Historically, stone materials have offered ancient cultures the ability to build robust structures by interlocking stones of various shapes and sizes. The simplicity of the technique and its ability to deliver efficient, durable results have sustained the transmission of this construction method over time, enabling multiple contemporary architectural variations and reinterpretations.
It is time to say goodbye to 2018 and look back at everything we have achieved. What captured our interest? What surprised us? What made an impact?
After presenting the best architecture of 2018, we decided to round up and highlight some of the Argentine projects that generated the most engagement on our social networks. Goodbye 2018, hello 2019.
Across South America, environmental comfort is understood not as an interior condition, but as one shaped through space. In regions marked by heat, humidity, intense sunlight, and seasonal variation, architecture has long relied on spatial decisions to moderate climate and support daily life. Comfort emerges from how interiors are opened, shaded, ventilated, and inhabited over time.
Rather than isolating interior spaces from their surroundings, many contemporary projects across the region cultivate comfort through depth, porosity, and intermediate zones. Light is filtered rather than maximized, air is guided through aligned openings and voids, and thresholds become active spaces of use rather than residual edges. These strategies do not seek uniform environmental control, but produce interiors that remain temperate, adaptable, and closely attuned to changing climatic conditions. In this context, environmental comfort becomes inseparable from spatial experience.
In recent years, working from home has become increasingly common, creating a need for domestic spaces that accommodate both professional and personal life. This is especially true for artists, where the integration of living and working spaces is essential. Often, these spaces must also serve as areas for exhibiting artistic production, such as paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and more.
This fusion of work and living environments has influenced architectural and interior design trends, prioritizing flexibility, multifunctionality, and aesthetics that foster both creativity and comfort. Open-plan layouts, modular furniture, and adaptable lighting solutions are now key elements in designs that support the seamless coexistence of work and personal life.
Refurbishment is an increasingly common and fundamental practice in contemporary architecture. More than a trend, it represents a crucial strategy for reducing resource consumption and minimizing waste generation, providing clear advantages over brand-new constructions. In the Latin American context, this philosophy stands out for its unique characteristics. It intricately weaves circularity and climate action with local materials, addressing economic challenges while harmonizing Indigenous, colonial, and contemporary influences.
Housing plays a crucial role in this context, where traditional materials and construction techniques define each project's distinctiveness and integrate it into the community's social fabric. Throughout Latin America, regional identities are deeply embedded in refurbishment efforts, ranging from restoring facades and repurposing wood to reimagining the use of demolition waste. The adaptation of spaces in these projects is influenced by their unique identities and geographic conditions, rooted in social and cultural expressions.
From Tafí del Valle to San Carlos de Bariloche, the implementation of natural stone in contemporary Argentine architecture reveals the decisions of architects seeking to maintain a dialogue with their surrounding environment and highlight the purity of materials. While stone is one of the oldest building materials, enduring throughout history, its application in homes in Uruguay, Brazil, and Mexico highlights different characteristics in terms of textures, shapes, shades, and patterns.
As a protagonist of the Argentinean culinary scene, the barbecue plays a prominent role. In architecture, beyond the dimensions of the spaces where they are installed, grills are consolidated as a meeting point for visitors and residents of the houses, coming into direct contact with the customs and culture of the country.
