Eva Prats and Ricardo Flores started their Barcelona-based practice, Flores & Prats Arquitectes in 1998 after both worked at the office of Enric Miralles. They overlapped for about one year there, from 1993 to 1994. After her nine-year stint with Miralles, Eva won the EUROPAN III International Housing Competition with a friend. The success that led to a real commission and was going to be built, served as the springboard for starting their independent practice. Shortly thereafter they won another competition. Ricardo joined Eva after working for five years with Miralles. By then they were a couple for three years and decided to start working together. Today they practice out of the same sprawling apartment where Eva’s original studio rented a room along with several other young architects and designers. Even though the office now occupies the entire space—the architects told me they typically employ ten, no more than twelve people—they keep traces and memories of the former “dwellers” alive. Curiously, Eva and Ricardo implement the same strategy in their architectural projects as well.

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How many times have you been faced with the challenge of designing a cultural center? While this may seem like quite a feat, many architects have had to design a program that blends a community center with culture.

Among the projects published on our site, we have found numerous examples that highlight different responses, from flexible configurations to sites that prioritize central gathering areas for citizens and activities. See our series of 50 community centers and their plans and sections below.

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Due to its ability to mold and create different shapes, concrete is one of architecture's most popular materials. While one of its most common uses is as a humble foundation, its plasticity means that it is also used in almost all types of construction, from housing to museums, presenting a variety of details of work that deserves special attention.

Check out this collection of 40 projects that highlight the use of concrete. Impressive! 

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Stabilized Aluminum Foam is a unique looking material that combines the aesthetics of aluminum (its texture, shades and brightness) with a spongy, porous appearance. It is produced by injecting air into a cast aluminum alloy with stabilizing agents, which after curing, creates a porous and lightweight, yet highly resistant and rigid cellular structure. Because of its mechanical and thermal properties, it is particularly useful in applications in various industries, such as automotive, aerospace and marine, especially for energy absorption, thermal insulation, and sound dampening.

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As the design world prepares for one of the most anticipated events of the year, Designboom, Architonic, and ArchDaily which make up DAAily platforms have put together for the visitors of Milan Design Week 2022, a unique, storytelling-programmed space, designed by architects and designers for architects and designers. This year, DAAily platforms are taking the opportunity to take to the stage together from 7 to 10 June at the Swiss Corner at Piazza Cavour / Via Palestro 2, hosting curated talk series and gathering spots, along with immersive art installations.

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Town halls and civic architecture are defined by spaces for gathering and focused work. Located in urban centers, they bring systems and people together. As one of the most diverse nations in the world, Spain balances a respect for history with an optimism for the future. Exploring environmental, social and economic impact, town halls represent emerging Spanish design culture and local values.

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Through a program of exhibitions, lectures, and activities, the Fundació Enric Miralles, with the support of the Barcelona City Council and the Government of Catalonia, will promote a tribute to the Spanish architect Enric Miralles. Considered one of the most iconic figures of contemporary Catalan architecture, the tribute addresses his various facets as a creator—architect, designer, photographer, and professor—offering a multifaceted and personal look at his career.

While some works serve as monuments to the egos of those who practice this profession, other architectural approaches propose the exact opposite. These practices deliver projects that—almost poetically—harmonize built elements with the surrounding natural environment. There are also designs that adapt to the morphological order of nature, resulting in an organic language that generates highly unique and singular interior spaces. 

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Led by Jacques Herzog (born 19 April 1950) and Pierre de Meuron (born 8 May 1950), most descriptions of Herzog & de Meuron projects are almost paradoxical: in one paragraph they will be praised for their dedication to tradition and vernacular forms, in the next for their thoroughly modern innovation. However, in the hands of Herzog & de Meuron this is no paradox, as the internationally renowned architectural duo combine tradition and innovation in such a way that the two elements actually enhance each other.

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Sometimes, architecture presents itself as an object of responsibility—an exercise in recognizing authorship, aiming to define and delimit it. We feel an urgent need to know who its author was, to credit whoever was capable of such inventions. Just as often, however, architecture does not claim any author; hence the terms anonymous architecture or "architecture without architects"—that is, a merely vernacular architecture. In the case of Carme Pinós, what is built inevitably speaks of who built it. Her architecture offers a glimpse of the energy that emanates from her persona: a vibrant, direct, tense architecture, swept by a continuous, dominating agitation. Within it, elements are in constant motion in a completely ungrounded way, rather than by their own virtue.

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