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.
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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.
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.
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.
With the launch of the 2021 Obra del Año Award, this year we celebrate the thirteenth anniversary of the most important recognition in the Spanish-speaking architectural world, where the winners are chosen by popular vote. Starting today, Tuesday, March 9, and for the next three weeks, our readers will be responsible for determining which projects inspired us during 2020, representing the identity of our local contexts while shaping the practice of architecture worldwide.
Over the next three weeks, the entire ArchDaily en Español network (Plataforma Arquitectura, ArchDaily México, ArchDaily Colombia, and ArchDaily Perú) will serve as the platform to celebrate the best built architecture in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America.
Among nearly one thousand projects published in 2020, you can easily find your favorites by browsing through the categories and using the search engine to filter projects by country and architecture firm.
The 2021 Obra del Año award is brought to you by Dornbracht, renowned for its leading architectural designs, which can be found internationally in bathrooms and kitchens.
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.
During the opening of the Lima International Architecture Biennial (BIALIMA 2021), the winners of the "CAP-RL 2021 Architecture for Development Award" were announced. This competition aims to showcase architectural and urban planning practices carried out by collectives and architecture firms on the outskirts of Lima, as well as in its degraded areas, delivering infrastructure and interventions through participatory and community processes that help improve the population's quality of life.
ArchDaily In-Depth Profile is an interview series featuring designers with long-term practice in specific architectural typologies. To qualify, featured firms must have been established for over a decade, or possess a substantial portfolio of completed and ongoing projects within a specialized architectural field, having developed a cohesive theoretical framework. Recently, the opening of the East Coast of OH Bay in Bao'an, Shenzhen—with its urban-terrace-like architectural form and cascading landscape design—rapidly became a highly popular landmark. This drew our attention to the planning and design team, Laguarda.Low Architects (LLA). A 20-year-old firm headquartered in New York, with offices in Tokyo and Beijing, they apply their core design philosophy—"building the fundamental concept of every master plan and architectural design on an understanding and development of its role in urban design"—to projects in cities across the globe. This edition of the In-Depth Profile dives into their two decades of achievements and insights.
Conéntrico 07 is the Logroño International Architecture and Design Festival, which proposes a reflection on the urban realm and the city. This annual event invites us to rethink our environment through installations, exhibitions, meetings, performances, workshops, and activities. Open to all residents and visitors, it will take place from September 2 to 5, 2021.
Throughout history, economic crises, health emergencies, and natural disasters—followed by social conflicts, political disagreements, and the search for new places to live—have driven the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. The result: shifts in residency, habitat, and culture.
As the first recreational theme park in Latin America, "La República de los Niños" is located in Manuel B. Gonnet, in the city of La Plata, Argentina. Numerous buildings make up a fantasy city built to scale which, since its inauguration in 1951, has aimed to represent basic social institutions and recognize both human rights and children's rights.
Trenzando is a territorial cooperation platform based on the reuse of the railway system. It seeks to create greater development opportunities in non-metropolitan areas, strengthening local identities and decentralizing access to knowledge and technologies. To this end, they invited architects, students, and interdisciplinary teams to participate in the architectural ideas competition "Rehabilitation of Railway Stations / Trenzando Network," which aimed to promote the recovery of the architectural heritage of railways in four Chilean localities: Rungue (Metropolitan Region), Ocoa (Valparaíso Region), Yumbel, and San Rosendo (Biobío Region).
The pandemic highlighted the importance of open spaces with good natural ventilation. Despite their controversial name, elevated plazas and hanging gardens offer spatial solutions that improve thermal comfort and provide social spaces for residents—and, in some cases, the general public—alongside spectacular views.
Green infrastructure is an approach centered on territorial planning and environmental sustainability. Moreover, it is one of the primary strategies being adopted by communities, municipalities, and governments in cities worldwide to address the climate crisis, improve public health, reduce social segregation, and protect biodiversity. Specifically, it consists of an interconnected system of diverse green spaces that support a range of functions and benefits.
