Starting in May, Argentina reaffirms its presence at the Venice Biennale with an invitation to critically rethink the territory.

The "Imagined Lines" exhibition in the Argentine Pavilion, Horizontal Vertigo, curated by architects Javier Mendiondo, Pablo Anzilutti, Francisco Garrido, and Federico Cairoli, is a proposal to rediscover the territory as a collective construction—based on the potential of the relationship we perceive between territory and society—understanding architecture through its capacity to spark unexpected possibilities in each project.

Explore the selected projects and a statement from the curators below.

The results of the competition for the Brazilian Pavilion at EXPO 2020 were announced today, November 12. The objective of the competition was to select a proposal and subsequently commission the complete Executive Project (Architectural Design, Complementary Engineering Projects, and Exhibition Design), construction supervision, consulting, and related services for the Brazilian Pavilion at the World Expo. The competition was promoted by Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency) and organized by the Federal District Department of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB/DF). 

According to the competition brief, “the Brazilian Pavilion should highlight diversity with the theme TOGETHER FOR DIVERSITY, sub-divided into nature, people, and tomorrow (Together for Nature, Together for People, and Together for Tomorrow). These are the starting points for the architects to showcase the diversity of fauna and flora, the ethnic, creative, and cultural multiplicity of our people, and present Brazil as a unifying country, as well as a key global actor in international sustainability issues. The keyword summarizing the Brazilian theme is sociobiodiversity—and the Brazilian Pavilion, from its conception, must reflect this unique characteristic of the country.”

The Council of Architecture and Urbanism (CAU) has re-released the free guidebook on Technical Assistance for Social Interest Housing (ATHIS), originally published by CAU/SC. The 60-page document contextualizes this assistance work in relation to public authorities, the general public, and professionals, presenting different service delivery scenarios.

Brazil's greatest living architect, Paulo Mendes da Rocha does not appreciate architecture alone. Music is also part of his daily life, and this playlist—shared with us by his daughter, Joana Mendes da Rocha—features some of the musical preferences of our Golden Lion.

The Institut Ramon Llull has presented the project RCR. Dream and Nature_Catalonia in Venice in Barcelona, an exhibition showcasing RCR Arquitectes as part of the collateral events of the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, set to open on May 26.

Representing Catalonia at the 2018 Venice Biennale, the project is co-curated by journalist Pati Núñez and architect Estel Ortega alongside the 2017 Pritzker Prize-winning firm. Together, they have created a space free of scale models or blueprints to "investigate and rethink humanity's relationship with the world, located at the La Vila estate in Vall de Bianya (Girona, Catalonia)," according to an official statement from the Catalan institute.

Thanks to its geographical and climatic characteristics, Bogotá has great potential for the development and enjoyment of nature tourism. The Colombian capital is bordered by the beautiful Eastern Hills, which connect with countless parks and trails that welcome visitors.

Among its natural wonders is the Sumapaz Páramo, the largest of its kind in the world. Exploring each of these places is undoubtedly an experience that few have the opportunity to enjoy and admire. As a result, numerous activities have sparked public interest in weaving together a city rich in environmental assets, including parks, rivers, wetlands, and gardens.

Placing five low-income families from a settlement in southern Lima, Peru, at the center of local and global design. That is the vision behind CIUDADES [en] VISIBLE.

CIUDADES [en] VISIBLE will be the flagship competition of MUTUO, and this is its pilot edition. MUTUO is a collaborative project dedicated to the dream of decent housing, founded in 2016 by Mar Layseca and Sebastian Paredes Smith, both architects who graduated from the School of Architecture of the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas.

The competition focuses on designing homes for five low-income families within the 3 de Diciembre settlement in Lurín. The Acarraz, Huamán, López, Salazar, and Teccse families will be the protagonists of this architectural challenge.

At FITUR, the Logroño City Council presented LA CALLE ES UN MUSEO (The Street is a Museum), a project aimed at revitalizing tourism and cultural visits in the city by showcasing public artworks and their creative processes, narrated by the artists themselves.

The Mirador La Cocha Botanical Garden proposal by students Germán López, María Echeverry, and Julián Villescas was awarded second place in the ninth edition of the steel design competition for architecture students in Colombia (Alacero Colombia), which focused this year on a greenhouse pavilion for a botanical park.

