In this year's edition, the Electrolux Architecture Competition addressed the challenges of vertical architecture for sustainable cities, promoting new ways to generate innovative programmatic design, public benefit, and community integration. With a focus on contextual relevance, the initiative sought to enhance both public space and quality of life for urban residents.

First prize was awarded to architecture students Mateo Loayza Montalvo, Gabriel Ceballos Melillán, Sebastián Quiroz Lara, and Francisco Beltrán Ayala, from the School of Architecture at Universidad Andres Bello, under the guidance of professors Juan Agustín Soza and Mauricio Bruna and external professor Eduardo Maldonado. Located opposite the historic Patio 29, the project proposes a vision for the relationship between the cemeteries of the future and high-rise structures.

Read more about the project in the authors' own words below.

Numerous studies have examined the relationship between gender and urban mobility, concluding that women face greater challenges in exercising their right to the city and accessing urban opportunities. The unequal division of domestic labor places a heavier burden on women, who shoulder tasks such as school drop-offs and pick-ups, caring for elderly or sick relatives, and grocery shopping. Consequently, this largely shapes a travel pattern characterized by trip-chaining—making multiple, sequential stops—and relying heavily on walking and public transit.

Videos

The city of Hiroshima, Japan, has selected prominent Chilean visual artist, architect, and filmmaker Alfredo Jaar as the winner of the 11th edition of the prize (Hiroshima Art Prize).

Jaar, who studied architecture at the University of Chile before permanently leaving the field in 1980, worked during the Chilean military dictatorship on projects such as Studies on Happiness (1979-1981) and Opus 1981 / Andante desesperato performance (1981), before settling permanently in the United States. Jaar's global recognition is reflected in his participation in the 1987 and 2002 editions of Documenta, as well as the retrospectives dedicated to his work in 2012 by the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) and the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin.

This Saturday, May 26, the Peruvian pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale will open, and Lima's huacas will never be seen in the same light again—or at least they shouldn't be—thanks to "En Reserva" (In Reserve), the curatorial proposal by Marianela Castro de la Borda, Janeth Boza, and Javier Lizarzaburu, which manages to synthesize 4,000 years of architecture in a 250-square-meter space.

Through a poetic reading, the curators guide us through an ancient Lima and its contested huacas as a "knot city," seeking to rediscover its infinite potential as a "living city" that develops while respecting all its historical layers. The curators' goal is to highlight the existence of 447 neglected and dormant huacas in the Peruvian capital, while simultaneously revealing their potential to become the public spaces that Lima's residents so eagerly need and desire.

After seven days of voting, we are pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Building of the Year Award. This architectural prize highlights projects chosen by our readers, who filtered through thousands of built projects in Portuguese-speaking countries and, after selecting 15 finalists, voted for the top three works published on ArchDaily in 2017.

Our expert jury—namely you, our readers—did an outstanding job selecting three projects that represent an architectural production deeply rooted in material conception and closely tied to their built and social contexts.

Discover the winning projects below!

Recognizing that well-designed and high-quality sidewalks encourage walking in cities, the City of Florianópolis has launched the Calçada Certa program, aiming to ensure legal guidelines for sidewalk design are followed and to guide citizens in designing and building public walkways.

The program is accompanied by an illustrated manual presenting recent updates to the ABNT NBR 9050/2015 and ABNT NBR 16537/2016 standards. These address, respectively, accessibility in buildings, furniture, urban spaces, and equipment, and tactile paving design.

Surprising as it may seem, Spain currently lacks a national Law on Architecture and Habitability to recognize and promote the value of the profession to the country's economic, social, and cultural development.

However, 2017 brought two major developments that can and should provide the momentum needed to advance toward a crucial national law. First, the passage on November 8 of the Public Sector Contracts Law, which, according to Jordi Ludevid, president of the Superior Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE), represents "a spectacular and highly positive change" for architects. Second, the approval on June 28, 2017, of Spain’s first-ever architecture legislation, the Catalonia Architecture Law.

+ 5

There is no manual on architecture competitions to guarantee success; rather, the specific conditions and the different ways of approaching the problem determine whether a proposal is appropriate and, hopefully, a winner. Some participants push their capabilities to the limit, treating the project as a deeply personal challenge. However, the solutions we find in difficult moments strengthen our confidence, proving just how far we can go. There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of a job well done after hours of effort and dedication.

