This guide covers a workflow that moves from project parameters to generated floor plans, 3D perspective views, exterior design exploration, and site context visualization, using AI tools in place of preliminary CAD and rendering work.

A proposal described as "a new esplanade guarded at its four corners by four new clearings: two public buildings and two programmed public spaces" is the winning design for the future Biobío Civic Esplanade in Concepción, Chile. 

The project is the result of a competition launched last February by FESUR —the southern subsidiary of the State Railway Company in Chile— for the land that will be freed up once Concepción's railway line is placed underground. "Removing the railway barrier allows us to envision a system of significant, hierarchical public spaces capable of articulating the city's new relationship with the river," the organizers explained in the competition brief.

The future Biobío Civic Esplanade will integrate the current Plaza España, the Regional Government building, Plaza Bicentenario, Parque Bicentenario, and Parque Ribera Norte, as well as the Memorial to the Detained and Disappeared, the Biobío Regional Theater, the 27F Memorial, and Chile's second Museum of Memory, whose construction was recently postponed.

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Fernando Guerra, one of the most prolific photographers in the field of architecture, is set to be the subject of a documentary directed by Sara Nunes and produced by Portugal's Building Pictures. The Flying Photographer, the film's working title, is drawn from a dedication by Álvaro Siza, an architect whose works and life Guerra has been extensively documenting.

After receiving more than 70 submissions from various Argentine universities and cities, our editorial team selected 10 of them, focusing on projects that demonstrated critical thinking regarding contemporary issues, formal execution, and representation. The selection not only highlights projects that delivered the best possible architecture through simple design tailored to their context, program, and users, but also those showing significant attention to human scale, mediation, transition, and new ways of approaching urban architecture.

Discover our 10 highlighted projects below.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD AS A CULTURAL CENTER: Alejandro Asens - Victoria Carbonin - Juan Cardozo Sánchez - Italo Parietti

On December 20, the final curatorial review for the first edition of the National Essay and Research Competition, Arquitectura Escrita 2017, took place at the national headquarters of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile.

Organized by Grupo Arquitectura Caliente and co-organized by Ediciones ARQ, the competition awarded the 20 best essays out of 87 submissions in the undergraduate and graduate categories, representing 18 architecture schools across 9 different Chilean cities.

The competition was directed by Gabriela García de Cortázar, with a jury committee made up of 30 prominent academics and professionals.

Below is the research essay by Pontificia Universidad Católica student Francisco Cardemil, winner in the Undergraduate Category.

When developing an architectural project, regardless of scale or program, architects face a series of decisions regarding the construction method to adopt, considering various aspects—structural, economic, available labor, aesthetics, among others—in pursuit of the best solution.

To address the many questions that arise during design development regarding the choice of structural systems, we have prepared a practical guide to the main types of cast-in-place and precast concrete slabs that designers should know, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Learn more below:

It is time to welcome @archdailyco to Instagram! Our dedicated account on this social network is a new showcase for Colombian architecture. It offers both a local and global perspective: classics and rising talents; historic works and must-see future projects; brick, guadua, and concrete; the Caribbean and the Pacific; you and us.

To kick things off, we have selected three projects designed by El Equipo de Mazzanti, CONNATURAL, and Estudio Herreros alongside Bermúdez Arquitectos, featured below.

We invite you to follow our Instagram account and tag your photos of Colombian architecture with the hashtag #ArchDailyCo. On Tuesday, July 17, we will share the best photos uploaded by our readers!

Have you ever wondered how an exhibition design is conceived? Or how it coordinates the staging of the displayed content?

Historically, what we know today as a museum began as a place to gather pieces and objects organized by typology. This is evident when looking at images of the so-called cabinets of curiosities or wonder rooms, which organized a vast array of rare objects and species (animal, plant, and mineral) brought back from the great explorations of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Centuries later, these collections began to gain traction, and former palaces transformed their hallways into long, continuous galleries, to which only their guests and residents had access. Later, in the 19th century, the emergence of pavilions dedicated primarily to the display of artifacts brought us closer to the modern concept of museums. We regularly publish various museum projects. But beyond their architecture, have you ever noticed the crucial role that exhibition design plays? Below, we outline some of the key concepts of exhibition design.

