a resident family, the project involved creating a thread structure that reflected their latent aspirations for their own home through design and building practices.

In April 2021, the A8 Design Center in Chengdu presented "2-Kilometer Lakeshore: 2021 Luxelakes Cross-disciplinary Exhibition of Independent Architects from Southwest China." The exhibition invited 31 independent architects to build experimental, interactive, and experiential micro-spaces along the Luxelakes waterfront, offering 31 distinct perspectives on the world. Operating under a tight budget of 30,000 RMB, the architects infused their creations with self-reflection and their own understanding of publicness. By facilitating dialogue among the architects and between the architects and the public, the exhibition sought to further stimulate public engagement with design.

Through the works of these 31 local young architects with global perspectives, we witness the diverse values of a new generation and their multi-dimensional thinking on architecture. Limu Architectural Lab deconstructs architecture into columns, plinths, roofs, and envelopes, dissolving pure form; Uyoung Architects boldly deploys pink walls to establish relationships of "seeing and being seen" and "hearing and being heard" with the environment; Bai Yang uses 70 hemlock logs to support an "iron hat"; TEKTONN ARCHITECTS uses 150 bamboo poles to construct an accessible rest area; Fanzhu Design uses iron to create three continuous arched spaces that offer shelter and passage; 00Group creates an enclosed, mirrored space; MUDA-Architects builds a "periscope" by the lake, featuring a bubble wrap facade that invites tactile interaction.

The latest data from SICCAU reinforces the importance of architects and urban planners during times of crisis and necessity. With the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainty and business restrictions caused demand for projects and construction to drop drastically in the first months of last year. However, after this initial shock, the architecture and urban planning market showed a strong recovery. In the final three months of 2020, the number of activities registered by architects and urban planners grew by 12% compared to the same period in 2019. 

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Galería RGR presents for the first time in Latin America the exhibition You Are Everything by Danish artist Jeppe Hein, which creates a space for social interaction and intercultural dialogue. This space aims to activate the works through visitor engagement, offering opportunities for exchange among them and fostering a form of interaction that emerges between the artwork and the audience. 

Videos

Rafael Araujo is a Venezuelan architect and illustrator who began observing intelligent patterns in nature when he was only fifteen years old. For over 40 years, he has been drawing them entirely by hand, equipped with only a pencil, a compass, a ruler, and a protractor.

In the following interview, we delve into his motivations and reflections on geometric representation systems, examining their application in the fields of design and architecture. 

The Official Associations of Architects of Castilla y León (COACYLE - COAL) have announced the winners of their 11th Architecture and Urbanism Awards, aiming to recognize and showcase the innovative, imaginative, and cutting-edge work produced each year in the region.

The Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Rio de Janeiro (CAU/RJ) is conducting an unprecedented study to profile architects and urban planners working in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The survey primarily aims to gather data on professionals working outside the capital and those employed in the public sector. The initiative also seeks to gather input for the council's strategic planning for the 2021–2023 triennium.

In the architecture industry, environmental sustainability applied to the design and production of eco-efficient products has been receiving increasing attention. In this episode, Arquicast speaks with Sami Meira, an architect graduated from Florida Atlantic University and a specialist in Sustainable Business Strategy and Material Health. 

The Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) has always been prolific in formulating new and transformative ways of observing our cities. A critical gaze directed at objects we commonly overlook in daily life is also one of its hallmark traits. As part of his final master's thesis for the MBArch program in Barcelona, Chilean architect Javier Toledo Cárdenas brings together these two approaches to studying reality in The Interior of Monuments.

Zuccardi Valle de Uco in Mendoza, Argentina, has been selected for the third time as the world's best vineyard and the best vineyard in South America in the World's Best Vineyards ranking. To mark this achievement, we highlight the winery designed by architects Tom Hughes, Fernando Raganato, and Eugenia Mora. Explore the project below through photographs captured by Estudio García+Betancourt.

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Understanding that architecture is inherently collaborative is what led us to speak with Sebastián Serna Hosie, one of the most prominent young figures in Colombian architecture. In the following Instagram Live interview, we delve into his perspective on collaboration, using his project Espacio Cuadrilla as an example.

The Museum of the Portuguese Language will reopen on July 31, rebuilt after the fire that struck it in December 2015. One of the first museums entirely dedicated to a language, located in the historic Luz Station in the city with the largest Portuguese-speaking population in the world, the museum celebrates the language as a founding element of Brazilian culture. Through interactive experiences, audiovisual content, and immersive environments, visitors are taken on a journey into the history and diversity of the language spoken by 261 million people worldwide. The official opening ceremony on July 31 will be streamed live on the museum's social media channels.

