The 'House for Axel' project by PALMA arose in response to the events of September 19, 2017 (19S), when an earthquake centered in Morelos shook various parts of the country. In response, organizations like Reconstruir México, Pienza Sostenible, and Échale a tu Casa stepped in to support affected families by proposing long-term sustainable solutions. One of the guiding principles behind these initiatives was that demolishing to rebuild from scratch was not the solution. Instead, efforts focused on promoting the reuse of existing materials and structures, allowing for diagnostic assessments of the damage to prevent future disasters.
The Arquitetas Invisíveis collective is pleased to invite researchers, professionals, students, and artists interested in reflections linking architecture across its various scales with gender issues, in different disciplinary fields, to participate in the call for submissions for the 3rd issue of the Arquitetas Invisíveis Magazine.
The Arquitetas Invisíveis collective, the group responsible for publishing the magazine, will also feature selected submissions from this call on its platform – www.arquitetasinvisiveis.com – as deemed appropriate. The magazine and the website stem from a desire to share knowledge and reflections, as well as to contribute to advancing gender discussions in architecture and related fields. This initiative aims to offer a platform to showcase the work of individuals addressing gender in architecture, while fostering interdisciplinary exchange by welcoming contributions from diverse fields—including History, Geography, Sociology, Anthropology, Art, Psychology, and Journalism, among others, as well as non-academic work.
Aros is the winning project of the "Juguetes Urbanos" (Urban Toys) competition, organized by the Laboratory for the City and the Mexico City Government. The competition called for a play-based proposal within Plaza Loreto, located in the historic core of Mexico City's Centro Histórico.
Mexico City's fountains have long been gathering places where children play while waiting for their families to finish the workday. These spots are crucial, perhaps because water carries significant cultural weight in the city; during spring and summer, they regularly draw crowds who engage with public space in this active way.
Traslaciones Sonoras is an urban installation developed by architects Mathias Klenner and Sofía Balbontín, academics at the UDLA School of Architecture, Design, and Construction, in collaboration with architecture students from the Universidad Austral de Chile.
The intervention explores the diverse soundscapes of Valdivia and its surroundings, connecting territories and communities by translating multiple overlooked sounds into the city center in real time.
Read on to discover the project in detail, described in the words of its creators.
As the end of the year approaches, and after celebrating six years in Mexico, we would like to thank you all once again for making 2018 our best year yet. Thanks to your ongoing support and our close connection with our readers, we are now reaching many more architects worldwide to inspire them to create better urban environments for everyone.
Archademy is the world's first accelerator for architects and interior designers. Inspired by startup accelerators, it focuses on structuring small firms to boost professional performance in just a few months.
Much like a consultancy, Archademy offers a customized package for architecture and interior design firms, along with mentoring sessions and workshops. The accelerator also aims to build a professional network, thereby generating job opportunities and collaborations.
Cortesía de Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid [COAM]
On Thursday, November 22, the jury convened by the Madrid City Council, in collaboration with the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM), announced the results of the rehabilitation project for the historic Beti-Jai Fronton in Madrid, Spain.
The competition opened for registration last June, receiving a total of 73 proposals for the intervention on the landmark building. The objective was to find the best proposal to reconcile the preservation of the building's heritage value—declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Asset of Cultural Interest)—with the most appropriate technical solutions for its future use as a sports and cultural venue.
On Saturday, April 14, the continental award ceremony for the Prix Versailles will be held at Castillo Hidalgo in Santiago, Chile. The awards will honor the architecture and design of 24 completed retail, hotel, and restaurant projects across South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and North America.
Learn more about the event and past winners below.
Having previously been the subject of a 2015 art installation by Isaac Julien titled Stones Against Diamonds, Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi will now have her life portrayed on screen in the film Ghost of Lina Bo Bardi, directed by Julien.
Concéntrico is an International Architecture and Design Festival that invites reflection on the city of Logroño (Spain) by revitalizing undervalued public spaces. Its latest edition, Concéntrico 04, takes place between April 27 and May 1, 2018, in the historic center of Logroño. The festival invites visitors to explore the city through installations, exhibitions, meetings, activities, and performances that connect venues, plazas, streets, courtyards, and hidden spaces that typically go unnoticed in daily life. Lucas Seré Paltzer and Sebastián Andrés Podestá explore the connection between space and people through reflection at Plaza de San Bartolomé.
Ever since we announced the results of the competition for the "New Bío Bío Regional Theater," promoted by the Regional Government and the Architecture Area of the National Council of Culture and the Arts, we had been eagerly awaiting the completion of the winning proposal.
https://www.archdaily.com/1114641/the-narrative-behind-the-theater-designed-by-smiljan-radic-eduardo-castillo-and-gabriela-medrano-for-the-biobio-region-in-chilePola Mora
Courtesy of Revista Trama. Issue #135. Drawing by Rubén Moreira
It is rare to find architects who engage with such a wide range of both the theoretical and practical dimensions of the profession. This is the case of Rubén Moreira [1], who approaches architectural design, research, criticism, architectural history, and teaching with equal and outstanding competence [2].
Rubén Moreira not only began his professional practice during a highly fertile period of Ecuadorian architecture, but also witnessed its key quests and transformations [3]. He was part of a generation of architects that reflected deeply on architectural processes, methods, and products [4]. His intellectual curiosity is clearly reflected in his postgraduate studies in Italy under two leading figures of architectural theory: Bruno Zevi and Manfredo Tafuri [5]. He taught design studio and history while pursuing research in architectural history. He also championed the creation of the MAE [6], as well as the Exhibition and Critical Guide of the "Architecture of Quito 1915-1985," which analyzes the context, authors, and landmark projects of each decade.
