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...

New 3D printing housing factory aims to cut construction time by 50 percent

2023-03-28T12:51:00-04:00

3D printing construction technology startup Mighty Buildings has offered a first look inside their new factory in Monterrey, Mexico. As part of the company’s mission to develop and construct “climate-resilient, carbon-neutral homes near points of need,” the factory is reportedly capable of producing the components for an entire home during each day of operation.

Image credit: Mighty Buildings

The factory will produce homes using a blend of material science, robotics, and automation. Components for the homes will be 3D printed using Mighty Buildings’ concrete-free composite stone material, which is 30% lighter and 15% less expensive, and five times stronger than concrete. The company also claims their homes will be climate-resilient, carbon-neutral, and resistant to severe weather conditions, including hurricanes and earthquakes.

Image credit: Mighty Buildings

The components printed in the factory will form part of the company’s existing Mighty Kit System for prefabricated housing and ...

Iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed oceanfront home sells for $22 million in California

2023-02-27T17:05:00-05:00

Frank Lloyd Wright’s California seaside project, Mrs. Clinton Walker House, has sold for $22 million after being listed on the market in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The 1,400-square-foot home was completed in 1952 for a wealthy widower residing in one of California's sought-after surf meccas.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 and features a copper-shingled roof with the home's shape designed to resemble a ship’s bow breaking the waves overlooking the point towards nearby Pebble Beach. Thomas Church was also responsible for the landscaping at the site in his pioneering California Style.

The Journal quoted a 1948 letter from homeowner Della Walker to Wright (in which she reportedly references Fallingwater as an inspiration) as saying: “I am a woman living alone. I wish protection from the wind and privacy from the road and a house as enduring as the rocks but as transparent and charming as the waves and delicate ...

Monterrey, Mexico is the latest city to employ a full-time Chief Heat Officer

2022-06-17T14:45:00-04:00

In time for the start of summer, the global fraternity of Chief Heat Officers has grown as cities decide to commit themselves to full-time professionals from the subfield of public design in the face of mounting challenges caused by climate change.

The city of Monterrey, in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, recently announced architect and urban planner Surella Segú as the first-ever head of its new civic office, which is being funded through a partnership with the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock).

Surella Segú. Image courtesy Harvard University.

The 2018 Harvard Loeb Fellow is the principal and co-founder of EL CIELO, an 18-year-old practice with a focus on housing and urban renewal, and the former head of the Urban Development at the country’s Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers.

A graduate of the Columbia University GSAPP and the ITESM, she now holds the fifth official CHO title under the Council's new City Cha...

A millionaire's scheme to build a home for his art collection inside a public park is drawing ire

2022-01-20T13:37:00-05:00

A Mexican multi-millionaire is building a replica of his northern Mexico mansion to serve as a museum for his art collection, an endeavor criticized because it is funded in large part with public money.

The millionaire in question, Mauricio Fernández Garza made his fortune selling beer and petrochemicals, which facilitated the collection of art and ancient fossils now valued at around $120 million. Garza was the three-time mayor of the tony Monterrey suburb where the house is located when plans to use public funding to fund up to 60% of what is essentially a vanity project. Garza’s original plan cost around $18 million before being reduced in scope to around $9.7 by new mayor Miguel Treviño, who defeated him in his latest bid for the position.

The mansion is named after a character in literature and was itself the apparent subject of a 2008 book about its owner’s transformative effort to mold a private residence to his liking. The result of that process is now being dismantled and reinstalled in a large public park nearby — including four 14th and 16th-century ceilings totaling $50 million acquired in a deal with his successor.

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...