Archinect - News

Alejandro Aravena to deliver the new home of the School of Architecture, Art and Design in Monterrey, Mexico

2023-09-21T12:30:00-04:00

Pritzker laureate Alejandro Aravena and his firm ELEMENTAL S.A have been announced as the project leads to deliver the new home of the School of Architecture, Art and Design (EAAD) to the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM) in Mexico.

The scope of the new Classrooms 10 project entails a new building at the Avenida Junco de la Vega that will house the school’s Architecture, Design, Digital Art, and Urbanism programs, all of which are currently spread throughout multiple facilities at its Monterrey flagship campus. The university also operates 21 satellite campuses across Mexico, though no plans appear to be in development for any of their locations.

Aravena visited the campus in late August to workshop the idea with students and faculty at the university. Dean Rodolfo Barragán says the project will leave “a place with urban significance” that integrates ITESM’s presence with Monterrey’s Central Park while “highlighting and giving meaning to the activities that will be appropri...

Alejandro Aravena previews ELEMENTAL's massive Qatar Art Mill project in Doha

2022-12-27T18:00:00-05:00

“The aim is for the building to last, and to do that it needs to be suited to the context,” he says. “But we also want the visitor to feel reflected and interpreted by this building. I want to capture this society’s sensibility and sense of pride. This will be a calm building.”

The Art Mill Museum project represents 21-year-old ELEMENTAL’s first-ever museum commission and will be joined by designs from Herzog & de Meuron and OMA upon its completion towards the end of the decade. Aravena said he wants to “create something reversible,” looking to the existing silo structures as “clues for how to proceed” that can ultimately be altered by subsequent generations of designers, adding, “What works today for a museum might not work in the future.”

“We came in with no bias about museum architecture, and no real knowledge of the region,” he added (although he mentioned his experience designing with seismic and climatic considerations in his native country as informing the nearly one-million-square-foot design.)

Revisit Archinect's 2019 interview: The War on Cliché; A Conversation with Alejandro Aravena

“Much as we continue to pursue projects around housing and community and slum upgrading, we also like to tackle these big projects, to keep our design tools sharpen...

Qatar will receive three new museums from a trio of Pritzker Prize winners

2022-03-28T19:24:00-04:00

Three new major museum projects were announced yesterday at the 2022 Doha Forum in Qatar.

Qatar Museums Chairperson Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was on hand to premiere the new initiative, which is meant to kick off the next phase in the country’s development goals propelled by a continued investment in the cultural economy.

Al Mayassa was joined by two-thirds of the architects for the museums: Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron, who will design the Lusail Museum, and ELEMENTAL director Alejandro Aravena, whose firm will be responsible for the Art Mill. OMA’s Rem Koolhaas, who will design the new Qatar Auto Museum, was the lone holdout.

The Art Mill represents the 21-year-old ELEMENTAL’s first foray into the museum typology. Envisioned as a fusion of performances spaces, contemporary art galleries, and dedicated areas for artist residency programs, what was formerly the site of a historic flour mill will now be transformed into an anchor for various Qatari c...

Pritzker Architecture Prize names Alejandro Aravena as Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury

2020-10-29T17:54:00-04:00

Today, The Pritzker Architecture Prize announced the appointments of Alejandro Aravena as Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury and Manuela Lucá-Dazio as an advisor to the Prize and the next Executive Director, beginning in March 2021.

"Throughout the history of the Prize, we have consistently relied on the diversity, expertise and standing of our jury members to interpret the evolving role of architecture as it responds to the changing needs of community, environment and technology. We are pleased to welcome back Alejandro Aravena, and in a renewed capacity as he brings with him a fresh model of leadership to steward our independent, international and esteemed jury," said Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award in a statement. "Likewise, we are delighted to work with Manuela Lucá-Dazio in this new season as we continue our privilege of honoring architects who have impressed upon the industry through the art of architecture and their service ...

