The Rifa Housing Competition is an annual call that invites successive generations of architecture students from the Universidad de la República to propose new ways of living. The goal is to build a home based on their own design strategies, optimizing resources and construction times. Reflecting on living, architecture, and the pedagogy of the discipline, the competition offers the opportunity to experience a design process that extends far beyond the classroom.
"Harmonious Contradiction" is the third and final summer exhibition at Sotheby's East Hampton Gallery New York and the first collaboration between MASA and Sotheby’s. Running from August 24 to September 18, this group exhibition features brass and polished bronze floor works by eight contemporary artists from Mexico City-based Masa Gallery, in conversation with a curated selection of contemporary and post-war works from Sotheby's.
On Wednesday, August 17, the Senate Infrastructure Services Committee approved a bill establishing a regulatory framework for offshore energy generation—including wind, solar, or tidal—in Brazil's open seas, lagoons, and other bodies of water. The Bill (PL) 576/2021 regulates authorizations for harnessing offshore energy potential. Authored by Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN), the bill was approved in a final vote by the committee and will now proceed to the Chamber of Deputies for review.
Since 2009, World Photography Day has been celebrated every August 19, commemorating the presentation of the daguerreotype to the French Academy of Sciences. The daguerreotype was the first photographic process, a milestone invention for human history and, of course, for our own discipline. Discussing architecture through photography is, in the words of Beatriz Colomina, one of its primary means of dissemination.
In the northern area of Greater Buenos Aires, Nordelta has been developing a new urban project across its 1,700 hectares for around 30 years. Initially conceived for low-density residential use, it now also includes medium- and high-density housing, educational, recreational, and service facilities, as well as production and supply hubs, among others. Area Beta is located in the southern part of Nordelta, designed to complement this mixed-use and service urban sector.
Those interested in purchasing low- or zero-emission transportation options can now access a new line of credit. This month, Banco do Brasil (BB) launched the BB Crédito Mobilidade line, which will finance items such as bicycles, kick scooters, electric or manual scooters, and motorcycles under 125cc, with repayment terms of up to five years.
What if policymakers, when deciding how to allocate public investments, looked beyond massive concrete structures and also turned their attention to forests?
Viewing the conservation, restoration, and management of native vegetation—in other words, nature-based solutions—as viable investment alternatives to improve urban infrastructure is an innovative approach that can yield major benefits for society. A prime example lies in the water treatment and supply sector: forests can play such a crucial role that they can be considered a form of natural infrastructure.
Rubber from discarded tires can replace 100% of conventional aggregates used in manufacturing concrete. This is what engineers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have discovered. The concrete made with the material meets building codes and promises to boost the circular economy.
This “greener concrete” uses rubber from discarded tires instead of gravel and crushed stone. According to the team that developed the material, the new concrete is lighter and promises to significantly reduce manufacturing and transportation costs.
Concrete, metal, or wood—all building materials degrade over time when exposed to water and moisture. Moreover, every building element is exposed to weathering to varying degrees, from the foundation to the roof. Consequently, protective layers must be incorporated to prevent water from contacting raw materials—a process known as waterproofing—ensuring the structure's maintenance and longevity.
BIM methodology is currently booming and on the lips of every industry professional, making it essential for any sector expert to keep in mind. In this article, we review the five most relevant factors to help you assess your compatibility with BIM, according to Editeca.
As part of a new collaboration between the Mexico City-based firms, Esrawe Studio and Francisco Pardo present "Biodynamic Community," a new project in Los Altos de Jalisco, Mexico. The development will be built on an 820,000-square-meter site and will have a total built area of 29,700 square meters.
Carolina Maria de Jesus and Clarice Lispector are among the most prominent Brazilian writers of the 20th century. This essay analyzes the representations surrounding them and, above all, offers an approach that complexifies the comparison between the two, reflecting on body and city from an intersectional perspective.
As part of the traveling exhibition and book series developed by Saint-Gobain, “El material de lo construido”, Catalan architect Josep Ferrando presented his exhibition "The Infinite Grid," inaugurating the Bisman Ediciones Architecture Gallery and Residency. The space is located in the “Casa de Estudios para Artistas”, one of Argentina's most iconic modern architecture buildings, designed by Antonio Bonet, Horacio Vera Barros, and Abel López Chas around 1938.
