How the "Espacios de Paz" project is transforming community spaces in Venezuela. Pinto Salinas -- Oficina Lúdica + PKMN. Image Courtesy of PICO Estudio.
In Latin America, encounters do not necessarily arise from grand architectural gestures or monumental urban plans. They emerge from the in-between, from intermediate spaces: the courtyard, the veranda, the sidewalk, the shared corridor. These areas, often considered residual or informal by the traditional architectural discipline, are precisely where everyday life builds bonds.
From this Latin American culture comes a spatial logic in which daily life is organized in a relational and expansive way. Practices such as sitting at the front door, occupying the sidewalk, and playing in the street produce a lived city that extends beyond the formal limits of design.
Asking questions is the first step toward challenging what we take for granted and opening up new possibilities for planning and building. These questions, valuable in themselves, gain new strength when shared and examined through different perspectives. As they intersect with the experiences of professionals and brands, they weave together viewpoints that enrich the discussion. Design fairs and events around the world have become spaces where these conversations gain momentum, fostering connections and encouraging collaborative dynamics. In this landscape, Colombia has emerged as a hub, serving as a platform that promotes architecture and design across Latin America and the Caribbean while bringing the region's voice to the global stage.
Nestled amongst the plethora of grandiose and carefully crafted national pavilions in the Giardini della Biennale in the Italian city of Venice is one pavilion by the city's perhaps most well-known modern architect. Sited between the pavilions of Russia and Switzerland is the VenezuelaPavilion, by architect Carlo Scarpa. In many ways, the structure typifies the design approach of its architect but has its idiosyncrasies. Built for Europe's most important biennial art exhibition, it is a member of a cohort of Modernist pavilions that came after the earlier, more classicist pavilions. This is its story.
Pallet Parliament / Alejandro Haiek, Rebecca Rudolph, and Raffaele Errichiello. Umeå, Sweden 2022 Photo: Kent Brodin. Image Courtesy of Alejandro Haiek Coll
Architecture practices usually start their design process with a client, who provides a program and a site. Alejandro Haiek, founder of The Public Machinery, approaches things differently. The Public Machinery describes itself as a network of architects and designers working collectively, actively observing, imagining, and proposing public urban interventions themselves. Their proposals are at the intersection of art, architecture, and engineering and weave community engagement, ecology, and new technologies into innovative forms of social infrastructure. They secure funding through research and public grants, enabling them to create public spaces that defy expectations in both their design process and in the form their projects take.
Sustainability has taken center stage in the broad world of architecture and design, inspiring and directing the construction of new structures towards environmental harmony. The use of wood, a classic material with enormous potential to lessen our ecological impact while providing limitless design possibilities, is a notable example of this movement's implementation. In the fight for sustainability in the field of architecture, wood has become an ally. Its distinctive qualities, such as renewability and carbon neutrality, have inspired creative methods among architects worldwide.
A wide range of architectural projects, from vital healthcare facilities to exciting mixed-use buildings, cultural hubs, and welcoming residential spaces, benefit from wood's extraordinary versatility as a building material. In fact, wood's natural warmth and biophilic qualities can create spaces that reduce stress and promote well-being. Furthermore, the carbon-neutral nature of wood aligns perfectly with the design industry's commitment to environmental responsibility.
At the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Karin Sander, and Philip Ursprung curated the Swiss Pavilion “Neighbors”. In her interview with Louisiana Channel, Karin Sander talks about expanding the understanding of the pavilion, reimagining the connected role of architecture and art, and explaining her artistic process. “Neighbors” was focused on spatial proximity between the Swiss Pavilion and its Venezuelan neighbor. Sander highlights also the conversation between the two structures, that became possible after the removal of a separating wall.
The Architecture in Development Global Challenge has just announced the finalists for the 2022 edition of the competition. Highlighting and celebrating the ongoing efforts of self-built community-led initiatives worldwide, the Global Challenge offers a platform for those initiatives while connecting partners and collaborators globally.
Switzerland’s project for its national pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition–La Biennale di Venezia will be curated by Karin Sander and Philip Ursprung to explore territorial relationships within the Giardini of La Biennale. Titled “Neighbours,” their project is focused on the spatial and structural proximity between the Swiss Pavilion and its Venezuelan neighbor. By turning architecture itself into the exhibit, the project also highlights the bond between the architects of the two structures: the Swiss Bruno Giacometti (1907 - 2012) and the Italian Carlo Scarpa (1906 - 1978). The exhibition will be on display from May 20 to November 26, 2023.