The War on Cliché; A Conversation with Alejandro Aravena

2019-09-20T18:46:00-04:00

On this episode, we're joined by Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena. A long-familiar name to most of our listeners, Aravena’s work gained significant media attention upon winning the Pritzker Prize in 2016, elevating his reputation for working to address some of today’s most difficult issues through participatory design, engaging users, groups, experts, and the public-at-large. His most notable projects are his “incremental housing” developments, a partially subsidized low-income solution for displaced families providing half-built homes for families to complete on their own, within their own budgets and tastes. Elemental has since released the plans for these projects for free, via download from their website.

Quinta Monroy, by Elemental

Villa Verde, one of the four projects whose plans have been released to the public by Elemental. From Archinect's article "Inside Aravena's open source plans for low-cost yet upgradable housing"

This week Aravena was awarded another significant priz...

Architect Alejandro Aravena receives 2019 ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development

2019-07-23T20:35:00-04:00

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on education and research initiatives supporting responsible land use and sustainability practices. This year the J.C. Nichols Prize has been awarded to Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena.

In a recent press release ULI trustee Jodie W. McLean shares, "One of Alejandro's greatest accomplishments is the process in which he's connected architecture and working with communities, taking care to include people's ideas on how to make a better environment to improve all parts of the community. He doesn't just draw solutions, he strives (for his work) to be part of the solution."

UC Innovation center - Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago. Image © Nico Saieh

Founder of the Santiago-based architecture firm ELEMENTAL along with Gonzalo Artega, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddo, and Diego Torres, many of Aravena's projects, have reflected a simplistic and holistic design approach. Aravena has shared with the UCI, "When we crea...

ELEMENTAL strikes a balance between luxury and altruism

2019-05-01T19:54:00-04:00

There is only a small handful of architects practicing today whose work can at once be described as lavish and another as altruistic - Michael Maltzan, Shigeru Ban and Kengo Kuma are a few of the names that come to mind.

Vacation Home, by ELEMENTAL. Image via Chile Sotheby’s International Realty

But perhaps it is the name of Alejandro Aravena, the Pritzker-prize winning architect behind the Chilean firm ELEMENTAL, that should come before others. The firm's work is always photogenic (the vacation home featured above being among their most exemplary), but one gets the strong sense that this isn't the main priority each time they take on a new project. Rather, as Aravena said in an interview, the firm's goal is to contribute to "a fair built environment where the common good can be guaranteed and balanced with individual gains."

ELEMENTAL, Alejandro Aravena. Published by Lars Müller.

ELEMENTAL, the monograph recently published by Lars Müller, highlights the delicate balance between lux...

Brutalist Retreats and Gaudi Lawsuits: October 2018 in Review

2018-12-27T09:00:00-05:00

Eclectic is the word I would use to describe Archinect news in October: Bizarre lawsuits, advanced mapping algorithms and meticulous light displays were among the subjects of our most popular posts this month.

↑ Gaudi's Sagrada Familia fined $41 million for lack of building permit

Arguably the most famous building currently under construction, La Sagrada Familia, found itself in hot water this October when it was determined that it did not have the proper building permits for its century-old site. The church's trustees conceded to paying $41 million in fees over a 10-year period, so that the city can fund public transportation, increase accessibility, and make other improvements to the surrounding area.

↑ Muji's apartment prototype tackles long commutes and highly dense cities

Muji is a design company closely associated with small-scale minimalist objects, but in October the brand demonstrated their skills know no bounds. Equipped with an open communal space and kitchen, the Muji ...

Alejandro Arevena's alluring concrete vacation home

2018-10-12T20:28:00-04:00

The radical, four-bedroom vacation house is part of the Ochoalcubo project – a pioneering ‘architectural laboratory’ led by the entrepreneur and architecture lover Eduardo Godoy. Leading Chilean and Japanese practices including Aravena, Smiljan Radic, Toyo Ito and Sou Fujimoto were asked to design a series of ground-breaking homes on the coast of Ochoquebradas.

Pritzker Prize-winner Alejandro Aravena uses the Chilean landscape of Coquimbo to create a weekend home oozing with dramatic appeal and a moody ancient beauty. The vacation home is comprised of three large concrete volumes specifically stacked one against the other. Sitting on a hilltop overlooking the Chilean coast, the home, at first glance exudes an "ancient" looking quality.

