Daniela Cruz

Mexican Architect. Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Estado de México. Instagram: @archdainy

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12 Top Apps for Architects on the Construction Site

We have previously published the best apps for architects, many of which try to boost creativity and productivity for project design. Now, we’ve put together a series of helpful apps for the development and management of construction projects. From digital measuring tools to instant software-generated reports of work progress, we hope this new construction technology will be most useful to you.

Material Focus: Hacienda Niop by AS Arquitectua and R79

This article is part of our new series "Material in Focus", where we ask architects to share with us their creative process through the choice of materials that define important parts of the construction of their buildings.

Niop Hacienda from AS Arquitectura and R79 is part architectural regeneration project part historical building involving the transformation of an abandoned industrial space into high-end tourist complex in the southeast region of Mexico. A desire to maintain the original feel of the place influenced the selection of the new materials (like steel, stone, chukum, wood and glass) in order to create new spaces for public and private use that meld with the existing structure. In this interview, we talked with Roberto Ramirez from R79 who explains more about how the material choice of the project contributed to the design and construction process.

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Summer Program: The Business of Architecture

Syracuse Architecture along with IE Business School and IE School of Architecture and Design have teamed up to offer an innovative summer course: The Business of Architecture. The six-week, 3-credit hour-long course will be conducted at the state-of-the-art Fisher Center, home of Syracuse Architecture in New York City. This course is intended for those studying for a professional degree in architecture (B.Arch and M.Arch) as well as for young professionals and qualified students in related design fields.

PRODUCTORA's Pavilion on the Zocalo Wins MCHAP.emerge 2014/2015

Yesterday during the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) ceremony, Mexico's most prominent public square, the Pavilion at the Zocalo by Mexico City's PRODUCTORA won the MCHAP.emerge 2014/2015 award, deeming it the best new architecture in the Americas by an emerging practice.

The MCHAP.emerge prize is awarded biennially by the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). As winner, PRODUCTORA will be given the opportunity to lead a research studio in 2017 related to 'rethinking metropolis' along with $25,000 of funding. 

PRODUCTORA was a finalist among practices from Canada, the United States, Chile and Paraguay. The decision was made by Jury President Stan Allen, architect and former Dean of Princeton University’s School of Architecture (New York); Florencia Rodriguez, editorial director of Piedra, Papel y Tijera publishers (Buenos Aires); Ila Berman, Professor of Architecture, University of Waterloo (Waterloo); Jean Pierre Crousse of Barclay & Crousse (Lima), and Dean Wiel Arets (Chicago).

TEN Arquitectos Selected to Design Luxury Resort for the Cayman Islands

TEN Arquitectos have been selected as the winner of a competition to design a luxury, mixed-use resort at St. James Point, Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. Set to open in the fall of 2018, the resort is situated on a 16-acre property and includes a private beach as well as a 200-room hotel. TEN Arquitectos’ design seeks to both “contrast and compliment the surrounding tropical environment.”

“Providing more integrated environments for living and travel, without losing connection to nature or sense of place, is key to the success of a project like this,” said principal of TEN Arquitectos, Enrique Norten. “We have a unique concept here that will fit harmoniously within the landscape.”

Learn more about the project after the break.

Open Call: Arquine Launches Competition to Design the 2016 MEXTROPOLI Pavilion

Held annually since 1998, Arquine’s International Architecture Competition seeks to explore issues of importance and relevance to society, creating a space for dialogue between both national and international architects.

Tatiana Bilbao’s $8,000 House Could Solve Mexico’s Social Housing Shortage

Centered on the theme “The State of the Art of Architecture,” the Chicago Architecture Biennial offers a look at the issues surrounding contemporary architecture around the globe. Featuring interventions from over 100 different architects from more than 30 different countries, the Biennial seeks to “demonstrate that architecture matters at any scale.”

Tatiana Bilbao’s project for the Chicago Biennial offers a solution to Mexico's affordable housing shortage. Her full-scale, Sustainable Housing prototype offers a flexible design that can respond to the different needs of each family. The house can be constructed for as little as $8,000 and up to $14,000 depending on a variety of factors including the location, the construction phase selected, and local regulations.

View images and learn more about her prototype after the break. 

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OPEN CALL: MALL-BUSINESS-HOUSING DESIGN Competition

Organized by AGMINIS, the MALL-BUSINESS-HOUSING DESIGN COMPETITION invites architecture students and recent grads from all over the world to develop a conceptual proposal for a new mixed-use complex in the city of Aguascalientes, Mexico. The complex should incorporate housing and office and commercial space, with the aim of a creating a new neighborhood center in the city. Registration is free and ends on October 21, 2015.

See the competition rules and requirements after the break. 