Clásicos de Arquitectura: Árbol para Vivir / Fruto Vivas. Image Cortesía de IX BIAU
Venezuelan architect José Fructoso Vivas, better known as Fruto Vivas, has passed away at 94 in Caracas on Tuesday, August 23.
Recognized for his design of projects such as the Tree for Living social housing, the Táchira Club, the Divino Redentor Church, and the Mausoleum of the Four Elements where the body of Hugo Chávez is preserved, Vivas has always aimed to further integrate the life of the human being to nature.
Almost seven kilometers from the green of Uhuru Park in central Nairobi, lies the informal settlement of Kibera. It is an area whose urban character consists of corrugated iron roofs, mud walls, and a complicated network of utility poles. Kibera, at this point in time, is a well-known place. Much has been written and researched on this “city within a city,” from its infrastructural issues to its navigation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Salzburg seen from the Festung Hohensalzburg (Hohensalzburg Fortress). Image via Flickr User Janusz Sliwinski
Rivers have long been considered as Earth’s arteries, serving as the essence of urban communities as human settlements developed their shelters and crop beds around them. Centuries later, riverside architecture remained vital as these areas expanded beyond residential typologies, and harnessed dynamic mixed-use developments and public functions. As valuable as they may seem though, these landscapes come with the risk of unexpected floods, increased water levels, or complete droughts, which has forced architects to design built environments that are able to respond to these abrupt changes. So how were these settlements built in the past, and how has today’s urban densification and technological advancements influence the way they are built?
Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong. Image Courtesy of 'City of Darkness Revisited’
Cities are growing, and they are growing upwards. This is far from just being a contemporary phenomenon of course – for more than a century, high-rises have been an integral part of urban settlements worldwide. This growing of cities encompasses a complex web of processes – advancements in transport links, urbanisation, and migration to mention a few. This growth of cities, however, is all too often linked with governmental failure to adequately support all facets of the urban population. Informal settlements are then born – people carving out spaces for themselves to live amidst a lack of state support.
London Design Biennale 2021 Medal: Chile - Tectonic Resonances. Image Courtesy of ER
The jury of the London Design Biennale 2021 has announced today June 24 the winning pavilions to the third edition. Responding to artistic director and curator Es Devlin's theme ‘Resonance’, the Biennale brings together over 30 pavilions to showcase how design can provide solutions to the challenges of our times, from sustainability to globalization, to migration to the future of humanity.
“The winners of the 2021 London Design Biennale Medals truly illustrate the importance of design thinking to help bring social change and economic growth across the world," said John Sorrell, President of the London Design Biennale. While Victoria Broackes, Director of the London Design Biennale, stated the winners "clearly demonstrate how brilliant design can be in telling complex stories that communicate directly to hearts and minds."
"Volumen virtual suspendido" de Jesús Rafael Soto, Centro Benaven, Chuao, Caracas, 1984. Image Cortesía de ArchivoFotografíaUrbana | Fotografía de Ramón Paolini del fotolibro "Caracas. A doble página"
Through a visual survey, architect and photographer Ramón Paolini explores the evolution of Caracas (Venezuela). The photographs capture the capital's transformation throughout the past forty years, giving viewers an in depth look at one of Latin America's most tumultuous regions, its urban development, and the socio-political aspects behind it. Most importantly, Paolini illustrates his personal vision for this urban space that builds, destroys, and rebuilds with an astounding tenacity.
The architecture firms of Kunckel Associates and Stefan Gzyl joined forces under the Glocalstudio platform to develop their entry to the recently completed ideas competition for La Carlota park in Caracas, Venezuela. They propose that the new park is an opportunity for a lot more than supplying a quantifiable amount of park space: they understand it as an opportunity for the (re)foundation of the city. The park will become the city’s new vital nucleus, a space from which to (re)conquest and (re)claim a preexisting and often hostile territory. In a city in which nature is in constant decline and hardly available as public space, the 100 hectare military airfield site constitutes a unique chance for a metropolitan-scale park in the very heart of the city. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Venezuela’s participation at the 13th Venice Biennale is presented through a series of reflections about the urban situation – the city of the 21st century.
La ciudad socializante vs la ciudad alienante is aimed for the general audience, not just the architects, presenting a series of graphic-chromatic notes and sketches by Domenico Silvestro, who was very kind and showed us the pavilion. You can see him on the photos below.
.jpg?1651830269 "Khayelitsha Township - Cape Town. Image © Olga Ernst under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.")