With over 11,000 Instagram followers, industrial designer Juan Cristóbal Lara(@eljuancri) has transformed his account into a photographic essay of Santiago, Chile. His main subjects are the Andes Mountains, San Cristóbal Hill, and the Mapocho River, all bathed in the rich palette of colors that the sky paints as the hours pass.
Here, we invite you to take a closer look at his work, his personal interests, and his vision of the city he photographs. "On Santiago's hills, you can grasp the magnitude of where you live; they offer the true scale of who each of us is in the city," Lara says.
Meu Coração Bate Como o Seu, the sculpture designed by Guto Requena and built in downtown São Paulo at Praça da República in honor of the LGBT community, has had its wiring destroyed and its internal light bulbs stolen.
Conceived to celebrate 40 years of community activism in São Paulo, the act against his work is, for Requena, homophobic in nature: "The country is becoming too violent, so I have no doubt that the vandalism of my work was intended to target the LGBT community."
Municipal public buildings, licensed urban spaces, and private buildings of collective interest and use will be required to display the names of the authors of the architectural and/or urban design project, as well as the technical professional responsible for the construction. This is mandated by a bill recently approved by the Maringá City Council. The text now goes to the city's mayor, Ulisses Maia, for approval.
In his book *Ten Ways to Design a City*, Catalan urbanist Joan Busquets outlines a decalogue of what he considers the best approaches for intervening in cities to make them more dynamic, sustainable, and better places to live.
Research and drawings by Jose Ignacio Vergara Middleton as part of the Research Workshop "Schapira Eskenazi Arquitectos, Obra Cincuentenaria: 1950 - 2000", professors: Umwelt (Ignacio García Partarrieu, Arturo Scheidegger Alvarado), School of Architecture, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2015.
The practice of Chilean architects Abraham Schapira and Raquel Eskenazi is notable, among many other aspects, for its use of the balcony as a defining element in facade composition. Their work, located primarily in the municipalities of Providencia and Las Condes in Santiago, and in Viña del Mar, offers a rich diversity of typologies, uses, and layouts through formal treatment, engaging with Chile's modern urban proposals.
Human beings are “seeing machines.” Except for those who lack this faculty, our eyes are our greatest generator of information. The brain then interprets these images accordingly… We must not confuse "looking" with the act of "seeing" something. Looking, an automatic and passive response, must become the act of seeing—of processing all those bits of information into something concrete and tangible. Sherlock Holmes observed an earlobe to deduce kinship; Proust, the hem of a dress or the nape of a neck to understand a woman profoundly… Where is the sign hidden? How do we know, in any image—whether verbal, visual, or auditory—which is the signifying part and which is the neutral, empty background, the noise to be discarded?
While our eyes capture and absorb this information, and our brain processes and translates it, it is photography—more specifically, our camera—that manages to retain it, freezing it in a photograph so that once our eyes have stopped looking, they can begin to see. As Le Corbusier simply put it, “one must see what one looks at.”
Dérive LAB is a multidisciplinary laboratory based in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, that seeks to explore, understand, and inspire alternative (new) ways of living and thinking about urban life. Through research, design, and action, they focus on developing art, architecture, urban design, and other disciplinary projects that impact three specific scales: public life, the built environment, and everyday objects.
Aerial view of Asunción (adapted). Image via Flickr User: Tetsumo Licensed under CC BY 2.0
After establishing itself—with ten editions already—as a key reference event for understanding the current and future state of architecture and urbanism in the Ibero-American community, the XI BIAU will take place for the first time in the city of Asunción in October 2019. The program of activities will include the presentation of selected works, keynote lectures, specialized presentations, and panel discussions organized around the central theme: aĩ paragua y (I inhabit - water).
The site where this new plaza will be created is currently underutilized as a public parking lot, failing to leverage the favorable pedestrian conditions of this location, which is surrounded by housing and commerce and strategically located at the intersection of Calle 3 Sur and Av. Del Parque Sur. This gave rise to the National Ideas Competition: Design of Plaza 3 - San Isidro, organized by the College of Architects of Peru alongside the Municipality of San Isidro, with the goal of promoting the development of a reclaimed public space for the benefit of the district's community by creating a welcoming gathering place. At the same time, the urban design proposal is expected to serve as a benchmark for future related competitions.
Ten pieces made of different materials challenge the laws of balance. Using the same typology at different scales, each composition in the Balance collection explores the equilibrium between technique, people, and the ideas that inspire us. Each piece was produced using various traditional crafts, artisanal techniques, and Mexican industrial technologies that Joel has explored at different points in his career.
Architects and engineers have launched a call for free technical assistance in the design, renovation, or construction of social housing—already established by a 2008 law—to "be more than a law; to become a State Policy, as part of the social right to housing guaranteed by the Constitution."
The appeal was made at the opening of the Seminar on Technical Assistance for Social Housing, hosted by CAU/BR and the Federal Council of Engineering and Agronomy (CONFEA) in Brasília on the 15th of this month. If the proposal is adopted, Brazil would have the equivalent of a "SUS" (Unified Health System) for social housing. The proposal is part of the "Open Letter to Candidates in the 2018 Elections for the Right to the City," recently released by CAU/BR and the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB).
On the occasion of Pope Francis's visit to Chile, the Metropolitan Cathedral Chapter requested conservation work on the Cathedral's vaulted ceiling to improve safety and the condition of the ornamentation after recent earthquakes, aiming to safeguard the many faithful who visit the Cathedral daily.
