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.

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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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Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier, is one of the leading figures and great masters of the Modern Movement. Directed by Gerardo Panero, the feature-length documentary “Plan for Buenos Aires” explores the architect's attempts to shape the layout of the city of Buenos Aires with his ideas.

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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.

The savings and credit cooperative Visón de los Andes, “VisAndes,” launched a competition for the design of its new headquarters in Salcedo, Ecuador. As one of the strongest cooperatives in its sector, it sought to incorporate sustainability principles alongside its own core values, inviting prominent architecture firms from across the country.

Today, understanding the properties of materials used in vernacular construction is essential to ensuring a better quality of life and spatial habitability, both of which have evolved alongside new technologies in the market. Spatial design now represents a commitment to the natural environment and, consequently, to improving quality of life.

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Metha Arquitectos and Be Maarch have won first prize in the design competition for the remodeling of the Plaza de Armas in Juliaca, Peru. Key aspects of the proposal highlighted by the jury include: prioritizing pedestrians over vehicles, strengthening institutional character and environmental value, and creating a space that introduces nature. Additionally, the jury noted that the project understands and accommodates informal commerce dynamics, establishing a hierarchical longitudinal axis between the plaza and the school to create a pedestrian urban space. This is complemented by a secondary transverse transit axis and organized to eliminate architectural barriers, creating more inclusive spaces. See the project below.

Italian law never explicitly denied women access to university. Nevertheless, their minimal presence in the 19th century—only 224 women graduated in Italy between 1867 and 1900—demonstrates how a double discrimination, based on both gender and social class, operated through an inherently elitist and dualistic educational system.

It is well known that the construction industry is one of the largest producers of CO2. Although significant progress has been made in technology and in design and construction processes, there is still a long way to go to minimize or nearly eliminate carbon emissions in the development of the built environment. 

Indeed, as revolutionary as the construction industry may seem today, it remains responsible for nearly 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions, 11% of which result from the manufacturing of building materials such as steel, cement, and glass.

What are the latest trends in reducing emissions in both design and material manufacturing? How should the industry transition toward net-zero architecture? These are some of the questions we want you to help us answer. 

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.

The Municipality of the City of Mendoza launched a provincial ideas competition for the design and construction of a memorial honoring Malvinas veterans. Although organized by the Architects' Association of the Province of Mendoza (CAMZA), the initiative originated from a group of Malvinas veterans who reached out to the municipality. They sought a single space where they could be remembered, and which could bring together the four local Malvinas organizations: ACUVEMA (Cuyo Association of Malvinas Veterans), AVUM (Association of Veterans United for Malvinas), ADEM (Association of Malvinas Veterans), and FECUVEMA (Cuyo Federation of Malvinas Veterans).

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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Publishing architecture is necessary for the discipline itself to be understood as such. Without it, architecture becomes an endeavor devoid of public inquiry, confined to private practices. Yet its presence opens up a field that translates a material language into a written one, reformulating the discourses emerging from this arena. Among the “smallest” of these publications are fanzines—mediums that arise from a desire for self-management and low-cost, small-run production, capable of adapting to diverse content, whether in the form of a booklet or simply folded paper.

The playful potential of the fanzine has sparked growing popularity in Chile, culminating in its inclusion in the XXI Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism in 2019. Although awareness of this medium predated this event, there is still a gap in understanding its characteristics. This necessitates asking simple, almost naive questions about the specific conditions of its production—discussions that ultimately reveal an invisible network woven among individuals who, without knowing it, were already connected.

Is there a future for our cities without a sustainable way of life? For some time now, urban sustainability has been viewed primarily through the lens of climate change rather than a holistic vision that integrates society and the way we live in community.

What new ways of living are we experiencing amid social, economic, and ecological shifts? We need to bring to the table different reference cases from around the world and understand the latest trends shaping how we live in our cities.

We want you, our readers, to not only be the first to share examples of co-living, cooperatives, and any new types of social housing you consider benchmarks, but also to share your thoughts on the matter in the form below. Selected comments will be published in an upcoming article.

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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.

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.

Yesterday marked the opening of the seventh International Festival of Urban Interventions in Lima, Peru. The opening day featured a series of events at the Lugar de la Memoria, aiming to shape the agenda, stimulate public debate, and highlight diverse efforts from multiple fronts striving to build a better city for everyone.

"I'm an architect... now what?" must be one of the most common questions for any recent graduate holding an architecture degree. Over the years, many will find jobs in different industries that do not necessarily involve working in an office designing and building buildings.

We visited “Dogon Country” in Mali (latitude 15°N) in 2008 to observe how vernacular “Dogon” architecture (a UNESCO World Heritage site) has achieved the counter-form of lived experiences. We were looking for the coherence between society and dwelling through architecture and urbanism in another dimension and another culture.

Throughout its history, CHC has participated in and supported social projects that improve the quality of life of their residents, while constantly seeking to establish new and better standards that contribute to the construction of spaces. In this particular case, the project led by architect Jaime Ovando integrates public funds through Chile's Habitabilidad Program and the Illustrious Municipality of Paine, along with private contributions from building material companies, the architecture firm, and the construction company, including CHC.

Thinking about the present and future of older adults is essential to improving the population's quality of life. According to the United Nations study on world population prospects, by 2050, it is estimated that 32% of Chile's population will be over 65 years old. According to data from the 2017 National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (CASEN), 22.1% of older adults in the country live in multidimensional poverty. The connection between architecture and social commitment develops a strategy to combat vulnerability in this demographic.

At first glance, textile materials and clay do not share many similarities. However, Oficina Penadés brings these two concepts together, showcasing the potential of a new textile-based material combined with clay processing techniques in “Looks like magic!”, an exhibition held during the recent Milan Design Week.

The Central Society of Architects (SCA) and the Association of Architects of the Province of Buenos Aires (CAPBA) organized the National Ideas Competition to develop a Rail Cultural Hub. The project includes a new General Railway Archive (AGF), a branch of the National Railway Training Center (CENACAF), and new facilities to protect records and showcase the historical and cultural heritage of Argentine Railways (Ferrocarriles Argentinos).