The Faculty of Architecture and Art at Universidad del Desarrollo held activities as part of the Detonating Experience II 'Contact with Matter,' which takes place three times during the program and aims to introduce future architects to each curricular cycle. Each exercise brought students closer to the construction and design of full-scale objects. The "Table" Workshop was led by the prominent firm Grupo Talca, featuring architects Rodrigo Sheward and Martín del Solar, while the EDII "Mast" was directed by professors Yanko Bugueño and Diego Martínez along with teaching assistant Magdalena Gallegos.

As part of the official program of World Design Capital CDMX 2018, thirteen renowned architects, designers, urban planners, writers, and artists will analyze the challenges, policies, and opportunities facing our cities. In a century marked by the city as a key driver of social interaction, discussing how urban areas function is essential to making them more sustainable and efficient, while improving the quality of life for their residents. The speakers will present their vision, share best practices, and contribute to the dialogue on new strategies for change that foster the well-being of our cities and their populations through design.

In recent years, we have witnessed the rise of the concept of “citizen participation,” particularly in the political sphere. As is often the case, this surge is not without controversy and carries inherent risks. Much like what occurred with the term “sustainability,” participation can be relegated to a smoke screen used to conceal specific types of political despotism. A clear example of this can be found in the Netherlands; in September 2013, King Willem-Alexander announced “the transition to a participatory society” to justify dismantling the welfare state through neoliberal policies and some of the harshest budget cuts the country has ever faced.

Clearly, urbanism and urban planning have not been immune to this trend. While the development of statutory urban planning instruments (General Plans, Partial Plans, Special Plans, etc.) is legally required to incorporate public participation mechanisms, the reality is that these are often reduced to public comment and exhibition periods. Consequently, actual participation is replaced by mechanisms that belong strictly to the realm of communication and information sharing.

Videos

If you are taking your first steps in Revit, or would like to understand its practical integration with BIM, the following tutorial will be of great help. The course was developed by Mexican architect Alan Rodríguez Carrillo, who published a step-by-step tutorial on his YouTube channel to model the famous Farnsworth House, designed by Mies van der Rohe in the 1940s, in Revit .

Divided into six videos, the tutorial explains in detail how to model columns, walls, floors, doors, furniture, facades, ceilings, lighting, and even the visualization options for one of the Modern Movement's most iconic projects in Revit.

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Floating is one of humanity's oldest ways of living and traveling. Today, this ancestral practice is drawing significant interest due to the increasing frequency of flooding caused by climate change.

Riverside communities in the Amazon rainforest have used various floating strategies for centuries. By studying local architectural solutions and utilizing contemporary materials technology, architect Marko Brajovic and designer Nacho Martí, co-directors of the Architectural Association Visiting School Amazon, organized an international workshop to experiment with floating architecture.

As a subspecies of bamboo, guadua has been used as a construction material from the Spanish conquest to the present day. Its strength, lightweight nature, and flexibility offer numerous structural advantages and applications. Since it is native to the forests of Colombia and Ecuador, it has been widely used in local building projects. Additionally, its ease of cultivation and processing makes it a highly sustainable material.

This selection highlights six projects where guadua has been used as both a structural and aesthetic resource.

Modern and surreal, yet without compromising on functionality and comfort, the bathrooms designed by emerging architects and designers at the current Casa FOA interior design exhibition in Santiago, Chile, seek to rethink a traditional space within an innovative context, aiming to trigger a different experience for both users and spectators.

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On December 20, the final curatorial review of the first National Essay and Research Competition, Written Architecture 2017, took place at the national headquarters of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile.

Organized by Grupo Arquitectura Caliente and co-organized by Ediciones ARQ, the competition awarded the 20 best articles out of 87 submissions in the undergraduate and graduate categories, representing 18 architecture schools across 9 different Chilean cities.

The competition was directed by Gabriela García de Cortázar and featured a jury of 30 prominent academics and professionals on the Evaluation Committee.

Below is the article by Universidad de Chile student Pablo Schmidt, winner of the Graduate Category.