Under a unified structural concept, the project is divided into three blocks—an entrance building, a circulation ring, and greenhouse pavilions—and aims to establish itself as "a space of high educational and research value that seeks to promote the preservation and conservation of representative and threatened botanical species" in the Colombian department of Nariño.

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The graduate program Architecture, Education, and Society hosted philosophy professor Lorenzo Mammì to discuss the development of interpretations of works of art and architecture.

Lorenzo Mammì approaches the interpretation of architectural works from a perspective related to philosophy, music, and the visual arts, which are key areas of interest. The discussion addresses the varying readings of works, as well as the relationship between these analyses and the production process.

Media and technology have been revolutionizing content creation across diverse niches, and architecture is no exception. YouTube channels, television shows, and specialized playlists on architecture and urbanism are just a few examples. Over the last few years, however, podcasts have emerged as a powerful alternative. Unlike other media, podcasts are an audio-only format shared across a wide range of platforms—from specialized websites to blogs. Today, there are countless listening options available, both Brazilian (as listed below) and international, as previously published by ArchDaily.

Finding specialized podcasts can be a daunting task. To help, we have gathered a list of nine Brazilian podcast channels for you to listen to. Put on your headphones and check them out:

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The Son Jarocho Documentation Center is a cultural venue in the city of Jáltipan de Morelos. Dating back to 1998, its former headquarters suffered severe structural damage during the 2017 earthquakes in Mexico, which affected several regions. As a result, municipal authorities determined that it was necessary to rebuild the facility.

Bringing this project to fruition required the involvement of various institutions and fundraising events. Among these was a campaign led by Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade titled 'Un Canto por México' in Anaheim, California.

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The 2018 CEMEX Pavilion competition was conceived to provide the student community of Guadalajara with an opportunity and a voice to express their aspirations, interests, concerns, and critiques of the profession, channeling them into an intervention within the courtyard of a heritage house in the city's historic center, which functions as a workshop and cultural center. The event is organized by eSCALA, CENTROmx, and TEMAdc—groups made up of students and alumni of the Centro Universitario de Arte, Arquitectura y Diño of the Universidad de Guadalajara—and the winners of the 2018 CEMEX Pavilion Competition, which included one first-place and two second-place projects, were recently published.

Listed as a World Heritage Site, the Historic Center of Salvador, Bahia, in the heart of the Pelourinho neighborhood, is home to the city's Cathedral Basilica, which dates back to the 17th century. One of Brazil's most significant sacred buildings, the basilica underwent a three-year-and-eight-month restoration process. Beyond returning its celebrated features to public view, the intervention revealed spaces and artifacts previously unknown or long thought lost.

Mark Wigley asserts that architects, rather than builders, are talkers. "Architects do not make solid objects. They make discourses about objects," Wigley argues in “Typographic Intelligence” (2002). This becomes particularly relevant when linked to philosopher Michel Foucault's concept of discourse. In *The Order of Discourse*, Foucault argues that discourses consist of a series of statements or propositions that communicate a certain idea, defining everything that can be said about a topic by shaping a specific way of understanding reality.

Discourses, then, are not merely a specific glossary of words; rather, they encompass the meanings or ideologies conveyed through them. With this in mind, I want to suggest that architecture can be understood as a discipline in which a set of discourses operates, managed by a regulatory body that constantly validates which of them generate architecture and which do not. When examining the discourses that operate within architecture, we find that several can coexist and justify one another, while others ignore and exclude each other—shaping different statements of truth. There may even be discursive strategies that appear extinct due to disuse or deliberate concealment.

On this occasion, architect Rodrigo Rieiro Díaz, from the ARKRIT Collective, presents an article that explores how certain contemporary architects have refused to hide building scars resulting from material processes in rehabilitation projects, in a bid to emphasize the pre-existing structure as an aesthetic asset.

While it is true that not painting—or covering with joint covers—the marks of material processes during building adaptive reuse projects represents a financial saving, there seems to be a desire among certain contemporary architects that goes far beyond simply cutting a line item from the budget.

