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.

The social housing model currently seems like a utopia in Spain—ruled by developers and real estate firms, and mired in national policies that fail—and have always failed—to address the housing problem.

Over the years, the idea has been promoted that renting a home is almost a crime, throwing away money that could otherwise go toward purchasing property. Welcome to the wonderful world of real estate speculation. Driven by exorbitant rents set by real estate agencies or landlords with absolutely no state or provincial regulation to control them, the system itself pushes the population to take out mortgages and participate in private development. While over 50% of housing in Spain was rented back in the 1950s, those figures are a far cry from the progressive decline that brings us to the present day: nearly 80% of current housing is owner-occupied, while rentals have shrunk to just 20%.

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As one of Modernism's key global legacies, how do the architecture and urban planning of Brasília shape the lives of those living in Brazil's capital? This is the subject of the documentary The Body and the Modernist City (O Corpo e a Cidade Modernista), which premieres with two screenings in Europe: on May 8 at the Copenhagen Architecture Festival (CAFx) in Denmark, and on June 10 at the Arquiteturas Film Festival in Portugal.

In this project by El Equipo de Mazzanti, Independence Park (Bogotá) reclaims ground by expanding southward, covering a section of 26th Street in the Colombian capital.

Featuring an area of 7,257 square meters distributed across eight plazas, the site has become a key redevelopment space in the city center, where major thoroughfares converge. Nature, seating areas, architectural richness, and urban design transform a space conceived to "reconnect" the city, leveraging the site's native vegetation.

Building your own home. This is perhaps one of the greatest aspirations for many people—not only architects, but anyone who wants to see the vision of their dream home come to life. Others, however, approach it from a perspective more focused on legacy: sentiments like “my great-grandfather built this house” serve as their driving force. It is about preserving memory in the form of a building.

Nevertheless, one must consider the challenges of being your own developer, of not relying on a real estate agency. It is a difficult path. Consequently, many people abandon this dream to avoid the complications, ultimately opting to buy an apartment or a house. 

They say you shouldn't trust the sky of the Peruvian highlands: a clear blue sky can give way to a downpour or a hailstorm in a matter of hours. The students and workshop leaders of the XV TSL Puno—this year's edition of the Latin American Social Workshop, held in Chucuito, Peru—know this all too well. Throughout the week, they have been working to build three projects that will be handed over to the local community.

Landscape, heritage restoration, and public infrastructure are the three themes addressed by the Serpiente, Cóndor, and Puma workshops. Their projects, scattered across different parts of Chucuito, are being built at an elevation of over 3,800 meters (12,400 feet) above sea level. Organized by the Latin American Coordinator of Architecture Students (CLEA) in collaboration with the Peruvian Organization of Architecture Students (OPEA), the workshop will conclude this Sunday, April 1, with the public inauguration of the projects.

Here, we invite you to take a look at the progress of the teams participating in this edition of the TSL, the third to be held in Peru.

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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When Paisaje Transversal was founded, 10 years ago, one of our driving motivations was to demand and advocate for a more responsible profession—one that is respectful of both its own guild and society as a whole. At the time, we saw—and we still see today—that one of the most damaging consequences of Architecture's self-absorption and self-sufficiency (the capital "A" is ironic; we prefer talking about architectures), both in the professional realm and, to an extreme degree, in universities, is the profound ignorance it fosters around fundamental topics like labor, business management, and the law, among many others.

This widespread ignorance—proudly imposed and self-imposed because these are dismissed as dry, secondary matters—has in practice led to an anomalous system where fraud, exploitation, precariousness, and self-exploitation are all too frequent. This, naturally, ends up harming professionals, the profession, and society at large.

A less obvious cause of this phenomenon is that, in many cases, this dereliction of duty is voluntary. It stems either from an unsupportive, anti-system liberal stance, or from the precariousness of a profession that was once wealthy and now refuses to accept its new economic reality.

Below, we list five principles we believe must be shared and championed to rebuild a dignified and responsible profession:

Historically relegated to the private sphere, it was only in the 20th century that women truly began to exercise their right to the city and its dynamics. Even today, however, this claiming of space remains restricted. According to a survey by the Locomotiva Institute this year, eight out of 10 Brazilian women are afraid of walking alone at night.