The new illustrated version of the Building and Works Code (COE) is now available online. Released by the São Paulo Municipal Secretariat of Urbanism and Licensing (SMUL - PMSP), this edition features graphic design by oitentaedois, making the legislation more accessible to the general public.

Videos

Numerous movements are demanding alternatives to current urban mobility—systems designed by and for vehicular traffic, burdened by an outdated planning mentality that centered everything around the car. Their reasons are equally diverse: improving public health, utilizing economic resources more rationally when commuting, lowering pollution levels (both noise and air), and even increasing efficiency by reducing travel times.

Yes, we are referring to the endless and inevitable daily traffic jams we have all experienced. 

If the benefits across all sectors are so clear, why haven't we implemented an alternative mobility system on our streets yet? There are several answers to this question, ranging from public resistance to change and a lack of prioritization in political agendas, to the simple fact that there is no universal, magic formula to solve every issue overnight everywhere. Once we overcome these barriers, we can begin by analyzing who currently uses the streets, who does not, and why.

Videos

Madrid's Gran Vía is illuminated with LED bulbs along 1,300 meters thanks to a light installation by Brut Deluxe. Commissioned by the city council, the installation is inspired by nebulae and galaxies. Set up for this year's holiday season, the display was captured by Imagen Subliminal.

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A breath of fresh air, new colors: A FUCHSIA intervention in the Faculty of Social Sciences (CCSS) at the PUCP. In this faculty's striking garden, students have always sat and lain on the grass to debate their ideas; however, with the increase in “social” activities, more seating, equipment, and shade were needed. Featuring a perforated textile canopy floating between the trees and stacked tires that organically integrate with the garden, this project creates a colorful focal point and an ideal gathering space that INTEGRATES in multiple ways: the students of this program and their ideas, all the campus students with one another, and the various recycled materials that culminate in FUCCSSIA-INNTEGRA.

The emergence of such a project right in the middle of the “tontódromo”—a busy campus street where students from la cato hang out—is highly significant, both for the project's inherent message and for the visibility and accessibility of its location. “Ocupa Tu Calle”, a citizen-led initiative that typically carries out urban interventions in Lima's public spaces, has now intervened on a university's main thoroughfare, partnering with the Faculty of Social Sciences to invite students to help design and improve their own campus through an ideas competition. In addition, the project prompts a reflection on the appropriation of private space using public space principles. The winning proposal reinterprets the Greek agora into a flexible, playful area for students to debate and simply be. Below, we explore the details of the project, from the design process to its construction.

To celebrate the diverse groups that built the cultural heritage of São Paulo and helped shape the city's identity, the Municipal Secretariat of Culture will host the Jornada do Patrimônio (Heritage Journey) on August 18 and 19, under the theme "One City, Many Hands."

The event offers a free, diverse program aimed at connecting the public with historical and emotionally significant spaces that define the city's history. In total, 320 activities will take place, including tours, lectures, workshops, building visits, guided tours, and book launches.

The 2022 World Cup takes place in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, promising to amaze spectators with its stadiums. There are eight projects in total—some built from scratch, while others are existing structures undergoing renovation.

In May 1999, 17 historic buildings in Santiago opened their doors to launch the very first edition of Chile's Cultural Heritage Day. Nearly two decades after that inaugural event, the upcoming edition will span an entire weekend for the first time, taking place on Saturday, May 26, and Sunday, May 27.

Videos

Across nine episodes, the series Proyecto Habitar delves into the privacy of homes to explore the reality of housing in Chile. Through the perspective of its protagonists, the series explores a range of housing-related issues, as directors Joaquín Mora and Verónica Wüst aim to spark a long-overdue discussion.

"Housing is a crucial issue that will soon come to the forefront, as we live within an economic system that raises various challenges we must discuss as a society," Mora comments.

This time, we invite you to watch three new episodes of the series: health, work, and occupation.

The establishment of an architectural drawing language throughout history is a tool that allows, for instance, a Japanese architect to design a building in Brazil, or makes it possible, by lingering over plans, sections, and elevations, to imagine the spatiality and character of a project that has not yet been built. This means that, despite local singularities, in terms of graphic representation, the field of architecture has successfully established itself as a common, international language.