Image via Chile Sotheby’s International Realty

The massively rugged, boulder like structure was heavily influenced by primitivistic values. Its simplistic exterior is carried through out the entire house. The interiority of the space reflects modernist principles that focus on a flow of indoor/outdoor space and a loyalty to basic materials.

Image via Chile Sotheby’s International Realty

At the center of the home is a large fire pit that accents the room without frills. The exposed concrete surfaces found through out the structure complement the floor-to-ceiling glass walls that can be found in each of the fo...

Alejandro Aravena's ELEMENTAL to design the 1 million sq.ft. Qatar Art Mill

2017-05-15T15:58:00-04:00

Alejandro Aravena's Santiago firm ELEMENTAL had the winning concept for the Qatar Art Mill Design Competition. Launched by Qatar Museums in 2015, the three-stage competition sought the architect who will convert an approximately 1 million square-foot flour mill into a new waterfront art museum for Doha Bay...“The [winning] concept design was praised by the international jury as ‘a serene artwork...”

Elemental Art Mill Concept Design. Image © Qatar Museums and Malcolm Reading Consultants.

Chosen from eight top-notch finalists, Elemental was inspired by the iconic “rhythmic monumental grain silos” of the original Flour Mills that formerly occupied the site.

Find out more on Bustler.

Aravena wins the 2017 Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Design

2017-04-26T12:23:00-04:00

From winning the Pritzker to curating the Venice Biennale, the Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena had a pretty good 2016. Apparently, he’s still on a roll: Aravena has just been awarded the 2017 Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Design. Awarded each year to people or organizations for “outstanding performance and achievements towards a sustainable future”, the award comes with 1 million swedish krona (just over $100,000).

“Mr Alejandro Aravena is an innovative Chilean architect that together with his colleagues in the ‘Do-Tank’ Elemental applies a design philosophy including citizens as part of the solution and not part of the problem, creating bridges of trust between people, government and business,” write the jury. “All three dimensions of sustainability are balanced in a participatory process; socially, environmentally and economically.”

Architects Alejandro Aravena and Trix & Robert Haussmann included on NYT's 2016 Creative Geniuses list

2016-12-28T18:14:00-05:00

From their studios, ateliers, film sets and kitchens — and even the White House — these are the people whose inventive spirits shaped the conversation this year.

It certainly was an eventful career year for Alejandro Aravena (Pritzker Prize, Venice Biennale, et al.), and the ambitious Chilean's cultural footprint can be traced throughout a handful of our Archinect 2016 Year In Review posts:

Halfway there? The limits to Aravena's social housing

2016-06-14T12:52:00-04:00

"In most cities in Latin America, most of the building over last 50 years—depending on the city—40, 50, 60, 70 percent has been through incremental construction.” [...] The majority of Aravena’s social housing work has also rested on the unique conditions and high level of investment from Chile’s social housing program. [...] Isn’t asking the poor to shoulder more of the housing burden an inherently unfair proposition?

More discussion of Aravena's practice and impact can be found here:

Dispatch from the Venice Biennale: Uruguay's underground, Germany's construction site, Britain's housekeeping and more from the national pavilions

2016-05-27T13:40:00-04:00

May 26, 2016

Aravena’s Biennale for architecture to give a damn might imply a specific kind of project, but, after one day on the ground, it is clear that there is no one way for it to respond. For one thing, there is a truly incomprehensible quantity of material to cover. The volume alone speaks to the complex of energy and passion coming worldwide from the discipline. After an incomplete first pass around the Giardini and a tactical visit to the Arsenale, Venice’s two main Biennale sites, I am struck by the inconsistency and individuality across and within these many contributions. Noteworthy trends may, at some point, emerge from the crowd, but, for now, I can list a few, non-representative soundbites only:

The US Pavilion, “The Architectural Imagination,” gives us architecture as we have come to expect it. Through twelve proposals for four Detroit sites, it posits the speculative as the instrument of societal uplift, offering up wild thinking as the means of igniting change. It do...

