This guide shows how to use a D5 Render a free live-sync plugin to improve SketchUp workflow.

The world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train service has begun operations in Germany. The 100% hydrogen-fueled rail line debuted in the small town of Bremervörde, near Hamburg. A total of 14 trains will replace diesel locomotives across nearly 100 kilometers of track in the northern part of the country. In addition to Bremervörde, the regional line serves the cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, and Buxtehude.

"Architecture and urbanism have the opportunity to offer solutions that involve looking beyond the discipline itself, so that the margins and boundaries of necessity lead us to seek actions outside of standard practice. Positioning ourselves on the margins allows us to see new alternatives, expand the practice, and have a perspective that is not central, but peripheral," say Anna Vergés and Guillem Augé (UNDO), curators of the XII Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, whose central theme is "Habitar al margen" (Living on the Margins).

The eighth edition of the Open House Madrid festival returns with a program that includes 93 buildings, 33 studios, 8 routes, 7 activities, and 10 itineraries. Titled "More Open Than Ever," it aims to reflect the welcoming character of the city and, at the same time, its openness to the world.

From fungi to architecture: this is how the team at Mushbio introduces their decorative cladding panel inspired by the Andes. Manufactured using parametric design, the panel is made from mushroom mycelium. Beyond contributing to cultural identity by mirroring the topography of the Ecuadorian and Latin American landscape, it offers thermo-acoustic properties, lightness, and a unique aesthetic, bringing nature into interior spaces.

Videos

As part of his recent releases over the past few months, the globally renowned reggaeton artist Bad Bunny debuted his new music video for the song "El Apagón," a track from his latest album "Un verano sin ti." Although the song was already streaming across various platforms, few anticipated that the video's release would serve as a powerful political stance on the current situation in Puerto Rico.

On Thursday, September 14, the first stage of the Mapocho Río Park was inaugurated in Santiago. Designed by the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism, the project is one of the most significant urban works in the Metropolitan Region, spanning a total of 52 hectares and 9 kilometers in length.

Slow Down! is the theme driving the 9th edition of the Arquiteturas Film Festival to the city of Porto, marking a change in both location and organization. Now organized by INSTITUTO under the direction of architect Paulo Moreira, the 2022 edition of the Arquiteturas Film Festival establishes itself as an international platform to discuss and disseminate architectural production through films, exhibitions, and debates.

Over its 457-year history, the built landscape of Rio de Janeiro has taken shape in diverse ways. During its first few centuries, the city developed around Rua Direita (now Rua Primeiro de Março), consisting primarily of two-story row houses, typically featuring a single door and two windows on the ground floor. This layout stemmed from the measurement standard of the era, the *braça* (fathom), with plots usually measuring three *braças* wide (each *braça* equivalent to 2.2 meters). Rio's land ownership profile has always driven its urban form, and the Portuguese plot—with its narrow frontage and deep lot—defined an era and left an indelible mark on the city's development. 

The Mexican firm Faci Leboreiro, led by Carlos Faci and Marina Leboreiro, has been recognized at the Grands Prix du Design in Quebec, Canada, for the interior design of their project Estudio Basalto, receiving the Gold Certification in the Office category. The fifteenth edition of the competition—which celebrates international excellence and exemplary practice among architects and designers—was held at the Théâtre Le Capitole before a jury of prominent professionals and academics.

While the construction industry has been advancing into new fields like nanotechnology and 3D printing for years, it is still one of the most technologically lagging sectors. Many innovations remain purely experimental, and despite constant efforts to reverse this trend, we face a troubling reality: construction is one of the world's most polluting and waste-generating industries.

Mitigating climate change and adapting to the risks of more frequent extreme events demand a rapid and radical transformation of cities worldwide, as they account for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, the impacts of a changing climate are not shared uniformly across all cities; those who feel its most intense effects are precisely the most vulnerable populations. Achieving inclusive, low-carbon urban transformations tailored to diverse urban contexts requires bringing the global climate agenda down to the local scale—to the people who live in and know their neighborhoods.

The vulnerability found in countries on the periphery of capitalism, such as Brazil, has wide-ranging consequences that are evident both in statistics and in how the occupied territory is shaped. Peripherization and the struggle to access fundamental rights—such as healthcare, education, and housing—are among these consequences. Addressing these challenges falls to organized social groups striving to build alternatives within this context, as seen in social movements and Usina CTAH, an architectural practice dedicated to providing technical assistance to organized social groups.

