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.

“Architecture is embedded storytelling,” wrote Marco Frascari. Emphasizing the reciprocity between architecture and narrative throughout his career, this Italian architect, theorist, and educator saw stories as the key to creating a “nontrivial”—and therefore transcendent—architecture. It is from his ideas, writings, teachings, and studies that the reflection inspiring this text arises.

Cooperative housing, or co-housing, is a residential model that promotes access to housing in cities. This model first developed in countries like Denmark and Uruguay, and it is becoming increasingly popular throughout Europe. Indeed, it arrived in Barcelona several years ago and has since steadily expanded throughout the region, spreading beyond the boundaries of the Catalan capital. Below, we explore the cooperative housing model in Barcelona and how it contributes to a more democratic architecture for its citizens.

The team led by Mathias Klotz and Sebastián Mundi of the architecture firms Klotz and SML has been unanimously selected in the open call for the heritage reconversion of the former CCU Brewery in Limache, the Chilean company announced today in a press release.

This project seeks to preserve the brewing heritage represented by the iconic building founded in 1883, through a museum open to the public. 

More than a decade ago, a new initiative emerged to redefine the architectural pedagogical system. With an influence that today spans countries like Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, and the United States, the Virtual Workshop of the Americas (TVA) successfully and synergistically brings together education, collectivity, and virtuality. Architects Nahuel Salcedo and Celeste Gómez Lahoz are part of the coordination team driving this project forward year after year. Here, they explain the initiative in greater detail.

Manuel Bouzas and Santiago del Águila, the authors of La catenaria y el arco in the courtyard of Can Balaguer (by architects Flores & Prats) in Palma de Mallorca, present their urban installation ‘Lucerna,’ created for the A Cel Obert ephemeral architecture festival in Tortosa in October 2021.

This monumental lamp, standing over 6 meters tall and covering an area of 55 square meters, hangs from the main courtyard of the Purissima Concepció monastery, radically transforming this 17th-century building through light and color.

In the second half of the twentieth century, driven by the mass adoption of the automobile and exponential population growth, cities around the world expanded at an accelerated pace. Santiago, Chile, was no exception, characterized by an extensive and fragmented urban sprawl that has led to a heavy reliance on cars, environmental degradation, and the loss of agricultural land. Without planning and policies aimed at sustainable urban development, the result is a more polluted and less green city—an alarming scenario considering the climate crisis we face.

Proximity, understood as an urban quality that facilitates the management and pursuit of daily life, has for decades been a key tenet of feminist and gender-responsive urbanism. In the 1970s, academics from various disciplines began analyzing the link between the configuration and use of space and gender relations and roles. Since then, a robust critique of the androcentric configuration of the city has emerged, alongside proposals and criteria to rethink spaces from a gender perspective.

In the mountain range of the Andes in Peru, at over 3,700 meters above sea level, lies the Q'eswachaka suspension rope bridge, declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The hand-woven bridge, which connects both sides of a gorge over the Apurímac River, has become the last remaining Inca bridge in use to survive modern times. This has been made possible through the transmission of Inca culture and engineering across generations, which renew the bridge every year to ensure its preservation.

Peru is a country with an extensive, rich, and deeply significant archaeological heritage. Unfortunately, the passage of time has brought severe deterioration. In their article, "Captura de datos 3D para virtualizar el patrimonio cultural" (3D Data Capture to Virtualize Cultural Heritage), authors Norma León Lescano, Yann Barnet, and Alvaro Racchumi outline the method they used to capture a three-dimensional replica of the Palace of Puruchuco. By doing so, they aim to provide the necessary information to guide and promote the virtualization of this remarkable cultural heritage, expanding its reach, appreciation, and preservation.

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Valladolid is a town of just under 50,000 inhabitants, located in eastern Yucatán. It sits halfway between Cancún and Mérida, about 40 minutes from the Chichén-Itzá archaeological zone. Initially, the tourists who visited did so as a stopover during their travels across the peninsula. However, its gastronomy and architecture transformed it from an involuntary rest stop into a tourist destination in its own right.

As part of the preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup—co-hosted by Mexico, the United States, and Canada—the remodeling proposal for Mexico City's Estadio Azteca has been unveiled. The historic venue has hosted countless milestone events over the decades and remains one of the capital's premier event spaces.

To showcase the valuable work emerging from Latin American and Spanish universities, this year we launched an open call inviting architecture students to submit their graduation projects completed in 2021.

After thoroughly evaluating 137 proposals, our editorial team has selected and highlighted 10 projects that demonstrate rigorous critical thinking in response to their self-defined challenges. The selection valued not only those projects that delivered the best possible architecture through efficient design tailored to their context, program, and users, but also those that paid significant attention to human scale, the environment, experimentation, and new ways of addressing architecture in cities.

Today, technology is increasingly ubiquitous in major cities, driven by the rapid pace of capital-driven movement. A popular term to describe the relationship between urbanism and technology is “Smart Cities,” which centers on leveraging data to enhance building connectivity. However, widespread access to these new technologies has revealed how our unique experiences as citizens—driven by a strong desire to document urban environments—allow us to map and experience cities from alternative perspectives.

