The Ministry of Public Works, through the Directorate General for Architecture, Housing, and Land, in collaboration with the Higher Council of Architects' Associations of Spain (CSCAE) and the Arquia Foundation, has announced the 14th Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (XIV BEAU) for the 2016–2017 period. This edition is supported by the Santander City Council, the Botín Foundation, and the Official Association of Architects of Cantabria.

Under the theme More Inhabiting, More Humanizing, this 14th edition of the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism aims to emphasize the concept of "inhabiting" as the foundation of architecture and the humanization of the city. This concept is defined not only by various functional programs but also by the quality and character of the spaces themselves.

The arrival of BIM methodology is driving a paradigm shift in how different players in the global construction sector work and collaborate. In Spain, a growing number of companies are using and beginning to benefit from this digital modeling tool. However, much work remains, and the full implementation of this new workflow will require periods of adaptation and assimilation for both the public administration and the private sector.

A few weeks ago, Ana Rojo, General Director of Production and Engineering at Ineco, announced that public building projects in Spain would be required to use BIM methodology by the end of 2018.

Cristina Cabrera, director of the ICO Foundation, has presented the programming prepared by the institution for 2018, the year of its 25th anniversary. She outlined the program's main direction across the Foundation's three areas of activity: Art, Economy, and International.

In the field of Art, she presented the three temporary exhibitions at the Museo ICO focusing on architecture and the promotion of highly relevant but underrecognized figures in the discipline: Joaquín Vaquero Palacios, Carlos Cánovas, and Diébédo Francis Kéré.

The Prado Museum is currently preparing the events to commemorate its bicentennial, which will officially begin on November 19, marking 199 years since its inauguration. 

However, despite the celebratory atmosphere surrounding this major milestone, water flow and the water table beneath the foundations of this landmark building—designed by architect Juan de Villanueva and recently expanded by Navarrese architect Rafael Moneo—are a source of concern. In 2014, these issues had already caused leaks, cracks, and dampness. 

Surprising as it may seem, Spain currently lacks a national Law on Architecture and Habitability to recognize and promote the value of the profession to the country's economic, social, and cultural development.

However, 2017 brought two major developments that can and should provide the momentum needed to advance toward a crucial national law. First, the passage on November 8 of the Public Sector Contracts Law, which, according to Jordi Ludevid, president of the Superior Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE), represents "a spectacular and highly positive change" for architects. Second, the approval on June 28, 2017, of Spain’s first-ever architecture legislation, the Catalonia Architecture Law.

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Following last year's designation of the Gimnasio Maravillas, designed by Alejandro de la Sota, the Community of Madrid has declared the Capitol Building an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) under the Monument category. This designation continues the region's initiative to protect and promote 20th-century Spanish modern architecture.

Also known as the Carrión Building, the Capitol Building was designed by architects Vicente Eced and Luis Martínez Feduchi. Construction began on April 21, 1931, and the building officially opened on October 15, 1933.

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Lola Barcia Albacar and Marinela Forcadell Breva, known as Fotolateras, are two Spanish photographers who describe themselves as tireless travelers passionate about pinhole photography. This technique, one of the oldest in the world of photography, involves capturing images with almost no conventional photographic equipment.

This technique requires expertise, as each can captures only a single photograph and exposure times can exceed a full minute. However, the results are well worth the effort: images imbued with a captivating beauty. In the case of Fotolateras, Lola and Marinela use cameras built from cans, where the lens is simply a tiny hole drilled into the surface.

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In Spain, a neologism has emerged to explain a rising phenomenon: touristification. As Antonio Maestre notes in La Marea, the term refers to "the impact on neighborhood residents when facilities and services shift to cater almost exclusively to tourists at the expense of locals."

Among the consequences of this phenomenon in cities like Madrid and Barcelona is the massive proliferation of tourist accommodations. These lodging options drive and facilitate speculative processes whose negative impacts ultimately fall on neighborhood residents, who are forced to leave because they can no longer afford rising home prices or rents.

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.