Dispatch from the Venice Biennale: a call for architects to give a damn

2016-05-26T19:05:00-04:00

May 25, 2016:

At La Biennale Architettura di Venezia, architecture packages itself for a global forum. It is a distinct occasion through which the world’s constructs and place-makings converge in a single microcosm. Against the backdrop of a sinking city, designers and works tapped to represent national architectural accomplishment invoke a comparative sizing-up. In displays, with ceremony, at a flurry of events and celebrations, architecture gets to sift through its disciplinary priorities. This gathering of architectural seeing and being seen is significant for the scene it projects into the expanded field.

This year, the 15th International Architecture Exhibition, the tone to the official introductory texts suggests a dissatisfaction with past performances. Paolo Barrata, Biennale President, announces the 2016 show with an identification of tendency in those previous years to “deplore the present” as “characterized by increasing disconnection between architecture and civil society....

Watch a live tour of the Venice Biennale with curator Alejandro Aravena

2016-05-25T12:47:00-04:00

Are you stuck at home feeling Biennale-FOMO while everyone else is sipping Campari and sodas in the Arsenale? Assuage it by watching a live tour of the Biennale conducted by Alejandro Aravena tomorrow.

The stream will begin on May 26th at noon (Venice time, assumedly). You can watch it on the T Magazine Facebook.

For more from Venice, check out these links:

Chile's local hero: Michael Kimmelman profiles Alejandro Aravena

2016-05-23T12:59:00-04:00

Aravena polished off his beer when a stranger sidled up to the table. It happens all the time now. Drivers in passing cars stop him in the street. Shop clerks, politicians, long-lost acquaintances and schoolteachers ask for selfies with him. They all say the same thing. “Thank you,” the stranger said to Aravena, who smiled and posed arm in arm with the man for a picture. Thank you — as if the Pritzker prize...had been awarded on behalf of everybody in Chile.

Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic for the New York Times, profiles Alejandro Aravena's projects in his native Chile, on the cusp of this year's Venice Biennale opening (which Aravena is also directing). The profile largely focuses on Aravena's social practice, and its attempts at coordinating efforts among the Chilean government, construction companies and actual citizens – most prominently, after the 2010 earthquake in Constitución.

For a comparative take on Aravena, from before he won the Pritzker or was named director of the 2016 Venice Biennale, check out Carolina A. Miranda's (art critic for the Los Angeles Times) piece profiling Chile's emerging group of promising and talented architects.

For more on Aravena and the Chilean architecture scene:

Editor's Picks #444

2016-04-13T17:48:00-04:00

ICYMI Amelia Taylor-Hochberg published a 3 part interview with Coy Howard, by students in John Southern's “Architectural Media and Publishing” Cultural Studies seminar at SCI-Arc. Ewa Lenart was impressed "Great Work and greatly inspiring teacher!"

Plus, Nicholas Korody explored ‘Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work’ by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams. Chris Teeter thought it was "good work...very interesting...these guys are 100% correct about scale".

News
Dame Zaha Hadid DBE passed on March 31st. Frank Gehry remembered "she was one of the guys...[That’s] sexist in its own way I suppose. I don’t mean it that way...She was undaunted by all the stuff that would be against a woman coming into a field at that level. She didn’t pay attention to it…She was very confident."

Daniel Elmore criticized some of commentary "She deserves to be remembered not as one of the best 'female architects' but one of THE BEST architects of our time...A visionary before her time and a...

Decoding Alejandro Aravena's Pritzker

2016-04-11T13:17:00-04:00

The suspicion is that the Pritzker judges haven’t changed all that much, and are backing an iconic-humanitarian architect, a flipside to the starchitects they previously promoted rather than a radical alternative [...] Some scepticism is in order, as to whether the Pritzker committee have suddenly become experts in the vastly complicated business of humanitarian architecture and whether there might be a large dose of gesture and symbolism in their actions.

Related on Archinect.:

Race for the Prize – Aravena's Pritzker ceremony, the scourge of unpaid internships and more on Archinect Sessions #59

2016-04-07T17:17:00-04:00

Last week we witnessed the loss of Dame Zaha Hadid, one of architecture's most formidable and prolific talents. We'll be devoting a later podcast episode to remembering her and honoring her work. Until then, we'll continue catching you up with the most significant architecture news from the past week.

