Albor Arquitectos is a Cuban architecture studio founded in 2016 by Carlos Manuel González Baute, Alain Rodríguez Sosa, Camilo José Cabrera Pérez and Merlyn González García. They say that building in Cuba is a complex task, a growing challenge due to the lack of materials, high costs and restrictions on the independent practice of the profession.

Even in this context, their work, such as Casa Soporte, Casa Casita and El Apartamento, stands out for the continuity of the inherited city, the rediscovery of construction techniques and an architecture based on proximity to the people and the prevailing social reality.

Selected by ArchDaily as one of the New Practices of 2021 and recently winner of second place in the Building of the Year Award 2022 for their project Casa Torre, we conducted the following interview to tell us more in detail about all their inspirations, motivations and ways of working from Cuba.

Well managed firm finances can be a raise to glory but if you fail at keeping them under control they quickly turn into a silent assassin. Why? Because, since as architects we don’t get much business education in school one of the common downfalls prove to be mismanaged finances.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has selected Mexican architect Frida Escobedo to design the new $500 million modern and contemporary art wing. The Met does not have, until now, a thematic area that would house pieces corresponding to this temporality in art.

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The European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation have announced the 40 shortlisted works that will compete for the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. The shortlist featured projects built across 18 different European countries, with Spain, Austria, and France topping the list with 5 entries each. The winners will be announced in April 2022 and the Award ceremony will take place in May 2022.

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After the announcement of the selected projects in the categories of Airports, Campus, Railway Stations and Sports, followed by the announcement of the 70 Continental Winning Projects of the Prix Versailles 2021 in the categories of Shops, Shopping Centres, Hotels and Restaurants, there turned out to be a total of 94 new projects competing in the 2021 Prix Versailles World Final.

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At the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, designed by Philip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe in the iconic Seagram Building, a rectangular pool played the leading role in the space, highlighted by four trees planted in pots at each of the vertices. The soft noise made by the water became consecrated. In addition to giving the hall some personality, it served to absorb the sounds of conversations (often secret) among tables. Just as the way that light enters a space, or how interior landscapes are perceived, sound is one more characteristic of an environment, though it is generally overlooked by architects. This goes beyond providing it with efficient acoustics, but creating a sound atmosphere for a space. This is the concept of soundscape.

Despite a year-long postponement and strict pandemic regulations, the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia has finally come to an end with over 300,000 visitors, exceeding the previous edition. Titled "How Will We Live Together", the 2021 edition of the event featured 112 participants and 60 national participations hailing from 46 countries, displayed across the Giardini, Arsenale, and the streets of Venice from May 22nd to November 21st, 2021. UAE's Wetland by curators Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto took home the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, for presenting an innovative contextual alternative to cement, one of the key emitters of the world's carbon dioxide.

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