In addition to the threat of violence, other barriers to women's sense of belonging, mobility, and free use of public space include the lack of policies designed to address their urgent needs, as well as their identities and perspectives.

On March 31, Mexico-based firm LANZA Atelier exhibited three projects at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: 'Mesa Nómada', 'Shared Structures', and 'S/N (sin número).' The latter—created with support from FONCA—reclaims the city's 'Security and Citizen Participation Modules,' converting them into functional urban installations. Following the success of the exhibition, the museum has announced that 'S/N (sin número)' has joined its permanent collection. Read on to learn more about the project.

The Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition, which aims to promote architectural and urban design practices that preserve and provide continuity to local traditions, has announced the winning projects of the 2017-2018 edition.

Following an initial phase in which Spanish municipalities were invited to submit potential themes and sites, the jury selected Baza (Granada), Borox (Toledo), and Trujillo (Cáceres) as the towns that best met the criteria and were deemed most viable for subsequent implementation.

Exceptionally, and thanks to funding provided by the local city council, the competition for Jaca (Huesca) was reopened after being declared vacant last year when none of the proposals met the competition guidelines.

Spanish architect Fernando Menis designed a series of marine-inspired installations made from recycled objects and materials left behind by children and tourists at hotels in the coastal towns of La Oliva, a municipality in Fuerteventura, in Spain's Canary Islands.

Designed by Ignacio Lira Montes, the Ruta Memorial Selk'nam project was selected as one of the 10 winners in the Thesis Projects category of the Concurso Arquitectura Caliente 2018 (CAC 2018), a Chilean competition organized by Grupo Arquitectura Caliente and funded by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage.

The project stems from research on the Selk’nam people of Tierra del Fuego and how this ethnic group was exterminated by the owners of the Magellanic ranches. Studying Selk'nam cosmogony and visiting the site determined the design approach to this theme.

Seventeen years ago, the world witnessed one of the most tragic events in history: the "September 11, 2001 attacks," leaving approximately 3,000 dead and more than 6,000 injured. Numerous other attacks had already occurred and continue to happen in various cities around the world. Because these are surprise events, scattered across territories but typically occurring in crowded public spaces, a wide range of actions has been taken to prevent them, challenging major powers and organizations focused on security strategies.

Under the title “La vida de los edificios” (“The Life of Buildings”), the latest book by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo—1996 Pritzker Prize laureate—was presented in late December. The volume represents an attempt to view architecture from “within, from its very core,” focusing on three structures: the Mosque of Córdoba, the Lonja of Seville, and the Carmen de Rodríguez-Acosta in Granada. These three buildings, located in three different cities, are considered by Moneo to be essential for anyone wishing to understand Spain and its architecture.

As such, the book is structured around three essays, each dedicated to one of these buildings. Written under different circumstances, they have been compiled to shape this volume by the renowned Navarrese architect and 1996 Pritzker Prize laureate.

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Through biomimicry, GCP Arquitetura & Urbanismo designed a hotel in southern Bahia that draws inspiration from solutions found in flora and fauna to ensure greater thermal comfort in the buildings and lower the environmental impact of its operation.

Designed by Sebastián Simonetti, the project Todo es cancha was chosen as one of the 10 winners in the Thesis Projects category of the Concurso Arquitectura Caliente 2018 (CAC 2018), a Chilean competition organized by Grupo Arquitectura Caliente and funded by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage.

Amateur soccer, through the architectural typology of the neighborhood pitch, serves as a means of social organization and local identity. Its significance lies in the edge of the field, where the entire neighborhood surrounding this public space expresses its identity.

Some of Santiago's 207 pitches are currently falling into neglect, turning into neighborhood liabilities. They have been enclosed along their perimeters with impenetrable walls, squandering their programmatic potential. The Todo es Cancha concept critiques this potential public space and proposes combining the soccer field with architectural interventions that transform these typologies into permanently active spaces.