To mitigate the consequences of informal urban growth in the Lima and Callao regions, on April 19, the Colegio de Arquitectos de Perú Regional Lima (CAP RL) launched the program “Valora Nuestro Barrio” (Value Our Neighborhood). Through 21 selected projects, the initiative aims to improve residents' quality of life by recognizing and showcasing successful urban improvement practices in the proposed neighborhoods.

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Over the years, interior design has evolved in response to changing needs, and above all, to the experiences it seeks to evoke for the user. Over the last two years, we have witnessed a radical shift and a heightened interest in this field, as the pandemic forced us to pay closer attention to how we configure the spaces we inhabit. This has brought about much more holistic designs aimed at user well-being, combining colors, sensory experiences, technology, and natural elements that promote health.

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The Catalan firm Batlleiroig, founded in 1981 by Enric Batlle and Joan Roig, has designed the first residence for the British group Vita Student in Barcelona. With this project, Batlleiroig joins an innovative proposal that aligns with the firm's other works, where the primary focus is urban renaturalization, landscape regeneration, and the creation of healthy spaces. The firm promotes an innovative design seeking a new way of living for students and faculty, featuring increased contact with nature, a strong focus on sports areas, and large common spaces for the entire community.

The contemporary urban footprint seems to expand its boundaries virtually without restriction while increasing in complexity. Major cities like Barcelona have expanded to the point where political boundaries merely represent the lines of administrative jurisdiction—which, in satellite imagery or everyday experience, often virtually cease to exist or are barely recognizable. On the other hand, a contemporary reading of its Metropolitan Area, stretched between mountain ranges, rivers, and the sea, demonstrates that this progressive expansion has always been shaped by its unique geographical enclave.

From April 11 to June 30, the Young Architects Festival (YAF), developed by Constructo, is taking place at the Ruinas de Huanchaca Park and Museum in Antofagasta, Chile. Within this space, Siglo 22 Arquitectos has created an immersive architectural installation activated by a series of events, including international lectures and a free public exhibition.

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On Thursday, April 7, the Regional Museum of Aysén (MRA) won the LCD Berlin Award 2021/22 for “best new museum” globally in the Latin American category. The accolade was presented by the international organization “Leading Culture Destinations,” which is headquartered in the German capital, in cooperation with VisitBerlin.

The award, which recognizes the museum located in the city of Coyhaique as one of the world's emerging and established cultural destinations, is a recognition of the work carried out by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage through Chile's National Cultural Heritage Service.

A week ago, we announced the 15 finalist projects of the 2022 Building of the Year award —the prize for the best architecture in Spanish. Our jury of experts—you, our readers—made an initial selection of 15 from nearly 1,000 architectural works built in Latin America and Spain to proceed with the final vote for 3 projects that represent the best of the architecture that inspires, defines, and shapes us.

Today is the day to announce the winners of ODA2022!

We are pleased to present three projects located in Colombia, Cuba, and Chile that demonstrate the relevance of thinking of architecture as a solution to specific and local needs in order to improve the quality of life, at any scale or program. 

The 2022 Building of the Year Award is presented to you by Dornbracht, renowned for its leading designs in architecture, which can be found internationally in bathrooms and kitchens. See the selected projects below.

The Mayor's Office of Santiago de Cali, the Special Housing Fund (FEV), and the Colombian Society of Architects – Valle del Cauca (SCA Valle) launched a public competition for the preliminary urban, architectural, and landscape design of a sustainable rural social housing prototype. This project is designed to resettle families with productive vocations.

For the project, located in the city of Cali, within the Valle del Cauca region of Colombia, the jury awarded first place to the architecture firm DARP – De Arquitectura y Paisaje + Ana Elvira Vélez.

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As part of the programming hosted by Museo Jumex from April 2 to September 18 in Mexico City, "Urs Fischer: Lovers" presents a 25-year retrospective of one of today's most celebrated international artists. Organized by guest curator Francesco Bonami, the exhibition brings together new pieces created specifically for the museum alongside works from international public and private collections, as well as the artist's own archives. Together, these works showcase the expansive creativity, humor, and depth of the artist's practice.

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Every year, the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), through the National System of Art Creators (SNCA), recognizes those who represent excellence in national culture through the Jóvenes Creadores Program. By providing grants, the program supports the creative and training processes of young Mexican artists, fostering favorable conditions for the development of original, significant, and positive creative projects.

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As is well known, the year 2015 saw a boom in coworking spaces—a type of shared office that typically operates in an open environment (though some companies offer closed offices), located either across entire floors of high-rise buildings or in repurposed historic sites adapted for these new ways of living and working. These new setups speak to a professional community in the midst of self-reinvention, where an increasing number of entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small businesses seek affordable spaces that offer networking opportunities in cooperative environments. These shared workplaces provide access to resources such as high-speed internet, desks, chairs, lamps, filing cabinets, printers, copiers, kitchens, and phone booths in strategic urban locations.