Below, we share three tips from Colombian architect Dan Gamboa, who won the SkyCity Challenge 17 architecture competition in China. His winning project merges a library with a children's playground. According to Gamboa, the proposal was developed in just 48 hours after his team pulled out of the competition a week prior.

+ 8

It is an honor to present the exhibition of architect and designer Oscar Hagerman, which highlights the significance of his theoretical, practical, and aesthetic contributions to creating designs rooted in everyday life. As one of the most prominent figures in participatory design and collaborative work with Indigenous communities, this exhibition highlights Hagerman's extensive social work in Mexico's rural communities and the mutual learning fostered through close cooperation with the groups he works with.

The exhibition features a selection of five designs with eight chair variations created throughout his career. Each represents the architect's creative reflections, showcasing his close relationship with artisans from different regions of the country. The result is an exhibition that condenses his learning into the simple form of the chair, a shape he considers the most humble in architecture.

Stadium, Chile's pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale, is presented through a large-scale model of the National Stadium of Santiago, aiming to illustrate local housing policies.

The exhibition, curated by architect Alejandra Celedón, aims for these elements—both fragile and heavy—to tell the story of the moment when citizens 'without homes' became homeowners for the first time, serving as "symbolic fragments of this transmutation."

+ 7

On Tuesday, March 20, the board members of the College of Architects of Chile met with the newly appointed Minister of Housing and Urbanism (MINVU), Cristián Monckeberg, along with Paz Serra, Head of the MINVU Urban Development Division, and journalist Sebastián Zúñiga, Chief of Staff.

They shared their professional experience in urban development and architecture and invited the Minister to establish a joint working group that could include other government agencies, civil society, and the private sector. The association presented six key areas of focus for this new presidential term:

Videos

The dynamics of city dwellers are shaped by their daily routines, including the work they perform, their schedules, and their chosen mode of transportation. Furthermore, physical and mental conditions underpin how people interact with the streets. This experience is entirely subjective, determined by factors such as age, height, or any physical condition involving the loss of a sense or limb.

People walk, crossing at traffic lights when they see the signal change, while simultaneously listening to a playlist on their phones. They recognize textures because they see them, and they track the direction of the wind visually. They perceive the city without deeply engaging with the sensory information they receive.

+ 15

The year 2018 has been filled with achievements and surprises for the architectural community. As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the crucial role competitions play in reinforcing the global image of each region or country. Mexico was no exception, securing nearly 18 international recognitions (including grants, competitions, nominations, etc.) that showcased its key interests and goals for the coming years to the rest of the world. This selection highlights the prominent participation of Mexican architects Frida Escobedo and Rozana Montiel—both invited and recognized on multiple occasions at some of the industry's most prestigious events—as well as outstanding projects like the Teopanzolco Cultural Center by Isaac Broid + Productora, which received several national and international awards.

Read on for the complete list.

Videos

Olivia de Oliveira completed her doctoral thesis on architect Lina Bo Bardi at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) and is the author of the book "Lina Bo Bardi. Built Works," which grew out of a 2002 visit to Lina's constructed buildings alongside photographer Nelson Kon. In this work, she presents the full architectural complexity and the cultural, political, and social visions of the architect. The book has just been re-released in Brazil in Portuguese by Editora Gustavo Gili.

In the following interview, we delve deeper into the story behind the book and into Lina Bo Bardi's legacy through the author's perspective. Oliveira touches on crucial topics such as the construction site, the surrealism present in the architect's work, and the ongoing preservation of her buildings.

Videos

Like any port city, Barranquilla, Colombia, has historically turned its back on the Magdalena River, a waterway of over 1,500 kilometers flowing down from the Andes Mountains to empty into the Caribbean Sea. Although its urban fabric overlooks the river, the road known as Vía 40 has been the city's true boundary. Between this highway and the river, industrial zones and vacant lots serve as buffers.

"For many years we had a wall blocking this view for 70 years," said Barranquilla Mayor Alejandro Char last February during the inauguration of the second section of the River Boardwalk, an urban project that seeks to restore the city's relationship with the river, which runs through 11 of Colombia's departments.