The Professional Practice Commission (CEP) of CAU/BR will review the four main regulations governing the professional practice of architects and urban planners throughout Brazil. These are CAU/BR Resolutions No. 10 (Occupational Safety Engineering), No. 18 (Professional Registration with CAU); No. 22 (Inspection of Architecture and Urbanism); and No. 28 (Corporate Registration with CAU). “These four resolutions define the daily routine of architects and urban planners,” says coordinator Lana Jubé (GO). “The goal is to approve new resolutions on these matters by the end of 2018.”

The Mextrópoli Architecture and City Festival will hold its fifth edition in 2018, consolidating its position as a benchmark event on Mexico City's cultural calendar and a point of global interest for specialized architecture events. Maintaining a high curatorial standard, MEXTRÓPOLI brings to the public the voices of globally recognized architects, artists, mayors, and humanists. It is a platform for experiencing the city and reflecting on its political, social, and aesthetic aspects.

For the third time, the Arquine Competition will build a pavilion in Alameda Central, serving as a playful installation to activate social relations in public space. A Brazilian team, composed of Vitor Pissaia, Thiago Benucci, Guilherme Paschoal, and Camila Farah, took second place in the competition. Additionally, more than 20 public space installations will be presented, designed by institutions such as UNAM, Ibero Puebla, Anáhuac University, Querétaro, Sci-Arc (Los Angeles), and Maristas (Mérida). 

Dear readers,

As the end of the year approaches, and after celebrating six years in Mexico, we would like to thank you all once again for making 2018 our best year yet. Thanks to your continued support and our close relationship with our readers, we now reach many more architects worldwide, inspiring them to create better urban environments for everyone.

On Thursday, November 22, the jury convened by the Madrid City Council, in collaboration with the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM), announced the results of the rehabilitation project for the historic Beti-Jai Fronton in Madrid, Spain.

The competition opened for registration last June, receiving a total of 73 proposals for the intervention on the landmark building. The objective was to find the best proposal to reconcile the preservation of the building's heritage value—declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Asset of Cultural Interest)—with the most appropriate technical solutions for its future use as a sports and cultural venue.

See the results below:

The jury of the Oscar Niemeyer Prize has announced the 20 finalist works for the second edition of the award. The organizers aim to biennially highlight the best of architectural production "at a time of an unquestionable strengthening and presence of Latin American architecture on the international stage."

Established under the umbrella of the Network of Architecture Biennials of Latin America (REDBAAL), the 2016 edition of the award recognized a built work for "its values as an architectural and technological proposal; and for its relationship with the context, as well as social, cultural, and environmental aspects." The winner was The Place of Remembrance, designed by Barclay & Crousse (Peru), while second place went to the Brasiliana USP Library, designed by Eduardo de Almeida + Mindlin Loeb + Dotto Arquitetos (Brazil), and third place went to the San Bernardo Chapel, designed by Nicolás Campodónico (Argentina).

"We must recognize the value of the local and enrich it with the global, embracing everything that enriches us as peoples and societies. Architecture protects and communicates; it is a public reality from which we cannot detach ourselves. The city is also composed of architectural elements, meaning that architecture must be conceived from and toward the city," the organizers explained in the official press release.

The jury—composed of architects Carla Juaçaba, Carlos Jiménez, Fabián Farfán, Jean Pierre Crousse, and César Shundi—evaluated all the submissions and selected the twenty finalists:

Following the two-year struggle to revitalize the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá (MAMBO) and establish it as a hub for the city's cultural scene, new opportunities are opening up for the capital's landmark institution with the upcoming arrival of a new curator.

To mark its 55th anniversary, the Rogelio Salmona-designed museum is launching a search for a new curator to lead its exhibition programming. MAMBO has not had a permanent curator since María Elvira Ardila's departure in 2016. Since then, the museum has relied on guest curators to develop its exhibitions, working alongside a small internal team to maintain its full roster of shows.

On Saturday, April 14, the continental award ceremony for the Prix Versailles will be held at Castillo Hidalgo in Santiago, Chile. The awards will honor the architecture and design of 24 completed retail, hotel, and restaurant projects across South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and North America.

Learn more about the event and past winners below.

The Biobío Regional Theater, designed by Smiljan Radic, Eduardo Castillo, and Gabriela Medrano, has been nominated for the Beazley Designs of the Year 2018 award, presented annually by the Design Museum in London.