An unpopular president, a myth-making architect, and a multibillionaire tycoon are building an oversize airport in a nature preserve. Can they make Mexico great again? — Places Journal
The progressive capital of Mexico has a long history of massive infrastructure projects — megaproyectos — with egalitarian aims. Daniel Brook looks at the social, political, and environmental issues surrounding the latest — a $13bn new airport rising on a sinking lakebed. This article... View full entry
Forming a closer, more harmonious bond between humanity and nature is the underlying goal of Javier Senosiain's organic or so-called "bio-architecture." His buildings often take the shape of organic forms--in one case, mythic serpent Quetzalcoatl--while simultaneously harvesting rainwater and... View full entry
Mexico City is notorious for its gridlock (and the smog it produces). The ride-sharing platform Uber has taken advantage of this captive audience with an unusual advertising medium: drones.As reported by Bloomberg, Uber has sent off a fleet of sign-bearing drones to hover over windshields... View full entry
'Mexico City’s water system goes against its own functional essence. The city is dehydrating itself. We’re mixing our water with poisonous waste and then pumping it out through a complex network of pipes. Just like what happens when a human is dehydrated, Mexico City has diarrhea.' — Elias Cattan — Quartz
"In a mega-metropolis with a deep history of corrupt leaders and state-sanctioned misinformation, [architect Elias Cattan of Taller 13] believes awareness is the first step. That’s why he’s part of a growing movement of environmental scientists, activists, designers and engineers determined to... View full entry
Basically, instead of allowing this anarchic development to continue growing over the bed of the lake – which is very expensive, because the quality of the soil is very bad – we wanted to conduct the growth of the city around the lake area, and to recover a huge natural feature that belongs to everyone, which will change the climate of the city. — Guardian
Shumi Bose learns from Alberto Kalach (of Taller de Arquitectura X), why the solution to the capital’s future growth may be found in embracing a pre-Hispanic, lacustrine form of urbanism.To learn more about the "The hydrological balance of the city", read this weeklong report (also from the... View full entry
Somewhere along the lines of recent years, I became the unofficial interviewer for the semiannual Neutra Award, offered by Cal Poly Pomona to highly regarded master architects in Neutra's vein. In the past, it has been awarded to Tadao Ando, Michael Rotondi and now, Enrique Norten of TEN... View full entry
In the dappled afternoon sunshine of the VDL House’s backyard in Silver Lake, senior Archinect Editor Orhan Ayyuce sat down with Enrique Norten, winner of this year’s Richard J. Neutra Award for Professional Excellence, to talk about modernism’s legacy and evolution since the mid-20th... View full entry
Housing – its affordability, accessibility, and form – is a key preoccupation of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. While not necessarily the core concern for most of the Biennial's participants, housing gets a significant share of the exhibition's floorspace.Several participants'... View full entry
Mexico City-based firms FR-EE, Frente Arquitectura and RVDG Arquitectura + Urbanism will redesign a 0.8 mile-long stretch of Avenida Chapultepec, one of the city’s most historic corridors, into a multi-modal public space and park.Extending the roadway as a part of Chapultepec Park, their... View full entry
Friday, September 5:Beijing public transit commuters can now pay fares with empty bottles: Beijingers can insert a recyclable bottle and receive equivalent rebates in train fares or mobile phone credits.Community Bus Stops Transform Brazil: Thousands of Brazil's bus stops are unmarked, leading... View full entry
A collaboration consisting of Foster + Partners, FR-EE (Fernando Romero Enterprise), and NACO (Netherlands Airport Consultants) won the international competition to design the new Mexico City International Airport in Mexico. The airport's design is surely aiming to set the standard for the airport of the future. Not only is the new structure expected to be one of the world's largest airports at 555,000 sq. meters, it also aims to be the world's most sustainable airport. — bustler.net
Get more details on Bustler. View full entry
They would lead me and two friends through a collection of new and old galleries, museums, neighborhoods, institutions and restaurants, as well as buildings of their own designs, to give me a sense of what stands out to Mexico City architects when they turn their gaze toward home. — NYT
Sam Lubell visited Mexico City recently, and was led on tours of the city's architecture (old and new) by Fernando Romero and Michel Rojkind.Also see previous - The chromatic feats..., wherein Guy Trebay rediscovers Mexico City and the houses of the great Mexican architect Luis Barragán. View full entry
Some obvious reasons are deducible from the graphic elegance of his structures and their seductive saturated “Mexican” colors. Perhaps, though, new generations are also drawn by instinct to the deep humanism expressed in the work of this undervalued genius, a man who cited as his personal pole stars ideals like amazement, enchantment, serenity, silence and intimacy. — NYT
Back in June, Guy Trebay penned a essay 'Finding Mexico City, and Luis Barragán, Again'. Therein, he relates how after a long absence from Mexico City, he was inspired to rediscover both the city and the houses of the great Mexican architect.He also draws attention to the fact that many of these... View full entry
Archinect is delighted to present 5468796 Architecture's travelogue for their award-winning research project, Table for Twelve. The Winnipeg-based firm received the 2013 Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture from the Canada Council for the Arts, awarded to emerging Canadian architects with... View full entry
Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Pascall+Watson have been named on a seven-strong shortlist to design the £1.8 billion expansion of Mexico City airport
The quartet of British companies is joined among the finalists by SOM, Gensler and Teodoro González de León with Alberto Kalach: TAX.
— architectsjournal.co.uk