With the opening of the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, 60 nations from around the world showcased unique responses to the question "How will we live together?". Neither the pandemic nor its repercussions hindered the curators' creative process. Instead, they embraced it as a lens to explore how the notion of 'living together' has changed over the past year, and how it can help reimagine better built environments. ArchDaily had the opportunity to meet with Emilio Marín and Rodrigo Sepúlveda, curators of the Chilean Pavilion, to discuss how the pavilion's innovative material came about and what it means for the future of architecture.
Ecosistema Urbano, one of the winners of the J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize, has proposed Cloudroom as part of the 2021 edition of Exhibit Columbus in Columbus, Indiana. The installation seeks to rethink public spaces for education by raising awareness about today's environmental challenges. Floating above a wooden structure on Central Middle School's lawn, this inflatable cloud creates a community space with a shaded microclimate for learning, playing, and sharing. By fostering new learning methodologies through direct experience, it offers a welcoming environment suitable for various activities bridging the school and public space.
An ecological approach and a social focus are the two pillars of Cloudroom, an installation designed in collaboration with the students and staff of Central Middle School. The project responds to the theme “New Middles: From Main Street To Megalopolis, What Is The Future of The Middle City?", proposed by curators Iker Gil and Mimi Zeiger.
The Government of the City of Buenos Aires, through the Secretariat of Urban Development and the Secretariat of Innovation and Digital Transformation, has launched a new digital platform that allows users to visualize the city's Urban Code in 3D. The tool translates and clearly displays existing regulations, providing citizens with easy access to information on the layout of each district and approved construction parameters. What can be built in each neighborhood? What are the maximum heights for each plot? What are the permitted land uses? are some of the questions that can be answered using the platform.
“These types of projects are of vital importance because they seek to reverse social, economic, urban, and political instability, providing organized attention to community needs and creating built platforms that serve as a bridge between the intrapersonal and intra-institutional scales.” Excerpt from the project description of the Community Development Center / OCA + BONINI
Since 2008, World Social Justice Day has been observed every February 20 to support and promote the international community's efforts to achieve sustainable development, poverty eradication, the promotion of full employment and decent work, universal social protection, gender equality, and access to social well-being and justice for all. According to the United Nations, “Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations," representing the core of its mission to promote development and human dignity.
How do we design spaces that are healthy for both our minds and our bodies? That is the main question we seek to answer this March as we address our monthly topic, “Indoor Well-Being.”
The rapid growth of Brazilian cities without adequate oversight by public authorities has resulted in a series of problems stemming from a lack of decent housing. Since the 1980s, grassroots community associations and academics have joined forces to pressure the government into developing housing policies that would not only construct new homes and neighborhoods, but also secure other fundamental rights, such as healthcare and education. Today, forty years after this initial push, we observe a lack of public housing policies across all three levels of government targeting the most vulnerable populations, even as we see a growing popularization of Technical Assistance for Social Interest Housing, known as ATHIS.
The primary responsibility of media is to convey valuable information and knowledge; its secondary duty is to champion social values. Yet its most crucial role remains presenting comprehensive, multi-layered content that directs public attention toward critical issues, ultimately driving incremental social progress.
Over the past year, we found ourselves confined, interacting with the world solely through the narrow windows of our phones and computers. While online meetings saved us time, an overabundance of digital content quickly devolved into a fast-food culture—most of it reduced to floating windows on our screens, where "save for later" essentially meant "never look at again." This rapid consumption has eroded our patience; we no longer wish to wait for the slow shifts in climate, light, shadow, and human activity within a space, craving instead only the immediate satisfaction of perfectly staged "glamour shots." At the same time, the lack of physical contact has gradually locked us into localized echo chambers, siloing architectural design within domestic boundaries. As a result, the unified value community built on social consensus is dissolving, and personal opinions of individual architects are replacing objective standards for evaluating architectural design.
As an international architectural media platform, ArchDaily is raising its editorial standards once again. Our 22 editors worldwide will deliver global, multi-dimensional, open, thematic, and socially conscious architectural content. Through the 2019 and 2020 ArchDaily Topics, we have proven that we offer not just the most comprehensive architectural news, but also a clear perspective. This year, our theme is the "Unity of Knowledge and Action"—a commitment to reality over illusion, rejecting deceptive renderings and hyperbolic puff pieces.