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Videos

On Wednesday, September 28, the 18th edition of the Buenos Aires International Architecture Biennale opened at the Faena Art Center in Puerto Madero, where it will run through Sunday, October 2. The five-day event celebrates and recognizes the social value of architecture and urbanism, bringing together leading contemporary architects and urbanists. For the first time, the event is free and open to the public.

Raúl Cárdenas and Ana Martínez (ToroLab), alongside Anna Vergés and Guillem Augé (UNDO), are the curators of the XII Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism. In 2022, under the theme "Living on the Margins," the biennial set out to showcase the work of those who are providing solutions to growing social, environmental, and economic needs outside the mainstream system. To this end, they fostered a space for reflection on the use of individual and collective space—bridging the home and the street—sparking an optimistic and timely debate on the urban challenges facing the Ibero-American landscape.

The Brazilian Steel Construction Center (CBCA) has announced the winners of the 15th CBCA Competition for Architecture Students. In this nationwide competition, teams were challenged to address the theme “Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.”

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The Jockey Club Córdoba, in collaboration with the Architects' Association of the Province of Córdoba (CAPC), launched a National Ideas Competition to strengthen the club's identity as a sports, recreational, and cultural hub for the city. Located in the south-central area of Córdoba, the competition sought proposals and programs capable of fostering synergy between different disciplines, encouraging member interaction, and creating high-quality spaces for activities.

For a long time, cars were the primary protagonists of major cities. This prioritization resulted in territories occupied mostly by highways, leaving them uninviting to people. In recent years, however, many cities have undergone spatial transformations, seeking to reshape their relationship with automobiles and prioritize pedestrians and the human scale. 

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The winning proposal for the construction of the new infrastructure for the Faculty of Performing Arts at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) has been announced. The project will be designed by the prestigious architecture firm Barclay & Crousse. The new building aims to centralize Performing Arts activities on the PUCP campus and strengthen a sense of community by bringing theater, performing arts creation and production, music, and dance together in an integrated space for learning where the architecture itself becomes a stage and a landscape for education.

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The winners of the 5th Latin American Landscape Architecture Biennial (BLAP 2022) have been announced. The biennial aims to demonstrate the role of landscape architecture in constructing the human habitat. Serving as a catalyst for reflection and creative inspiration, the Sociedad de Arquitectos Paisajistas de México, A.C., the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), IFLA Americas Region (IFLA AR), the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Azcapotzalco, and the Universidad Anáhuac Campus México invited submissions of landscape architecture projects completed in Latin America between 2017 and 2022.

During the fourth day of the 18th Buenos Aires International Biennial of Architecture, the Biennial Awards were announced, highlighting architectural projects and works developed over the last four years both nationally and internationally. Awarded by the Biennial's Steering Committee, the categories spanned from single-family housing, multi-family housing, and interior design to landscape, urban space, and public and private facilities.

Nearly 100 million Brazilians lack access to sewage collection, according to data from Trata Brasil. The Guaranys community, part of Cidade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro and home to about 450 families, is part of this statistic. The area features homes built entirely in flooded zones and open sewers. To address this issue, the community was selected for a social project that installs biodigester toilets in vulnerable areas.

According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)—which organizes global data and supports research in this field—thermal comfort is defined as the condition of the mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment. Why is it important to study adaptive comfort in Latin American climates? Given that 40% of the population lives in the tropics, designing architecture capable of adapting to tropical climates is essential. Consequently, in line with human-centered design, strategies must be tailored to the specific local conditions in which they are implemented.

Franco Morales, technical director of EBP Chile, who plays a cross-cutting role across the company's various departments (construction, climate change, and local energy), frequently collaborates with the CEELA Project. Following his participation in the energy retrofitting project for the Juan XXIII School in Montería, Colombia, and identifying a widespread challenge—namely, schools built without an architecture suited to their climatic context—he has begun developing a sustainable design manual for educational institutions in hot-dry and hot-humid climates.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest book trade fair in terms of publishing representation, taking place every year in mid-October. In this edition, Spain is the Guest of Honor, presenting a unique opportunity to showcase its culture and literature to the world.

Estúdio 41 is a name frequently seen on lists of design competition winners throughout Brazil. Based in Curitiba, the architecture firm was born out of a collaboration between architects who graduated from UFPR, dedicating its energy to developing competition proposals where inquiry, experimentation, and innovation find fertile ground. What is striking is that the team—composed of João Gabriel Rosa, Martin Kaufer Goic, Eron Costin, Emerson Vidigal, and Fabio Henrique Faria—has achieved a remarkable success rate, with completed projects such as the Antarctic Station and the Fecomércio Headquarters.

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