In this interview, we speak with Carmelo Rodríguez and Rocío Pina, who, along with David Pérez, founded Enorme Studio. Based in Madrid, the firm is known for its radical, unconventional approach to architecture, the city, and society.

Although they began with a practice focused on architectural competitions, the young firm has since evolved to embrace other formats, including participatory urban dynamics, installations based on industrial systems, typological innovations, exhibitions, and curatorial projects.

Fundación Arquia has published a new issue of its digital magazine Arquetipos, featuring an interview with sculptor and artist David Bestué, conducted by architect Moisés Puente with photography by José Hevia. The issue also includes articles on Olympic urban planning, the relationship between architecture and sculpture in the work of Chillida, Enric Miralles, Sert, Kiesler, and much more.

In the interview, titled "Language as Object," David Bestué (Barcelona, 1980) discusses how he approaches architectural space in his work, the influence of artists such as Dan Graham, Robert Smithson, Gordon Matta-Clark, and Juan Muñoz, and his interest in the formal qualities of work by architects Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós (the "local modern").

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On February 10, the Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts) in Berlin opened the Spanish photography exhibition UNFINISHED, which won the Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Biennale.

Spain is one of the countries where the economic crisis has most severely affected architectural practice. Many publicly and privately funded buildings were under construction when the crisis hit, and a large number of them were left unfinished.

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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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The renovation and adaptation project for the Reales Atarazanas of Seville (Spain)—one of the Andalusian capital's most spectacular architectural spaces, often referred to as the city's "civil cathedral"—has overcome what appears to be the final hurdle on its path to becoming a landmark cultural center, not only for Andalusia but for all of Spain.

On December 29, during a ceremony held at the Atarazanas itself, an agreement was ratified between the Regional Government of Andalusia, the La Caixa Foundation—responsible for managing the historic building as a cultural space with an investment of over 13 million euros—and Adepa (Association for the Defense of Andalusian Heritage), which had filed a lawsuit against the project in 2016, putting the renovation on hold.

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The Official Association of Architects of Madrid and the COAM Architecture Foundation have presented the new phase of Arquitectura magazine, as well as its new editorial board, which will be responsible for editing the publication over the next two years and releasing a special issue to celebrate its centennial.

Arquitectura magazine was founded in 1918 as the publication of the Central Society of Architects under the direction of José Moreno Villa. Throughout its 100-year history, the publication has witnessed shifting contexts and circumstances, its trajectory shaped by diverse and independent editorial directions. Nevertheless, the magazine has remained one of the oldest active titles in the country, establishing itself as an enduring benchmark for debate, critical thought, and the practice of architects, urban planners, and professionals in closely related fields.

Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, winner of the 1996 Pritzker Prize, will design the new expansion of Madrid's Atocha railway station, as confirmed to the Spanish media by the Minister of Public Works, Íñigo de la Serna.

This latest expansion includes new platforms for the AVE—the high-speed rail network operated by the state-owned company Renfe—and will mark Moneo’s third intervention at the Spanish capital’s main railway station.

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During the recent XIX Architecture Biennial of Chile, we spoke with Spanish architect José Luis Vallejo, co-founder of Ecosistema Urbano. The Columbia GSAPP academic reflected on addressing the problems of the contemporary city through new horizontal citizen participation tools that can offer solutions tailored to the dynamic, constantly changing reality of our urban environments.

Vallejo is critical of the education and current role of architecture schools in addressing the real-world problems of cities and society. "Our academic training was highly disciplinary; interestingly, 20 years later, in a society that has changed radically, it remains exactly the same environment in which architects are still being educated," he comments.

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Spanish architect Juan de Dios de la Hoz and his work reconstructing the historical heritage of Lorca (Murcia, Spain) following the May 2011 earthquake have been awarded the Rafael Manzano International Prize for New Traditional Architecture, endowed with €50,000.

The jury, comprising prestigious national and international architects, praised his mastery of traditional and historical techniques shown in many of his historic heritage interventions, particularly on those monuments requiring extensive reconstruction work.