Following last year's designation of the Gimnasio Maravillas, designed by Alejandro de la Sota, the Community of Madrid has declared the Capitol Building an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) under the Monument category. This designation continues the region's initiative to protect and promote 20th-century Spanish modern architecture.

Also known as the Carrión Building, the Capitol Building was designed by architects Vicente Eced and Luis Martínez Feduchi. Construction began on April 21, 1931, and the building officially opened on October 15, 1933.

+ 5

A Portuguese architect from a traditional aristocratic family, Fernando Távora's education was shaped by a profound discursive shift upon coming into contact with modernism. He often said that he "entered university in love with the Venus de Milo and left in love with Picasso," reflecting his intellectual brilliance in recognizing modernist initiatives as something with which he had to establish a dialogue. In 1945, he wrote for the first time about a "third way" for Portuguese architecture, a contribution that resonated both in his teaching—closely tied to the Porto School—and in his practice, finding direct and striking expression in several of his projects.

With more than 350 Colombian projects now published on ArchDaily, we celebrate this milestone with a curated selection that highlights the value of drawings in conceptualizing, designing, and constructing contemporary Colombian architecture.

While drawing is often associated with a project's earliest conceptual stages, Colombian architects continue to use sketching to explain structure, program, and even construction details in an era otherwise dominated by the efficiency of 3D modeling and rendering.

This selection ranges from single-family homes to public parks, including mixed-use facilities, kindergartens, and university buildings across Colombia.

+ 36

Prix Versailles is an international recognition promoted by UNESCO that addresses architecture and design—both interior and exterior—of commercial projects across four categories: shops, shopping malls, hotels, and restaurants. Its goal is to foster a better interaction between commercial and cultural spaces, highlighting the few examples that successfully achieve this.

This year, competing against numerous finalist projects from six major continental regions, the Porcelanosa Grupo showroom in Santiago, Chile, by Gonzalo Mardones V Arquitectos received the special prize for its exterior design in the shops category.

Discover the project in detail and read the architect's thoughts below.

Located on São Paulo's most iconic avenue, after eight years of construction, the new Sesc São Paulo unit will open its doors on April 29. With programming based on the triad of “Art, Body, and Technology,” the institution expects to welcome approximately 18,000 visitors per week.

The Instituto Tomie Ohtake AkzoNobel Architecture Prize, aimed at professionals up to 45 years old, shows that Brazilian architectural production is not currently experiencing a good moment. The responsibility, certainly, does not lie with our architects and urban planners, but with the lack of importance that public administrators, in general, have given to urban interventions and high-quality design.

One could argue, given the few outstanding proposals, that this is the result of the current economic crisis and the standstill in the real estate sector and public policies linked to the built environment, such as urban design, housing, mobility, social infrastructure, and the environment.

A federal building abandoned for decades may soon be rehabilitated to provide quality housing for socially vulnerable families in downtown Porto Alegre. This is the proposal of a project selected in the funding call for Technical Assistance for Social Interest Housing (ATHIS) programs by the Council of Architecture and Urbanism (CAU/RS). Made possible by the Architects' Union of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, the project aims to turn the building in the Floresta neighborhood into a decent home for approximately 40 low-income families.

For this edition of International Women's Day, we have joined forces with the Colombian print publication de-Arq (Universidad de los Andes) to explore the work of five contemporary Colombian women architects, who represent different complementary approaches within our discipline: design, research, teaching, and experimentation.

Today we speak with Beatríz García Moreno, a Colombian architect, professor in doctoral and master's programs at local universities, and a member of the World Association of Psychoanalysis. "Women contribute not only to the traditional areas of architecture for which they are fully trained, but also to the ancestral themes that have shaped their dwelling in the world," comments García Moreno.

The Chilean City in the Press is a new section on ArchDaily en Español where we cover the key urban issues facing Chilean cities across the country. This is our editorial roundup of everything you need to stay up to date.

In this first edition, we cover the University of Chile's proposal to rehabilitate the Villavicencio Tower in Santiago, the National Monuments Council's interest in preserving the birthplace of the late poet Nicanor Parra, and urban news from Valparaíso, Concepción, and Valdivia.