Indeed, there is a contemporary tradition—the reuse of industrial buildings as art spaces—where this practice is common. This model of an exhibition space, halfway between a gallery and an artist's studio and geared toward a young, urban audience, already has a history of at least forty years. Yet there is a certain consecration of the method in its adoption by the city councils of major European cities for their cultural institutions, and in the highly favorable reception of these interventions in academic and professional circles.

The team comprising Francesca Fuentes, Juan Andrés Hoffmann, and Kevin Gómez has been awarded an honorable mention in the XXXII CAP Chile Competition. Designed for the Tres Puentes Wetland in Punta Arenas, the project, known as "Flores del Humedal" (Wetland Flowers), seeks to generate "a physical link between the isolated territory and society, in order to facilitate interaction, knowledge, research, and conservation," according to the authors.

The competition jury explained that it is a "project that took steel structure to a highly creative level and challenged the program, proposing a new way of observing nature. At the same time, it generates a profound relationship with the territory for wetland observation."

James Wright retraces the steps of Walter Gropius in the new documentary Konstruktion Argentina. The film explores various Argentine architectural works, revealing their German influence.

Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, and Berlin are some of the settings where the journey takes place.

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During the Real Estate Show 2018—an event bringing together leading national and international industry figures, and a premier showcase for iconic, cutting-edge architectural projects—La Mexicana park, in Santa Fe, Mexico City, was awarded first place by the Association of Real Estate Developers (ADI) during the sixth edition of the event.

At the end of March, 250 students from across Latin America gathered to reflect, share, design, and build three projects in the town of Chucuito, Peru. This was the 15th edition of the Latin American Social Workshop (TSL), a workshop organized by the Latin American Coordinator of Architecture Students (CLEA) and partnered on this occasion with the Peruvian Organization of Architecture Students (OPEA).

Over ten days, the students worked intensively alongside architects Enrique Villacís (ENSUSITIO, Ecuador), Juliana López and Daniel Buitrago (Ruta 4, Colombia), Jhony Chávez (Peru), and Lucio Torres (Peru). Divided into three teams, the students and workshop leaders addressed issues related to heritage restoration, landscape, and public space, while also learning about the places, traditions, and inhabitants of the region known as the folklore capital of Peru.

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It is our duty to place human dignity at the center of the reconstruction process.
- Telar Social México

On September 19, 2017, Mexico experienced one of the strongest earthquakes in its history. Measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, it left more than 369 casualties and 150,000 homes destroyed across five states, with Oaxaca, Morelos, the State of Mexico, and Guerrero being the hardest hit.    

Ecatzingo, located southwest of the Popocatépetl Volcano in the State of Mexico, remains one of the municipalities most severely damaged by the earthquake, where 1,587 affected homes—601 of them uninhabitable—left entire families homeless. 

Following the passing of the prolific Ecuadorian architect Rubén Moreira (1939-2018) last Friday, July 13, in Quito, the team at Revista Trama—composed of Evelia Peralta, Rolando Moya Tasquer, and Rómulo Moya Peralta—shared the following words in tribute to the historic architect, academic, and professional association president.

We bid farewell to Rubén Moreira with deep sorrow, profoundly saddened by his passing at a time when he still had so much to ponder, develop, give, and live.  

We will not forget the human being and the architect who left an indelible mark on Ecuadorian architecture. We can attest to his profound humanity; he was supportive, a loyal friend, and consistent with his ideals and convictions. We crossed paths with him on various occasions over more than 42 years, as he always sought to contribute to a more just and beautiful construction of society, cities, architecture, institutions, education, and humanity.

Today, it is estimated that in Brazil alone, 30 million tons of waste are deposited annually in landfills, with São Paulo alone sending 14,000 tons of solid waste to these sites every day. [1] Unsurprisingly, landfills occupy vast tracts of land that continue to expand, posing a critical challenge for nearly every city. But what can be done once landfills reach capacity and close? Is it possible to breathe new life into these mountains of waste? What are the possibilities and necessary precautions?

Since its inaugural edition, the European Landscape Biennial has sought to deepen the discussion on landscape intervention, from both landscape architecture and other disciplines related to its study and evolution. As part of its tenth edition, the awards ceremony for the 10th International Landscape Biennial and the Rosa Barba Prizes was held in Barcelona on Friday, September 28. Over 300 projects were submitted to this edition, resulting in nine outstanding finalists from around the world.