This episode we discuss Alejandro Aravena's Pritzker acceptance speech (and the designs he's giving away for free), how NASA is experimenting with inflatable space houses, how we "crave" public space, and Nicholas Korody joins us to discuss the cockroach of unpaid architecture internships (they just won't die).

Listen to episode 59 of Archinect Sessions, "Race for the Prize":

iTunes: Click here to listen, and click the "Subscribe" button below the logo to automatically download new episodes.
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Inside Aravena's open source plans for low-cost yet upgradable housing

2016-04-06T14:35:00-04:00

After Alejandro Aravena accepted the Pritzker Prize yesterday, his firm Elemental released four open source plans for low income housing that, according to the firm's website, balance the constraints of "low-rise high density, without overcrowding, with possibility of expansion (from social housing to middle-class dwelling)." The plans were released partly as a response to the looming housing crisis of 2030, in which it is estimated that two billion people will be living under the poverty line.

Aravena's self-described "incremental housing" is partly a governmental effort, and partly an individual one. By providing plans for proven models of sustainable housing, people can have greater agency in housing themselves. "Given the magnitude of the housing shortage, we won't solve this problem unless we add people's own resources and building capacity to that of governments and the market," reads Elemental's statement.

The four projects Elemental has released plans for are Quinta Monroy, V...

"It’s going to be about gratitude and it’s going to be about joy": Watch Alejandro Aravena's Pritzker acceptance speech

2016-04-05T19:40:00-04:00

Yesterday, the Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena was awarded the Pritzker Prize during a ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Known for his socially-engaged practice, Elemental, Aravena will also serve as the curator for this summer's Venice Biennale.

“The work of this year’s Pritzker laureate, Alejandro Aravena of Chile, shows how much architecture can contribute to achieving our shared goals," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who gave the first address of the night via video.

"The United Nations is striving to build resilient societies and to support the most vulnerable members of society," Ban asserted – the first in many comments made throughout the event that compared the work of Aravena with the intergovernmental organization. "Señor Aravena is a pioneer in low cost social housing and in rebuilding cities after natural disasters.”

Lord Peter Palumbo, the chair of Pritzker jury, followed Ban with a sentimental address. Beginning by paying respects ...

"Making A Pritzker Laureate" – Martha Thorne, executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, gives us an inside look at the prestigious award, on Archinect Sessions #48

2016-01-14T18:30:00-05:00

When news broke yesterday that Alejandro Aravena was the winner of this year's Pritzker Architecture Prize, reactions were generally positive, albeit a bit conflicted. Aravena is most praised, and cited by the Pritzker, for his work on social housing projects in his home base of Santiago de Chile, where he operates as the executive director of the "do tank", ELEMENTAL. And few would contest that his work is worthy of the prize, despite the fact that he's only 48.

But Aravena was also a Pritzker juror from 2009 - 2015, serving alongside jurors who ultimately chose to cite him, and he isn't the first winner to have previously served on the jury. And as a juror, he was a vocal proponent of the Pritzker highlighting more socially-minded, communitarian work. This makes it impossible to ignore criticism that the award tends to stay within a pretty tight-knit circle of practitioners. Often described as the most prestigious architecture award out there, what is the point of the prize nowaday...

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, director of this year's Venice Biennale, named 2016 Pritzker Prize Laureate

2016-01-13T11:39:00-05:00

The Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena has been named Pritzker Prize Laureate for 2016. The 48-year old is known for his socially-minded work at various scales in Chile, produced under two forms of practice – principal of his private firm, Alejandro Aravena Architects, and executive director of the “Do Tank”, ELEMENTAL, both based in Santiago. He is the first Chilean architect to receive the prize, and one of the youngest.

↑ Anacleto Angelini, 2014, San Joaquín Campus, Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago

↑ Siamese Towers, 2005, San Joaquín Campus, Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago

Although Aravena's most recognizable work might be his multiple projects for Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago – the UC Innovation Center includes Anacleto Angelini (2014), the Siamese Towers (2005), Medical School (2004), School of Architecture (2004), and the Mathematics School (1999) – the most significant note mentioned in the jury's citation is his commitment to social housing, mo...