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Citymakers is working with ArchDaily to publish a series of articles, conversations, and interviews with different actors in urban co-production, who are behind the Citymakers Barcelona Lab 2021, a program returning to Barcelona between November 8 and 12, 2021.

CityMakers is the global platform of experts in urban co-production best practices, seeking to connect city co-producers and influential leaders from around the world to inspire each other and drive transformation in their cities.

For this edition, Albert Santasusagna del Riu – IdRA – Barcelona Water Research Institute, presents his article "Towards a Globalization of Water Landscapes? Context Matters!".

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In the field of urban planning, data collection and management have ushered in a new era in the analysis of urban form, unlocking new resources to understand, evaluate, monitor, and manage the development and evolution of cities. Many countries offer open access to their catalogs and datasets with up-to-date information on their cities, allowing anyone in the world to access records with data on the built environment. Since visual culture has prevailed as a means of interpretation and communication in urban planning, translating this data into graphics and synthesizing the information into visual maps is a task that has been widely embraced by cartographers, urban planners, and architects.

The National University of Rosario, one of the most prestigious universities in Argentina, will award an honorary doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) to Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza on June 24, 2021, during a public online ceremony.

'Experiencias del Espacio Moderno en el Valle Central de Chile' is a project by Glenn Deulofeu, a professor at the University of Talca School of Architecture.

Developed in collaboration with the university's Heritage Documentation Center, the project features 15 micro-documentaries on the most relevant and enduring works of modern architecture currently standing in this region of the country.

Watch the videos and discover the history through Deulofeu's words below.

This article by Pablo DeSoto was originally published in the 27th issue of the Dearq journal on July 1, 2020 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.18389/dearq27.2020.07). It is presented here as part of a joint collaboration to contribute to the dissemination of research, analysis, and opinions developed by the national and international academic community on architecture, urban issues, and related fields.

Founded in 2010, Origin Architect seeks to root its practice in the complexities and conflicts of contemporary reality, drawing from them the power of symbiosis and integration.

Organized by the Association of Architects of the Province of Buenos Aires (CAPBA) and promoted by the Ministry of Territorial Development and Habitat, the Casa Propia – PROCREAR II Housing Project Competition was launched with the goal of implementing an action plan to facilitate access to permanent housing. This initiative aims to improve the affordability of housing solutions for all social sectors in response to current demand in Argentina.

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Growing up in the rolling coastal countryside of Dorset in West England, Fred Rigby drew creative inspiration from natural elements—a passion that ultimately shaped his design philosophy. Characterized by organic forms, natural symbolism, and earthy materials, his work fosters a deep connection to nature within indoor environments. Premium Scandinavian design brand MENU collaborated with Rigby to develop their latest office furniture collection as a response to the pandemic-induced shift toward working from home. By integrating the warm, soft, and nature-centric qualities of his work, the collection aims to bring a sense of calm to the anxieties of our time.

Founded in Shanghai in 2016, atelier tao+c’s practice spans diverse scopes and scales—from a single pendant light to an entire neighborhood, from urban micro-residential interiors to rural house renovations, and from street-front retail to youth communities. Alongside their practical work, they focus on research topics such as building adaptive reuse and the domestic settlement of objects in living spaces. Free from the constraints of typology and scale, the studio approaches every design with a focus on scale, construction, proximity and intimacy, and the reconciliation of the past with the immediate present. By reconstructing the exploration and understanding of typology, they seek to reveal the latent possibilities of each site.

“Despacio” challenges intuitive thinking about cities, life, and the climate. Based in Colombia, this organization seeks to find ways to experience the city at an appropriate pace, moving toward a humane and sustainable urban space. It supports urban climate change mitigation and adaptation through actions in both the public and private spheres, while fostering individual, family, and professional well-being at every stage of life.

“Vivo mi Calle” is one of its participatory initiatives—recently awarded the FIIU 2021 Ocupa Prize—which promotes the right to healthy cities by creating public spaces and safe routes alongside youth. The initiative consists of a series of urban interventions in the city of Cali, carried out in collaboration with local children and adolescents, with the aim of transforming these areas into safe spaces for community gathering, learning, and neighborhood integration.

In the following interview with Natalia Lleras, director of the Vivo Mi Calle project, we discuss the different facets of their work, their recognition, their motivations, and the initiative's future outlook.

In November 2021, the Mayor Bruno Covas Augusta Municipal Park opened in central São Paulo. Despite the celebrations, the outcome could have been better. The decision to turn the area into a park was the result of a process that dragged on for years between developers planning to build residential and commercial towers on the site, and residents and activist groups advocating for a park on the same plot of land.