On September 13, IMS Paulista opens the exhibition Moderna pelo avesso: fotografia e cidade, Brasil, 1890-1930. With free admission, the exhibition features photography from some of the country's major capitals—Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Recife, and Belém—during the First Brazilian Republic, from 1889 to 1930. The exhibition documents radical urban reforms that took place during this period, addressing the tensions and contradictions of these processes, which altered landscapes and the ways people lived in and moved through cities.
In sloped topographies, factors such as rainfall and excess water promote surface runoff, triggering a series of impacts that lead to the loss of soil, water, nutrients, and seeds, consequently reducing agricultural productivity (Posthumus, 2005). In Andean mountain environments, this is compounded by water scarcity and variability, alongside the challenges of water retention (Canziani, 2007). To address these challenges, territorial transformations and modifications known as terraces and andenes emerged, representing some of the oldest infrastructural practices for soil and hydrological conservation and management. Their physical presence, productive use, and cultural relevance remain vital in many parts of the world today.
The footprint of urban construction is expanding rapidly. Globally, building floor area could double by 2060. Constructing and maintaining urban infrastructure requires significant amounts of energy and material resources. Consequently, how cities build—and with what materials—directly impacts whether sustainability goals are achievable or even realistic. Cities must ensure they are using low-impact, renewable materials. This challenge presents a clear opportunity for wood.
Organized by the Intendencia de Paysandú and sponsored by the Sociedad de Arquitectos del Uruguay, a preliminary design competition was launched for the renovation and general building refurbishment of the June 8 Indoor Stadium in the city of Paysandú, Uruguay.
Amazon Day was celebrated on the 5th of this month. Established in 2007, the date aims to raise awareness about the importance of this biome, which is essential to the planet's environmental and climate balance. Constantly under threat and shaping a contested territory, Earth's largest natural biome is a frequent site of human intervention. How have architecture and urbanism engaged with this context?
Rio de Janeiro will host the world's largest urban garden, according to the organizers of the Hortas Cariocas program. The municipal government-funded initiative aims to promote "food sovereignty, generating self-sufficiency through organic products, and creating gardens in municipal schools and communities across Rio."
Together with publisher gestalten, we recently published our first book: The ArchDaily Guide to Good Architecture. It represents a pause to reflect on the more than 40,000 projects curated over the past 15 years, drawing from their contributions to answer the ambitious question of what constitutes good architecture.
Now, it is your turn—our readers—to tackle this question.
Commissioned from LAN (Local Architectural Network) by the French government, the Nanterre minimum-security prison project engages with the concepts of the penal system by critically reviewing the design of these buildings. The complex is guided by an attempt to better integrate it into the urban fabric, reinforcing the importance of the relationship between the city and prison structures as spaces for social integration. Consequently, understanding the proposal for the Nanterre Minimum-Security Area involves political, institutional, and historical factors that retrieve and reframe historical and contemporary debates surrounding the penitentiary system in general, and the French system in particular. While a prison is naturally understood by its confinement, LAN's design prioritizes an educational and humanitarian character to transform both the inmates and the public's perception of them.
The use of bicycles has grown in recent years, altering the landscape of Brazil's major cities. Among the factors that may have contributed to this shift, one of the most prominent is investment in cycling infrastructure. Data from a Brazilian study reinforces this perspective, demonstrating that bike lanes are a determining factor for those who do not yet ride to take up cycling.
In Brazil, urban policies are commonly assumed to be the responsibility of either municipalities or the federal government. However, there is another level of government that cannot be overlooked: the states. State urban policies are just as important as municipal and federal ones.
The firm LBR&A—founded by Mexican architect Benjamín Romano—has been recognized at the German Design Council's Iconic Awards: Innovative Architecture for its project Casa CH73. The residence was named “Best of the Best” in the Architecture category, which encompasses projects such as corporate buildings, museums, hotels, shopping centers, stadiums, and housing, among others.
