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This February 2 marks another World Wetlands Day, held under the theme revitalize and restore degraded wetlands. The 2023 theme highlights that "if done correctly, these sites can offer the same benefits as the original natural wetland."

Bringing greenery and, in many cases, vegetable cultivation into urban areas yields countless benefits for city dwellers. Green roofs offer a solution for transforming underutilized areas into true natural oases, helping to mitigate urban heat islands, absorb rainwater, improve air quality, control noise levels, and attract biodiversity.

The Doctores neighborhood (Mexico City) is a complex territory; understanding it requires observing the interrelations between objects in space, rather than space and the objects in themselves. Formerly known as Colonia Hidalgo and later renamed after its streets, it has undergone multiple processes of transformation and appropriation over time, ranging from the construction of its first homes during the viceregal period to the spatial and social shift brought about by the 1985 earthquake.

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Seattle-based Olson Kundig is a prime example of how a firm's design approach is shaped by geography and culture. Founded by Jim Olson (Jim Olson) in 1966, the firm now comprises hundreds of employees and four other partners, including Tom Kundig. The practice boasts a wide and diverse portfolio. In lectures and interviews, Kundig frequently discusses how his upbringing in a region with a rich history of mining and logging influenced his industrial and rational aesthetic, his use of durable, low-maintenance materials, and his keen focus on craftsmanship. At the same time, an imaginative approach that emphasizes kinetic elements and blurs the boundaries between indoors and outdoors is a hallmark of many of the firm's designs. This is often achieved through the integration of manual, hand-operated devices that allow users to physically activate the building, connecting them to the environment, the architecture, and its kinetic mechanisms.

Facing the challenges of aligning development demands with sustainability policies, researchers from FGV EAESP (São Paulo School of Business Administration), alongside the international non-governmental organization ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) and other partners, have created the Green and Blue Infrastructure Guide. The objective is to provide a step-by-step guide on how to make cities sustainable, focusing on improving local governance across three key factors: food, water, and energy.

To mark International Women's Day, the high school research projects awarded the Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture were presented at the historic Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition. In addition, the call for applications for the new 2023/2024 edition has been opened.

This year, we celebrate the fifteenth edition of our Obra del Año (Building of the Year) award: the highest recognition in the Spanish-speaking architectural world, with winners selected by public vote. Starting today, Thursday, March 9, you and all of our readers will be responsible for choosing the projects built during 2022 that inspired us and now faithfully represent the identity of our local contexts.

Since 2015, the renowned Concéntrico International Architecture and Design Festival of Logroño has fostered dialogue between the city, its heritage, and contemporary architecture, inviting citizens to reflect on the urban environment. For its ninth edition, taking place from April 27 to May 2, 2023, the festival has announced its participating architecture and design teams.

This February began with social media ablaze following wildfires in central and southern Chile. This has become a recurring concern in recent years due to their scale and frequency. To date, nearly 3,000 affected individuals and almost 1,100 destroyed homes have been reported across various areas of Ñuble, Biobío, and La Araucanía, according to data compiled by the news outlet La Tercera.

Applications are now open for the Heritage Education Projects call launched by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan). The initiative will provide R$ 2 million to establish partnerships between Iphan, civil society organizations, and public entities at all levels of government, which can submit proposals ranging from R$ 200,000 to R$ 250,000. Applications are open until September 25.

"Fábrica de afectos" is an exhibition by Antonio Yemail on view at the Policroma Gallery in Medellín until February 17, 2023. The exhibition is the result of a long-term process involving various case studies on the relationship between cats and humans. Yemail has spent over a decade researching a specific architecture for elusive beings, spanning research, academia, practice, and exhibitions with a combined scientific-architectural and artistic approach.

Chile is looking to reactivate and add new cable car projects to address urban mobility in its cities. At the end of January 2023, economist and politician Carlos Montes, the current Minister of Housing and Urban Development, alongside Carlos Ponce, director of the Santiago Metropolitan Park, officially presented the new Pío Nono Cable Car project. Currently under construction, this one-kilometer, three-station line—to be named Zoológico Nacional, Chile Nativo, and Plaza México—aims to provide an alternative transport option to the summit of San Cristóbal Hill.

From April 20 to 30, Barcelona will once again host the Model Festival, an event that aims to transform the city into a platform for emerging architectural and design talent, as well as global thought leaders. Founded in 2022 by the Ajuntament de Barcelona and managed this year by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, the festival aims to create a space of exploration and inspiration for all citizens, turning the city's streets into a laboratory for architectural and urban experimentation and dissemination. It will once again feature the artistic direction of Eva Franch i Gilabert, alongside a broad team of architects, curators, and more than 50 local institutions and organizations selected through an open call.