Venice Biennale director Alejandro Aravena: "Our challenge must be to go beyond architecture."

2015-11-20T12:04:00-05:00

As architects, we are living at a time of shifting paradigms. [...] It’s why I’m so interested in how architects and urban planners engage with other fields – economics, security, the environment and so on. Our challenge must be to go beyond architecture and speak the languages of these other disciplines, before translating our discussions into formal design proposals. [...] Our ultimate focus is still on form, but what informs this has expanded dramatically.

Just a few key takeaways from Alejandro Aravena's piece for The Guardian:

"As curator of Reporting From The Front, I want to reverse the idea that the Biennale only deals with issues that are of interest to other architects. We have begun by identifying problems that every citizen can not only understand but actually has a say in: immigration, water, land capacity, waste and so on."
"Unlike military wars where nobody wins and there is a prevailing sense of defeat, however, on the frontlines of the built environment there is a sense of vitality, because architecture is about looking at reality in a proposal key. We should never forget that design can be a very powerful tool in mobilising people to act."
"There are new actors in this story – not least those property developers who use buildings to chase huge profits. But we are interested in how architecture can introduce a broader notion of gain: design as added value instead of an extra cost; architecture as a shortcut towards equality...

"Reporting from the Front" is the title of the 15th Venice Biennale of Architecture

2015-09-02T13:19:00-04:00

The President of la Biennale di Venezia, Paolo Baratta, accompanied by the curator of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition, Alejandro Aravena, met today at Ca’ Giustinian with the representatives of 48 Countries. The 15th Exhibition will take place from May 28th to November 27th 2016...in the Giardini and the Arsenale and in various other venues in Venice. The title chosen by Alejandro Aravena for the 15th International Architecture Exhibition is: REPORTING FROM THE FRONT

"There are several battles that need to be won and several frontiers that need to be expanded in order to improve the quality of the built environment and consequently people’s quality of life," Alejandro Aravena states in the announcement. "More and more people in the planet are in search for a decent place to live and the conditions to achieve it are becoming tougher and tougher by the hour. Any attempt to go beyond business as usual encounters huge resistance in the inertia of reality and any effort to tackle relevant issues has to overcome the increasing complexity of the world."

Employing a militaristic tone, Aravena is signalling an aggressive positioning for next year's Biennale, as well as a clear political stance. "Unlike military wars where nobody wins and there is a prevailing sense of defeat, on the frontlines of the built environment, there is a sense of vitality because architecture is about looking at reality in a proposal key," he states.

The Chilean architect is know...

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena named architecture director of 2016 Venice Biennale

2015-07-20T16:03:00-04:00

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena has been named architecture director of the 2016 Venice Biennale, in a decision made by Biennale's Board on July 18. Known for award-winning architectural work under his own Santiao-based firm, Alejandro Aravena Architects, Aravena also serves as the executive director for ELEMENTAL, an “Urban Do Tank” focused on social housing, which he founded in collaboration with his architecture alma mater, Universidad Católica de Chile, and the Chilean Oil Company (COPEC). His work has previously been featured both in the 2008 and 2012 Venice Biennales, winning the Silver Lion in 2008. He was a visiting professor at Harvard University (2000 - 2005), and has served on the Pritzker Prize Jury since 2009.

Regarding the theme of the 2016 Biennale, Aravena has proposed a focus on inspiring, vanguard work in architecture, and to exhibit “success stories worth to be told and exemplary cases worth to be shared where architecture did, is and will make a difference in ...

Chilean architecture is coming out of its shell

2015-05-18T13:41:00-04:00

Chilean architects have begun to exert an influence well beyond the size and scale of their string-bean nation. [...] “There are enough people working here in a way that shifts the art,” explains Aravena, sitting in the middle of his firm’s buzzing Santiago offices. “There is healthy competition and there is critical mass. When you have a critical mass, you are not alone in trying to push boundaries.” The result: remarkable buildings all over Chile.