The 7th edition of the ArchDaily Brasil Building of the Year award has arrived, and once again we need your help to select the best architectural projects of the year. By voting, you become part of an unbiased network of jurors recognizing the most relevant projects of 2022.

Over the next three weeks, the collective intelligence of our readers will filter hundreds of projects from Portuguese-speaking countries — Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Macau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe — published in 2022, selecting the best built works in the Portuguese-speaking world.

Out of hundreds of projects published in 2022, readers will choose their favorites, with the 15 most-voted projects advancing to the second stage of the award.

The 2023 Building of the Year Award is presented by Dornbracht, an internationally renowned company for kitchen and bathroom products.

As the urgency to replace fossil fuels increases, new electric vehicle models are announced with growing frequency. From urban cars to models equipped with solar panels, the focus is on prioritizing electric mobility, with automakers shifting production lines and countries and cities passing laws to accelerate the energy transition.

Located in one of the most urbanized areas of São Paulo, the Bruno Covas Novo Rio Pinheiros Park will be the city's largest linear park, running along the entire west bank of the river. Opened in 2022, the first 8.2-kilometer (5.1-mile) section features various attractions, such as bike paths, playgrounds, picnic areas, and trails. However, people living next to the river are often unaware that the area is open to the public and that they can use the space, despite frequently crossing the bridges over it.

The São Paulo Association of Art Critics (APCA) announced yesterday evening the winners of the 2022 APCA Awards. The accolade is divided into ten categories, covering Architecture, Visual Arts, Cinema, Dance, Literature, Popular Music, Radio, Theater, Children's and Youth Theater, and Television. After two years of virtual meetings, the jurors for each category met in person to debate the nominations.

To mark its 470th anniversary in 2024, São Paulo will receive a green area of approximately 10,000 square meters featuring over 400 trees and urban furniture designed by the award-winning Estudio Campana, founded by brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana. The gathering space will be built in the Paulista Avenue area, along a stretch of Alameda Rio Claro, Alameda das Flores, and Rua São Carlos do Pinhal. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2023.

From April 27 to May 2, 2023, the Logroño International Festival of Architecture and Design, Concéntrico 09, will take place. Year after year, the festival reflects on the urban environment and cities through architectural and design proposals including installations, exhibitions, meetings, workshops, and other activities. This edition has announced the winners of the open calls for city installations, as well as the selected practices for the European Cities Ahead program and the new award from the Mayor's Office of Medellín.

The National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan), along with representatives from the institutions involved and affected by the January 8 attacks, began coordinating efforts last week to restore Brazilian Cultural Heritage in Brasília (DF).

During the meeting, representatives from the technical departments of infrastructure, restoration, and architecture outlined the damage, ongoing actions, and immediate needs—specifically regarding funding and specialized restorers—as well as proposals for joint initiatives. Discussions also covered potential funding sources for emergency actions and medium- to long-term restoration projects, including private donations and resources from UNESCO.

Cristóbal Tirado and Doering Pardo were awarded first place in the public competition “Architectural Design and Profile of the Chile Chico Town Hall.” Organized by the local municipality's Secretariat of Communal Planning in the Aysén Region, the competition aimed to select a distinctive and iconic architecture for this extreme region, while incorporating energy efficiency criteria, openness toward General Carrera Lake, and outdoor spaces for civic gatherings.

The selected project proposes “to articulate a dialogue between the present day and its technologies, and the historical past and foundational building traditions of Chile Chico.” With this in mind, the materials—brick, wood, and glass—were adapted to current technical and spatial requirements to create a modern civic building. 

São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM) is considered the most Indigenous city in Brazil, home to 23 peoples belonging to five language families — Eastern Tukano, Arawak, Yanomami, Japurá-Uaupés, and Tupi. There, at two small excavation sites, archaeologists have found evidence proving a dense, continuous, and ancient settlement dating back at least two thousand years. 

The findings challenge the common narrative that characterizes the region by depopulation, isolation, and disconnection from the rest of the Amazon. The area is one of the best-preserved in the Amazon and has been studied since 2019 by Parinã (Intercultural Archaeological Program of the Northwest Amazon), which has just compiled its first reports on the recovered archaeological fragments.

Various experts in the design, construction, and monitoring of sustainable buildings in Latin America come together on Emisor Cero, the new podcast from Proyecto CEELA produced by podcastera.mx. The show aims to highlight the concrete challenges and actions capable of mitigating the climate crisis affecting us all, while simultaneously exposing and debunking various myths about green architecture.

The community of Caleta Tumbes in the commune of Talcahuano, a few kilometers from Concepción, suffered severe damage from the 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami. Nearly a decade later, the local municipality launched a public tender for the opportunity to rebuild one of the most affected structures, the F-495 School.

The winning project was designed by the firm 6280 Arquitectos, led by Pablo Arellano and Patricio Lopetegui. Below, the team describes the proposal in their own words.