TEAM730 Designs a Multifunctional Street for China’s MOLEWA Competition

The international MOLEWA (Mount Lu Estate of World Architecture) competition, organized by the Chinese real estate group Huan Yan with the support of the UIA, sought proposals for urban development plans for small and medium cities in China and several of the winning projects will be carried out in the city of Ruichang next year.

Mexican office TEAM730 Taller de Estudios Y Análisis Metropolitanos, led by José Muñoz Villers and Carlos Marín, was awarded the silver medal in the competition’s Commercial/Cultural category, Plot 7: Shopping Street, for their design of a multi-functional pedestrian street along the entire complex.

More images and the project description after the break. 

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CEMEX Announces Mexican Premio Obras Finalists

Held annually, the CEMEX Building Awards honor the best architecture and construction both in Mexico and abroad. The XXIV edition will recognize projects built in 2014 that stand out for their construction, conceptual, technical and aesthetic solutions.

Through this award program CEMEX aims to foster continuous innovation in construction and encourage best practices to generate better spaces and buildings.

See the Mexican finalists of the national edition of the XXIV Building Awards after the break.

Zeller & Moye Designs "Flower Terraces" Housing in Ruichang

Mexico City and Berlin-based Zeller & Moye has won the international competition MOLEWA (Mount Lu Estate of World Architecture) to design new housing in Ruichang. Organized by UIA (Unión Internacional de Arquitectos) and Hua Yan Group, the competition received entries from more than 40 countries.

With an "innovative housing design that sets new standards in low-energy use," Zeller & Moye's "Flower Terraces" will be built in the heart of the circular Chinese city by 2016.

Read on to learn more about the competition-winning project. 

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Arquine Presents: MEXTROPOLI 2015

Arquine’s second annual International Architecture and Latin American City festival, MEXTRÓPOLI, will take place from March 6-10, 2015 in Mexico City. To encourage citizen participation, the festival will be broken down into six parts: listening, dialogue, observation, taking action, participation and celebration.

MEXTRÓPOLI aims to convert Mexico City into a pioneering city, making it an architectural reference for the continent. The festival also serves as an important cultural project for the city, encouraging urban regeneration and promoting Mexico city’s artistic heritage.

Audi Urban Future Award 2014: Transforming Urban Mobility Through “Data Donors”

Every two years Audi hosts the Audi Urban Future Award (AUFA), which challenges cities from different parts of the world to investigate future mobility trends and come up with innovative solutions. This year AUFA selected Mexico City, Boston, Berlin and Seoul to participate in the challenge and respond to the question: how will data shape mobility in the megacities of the future? These four groups were asked to create a vision for how their city could use data in a strategic way, taking into consideration innovative energy solutions, sustainability, feasibility and the potential for their ideas to be implemented in other cities.

Mexico City’s team took home first place with their “operative system for urban mobility,” which centered around a data platform that cities can use to structure their urban traffic planning. Their system was also based around the idea that citizens themselves can become “data donors” and use the system to make informed decisions on how they move about the city. The team was comprised of architect and urbanist José Castillo, researcher Carlos Gershenson and the city government’s experimental lab “Laboratorio para la Ciudad.”

Learn more about the winning project after the break. 

CEMEX Unveils National Finalists for the XXIII Building Awards

The CEMEX Building Awards recognize the best architecture and construction in Mexico, ranging from single-family homes to large-scale infrastructure projects. For the XXIII awards CEMEX will recognize projects that were built during 2013 that stand out for their constructive solutions, aesthetics and innovative techniques.

CEMEX has already unveiled the national finalists for the 13 categories, and the winners will be announced on November 5. 

Read on after the break to see the finalists. 

ArchDaily Editors Select Our Favorite Projects in Mexico

Today is Mexico’s Independence Day and in celebration of this national holiday we wanted to recognize the great tradition of modern and contemporary architecture in the country. We asked the editors of all our sites – ArchDaily, Plataforma Arquitectura, ArchDaily Mexico and ArchDaily Brasil - to select their favorite architecture projects in Mexico. From Barragan to Rojkind, check out our round-up below, originally published on our sister-site ArchDaily Mexico.

New Details Released of Norman Foster and Fernando Romero's Designs for Mexico City's New Airport

Yesterday, a consortium led by Foster + Partners and Fernando Romero of FR-EE were announced as the winners of the competition for the design of Mexico City's new international airport. Designed in conjunction with a masterplan developed by Arup, the airport will initially include three runways, but is designed to expand to up to six runways by 2062, all served by the single terminal building.

One of the world's largest airport terminals at 555,000 square meters, the building is enclosed by a single, continuous lightweight gridshell, the largest of this type of structure ever built with spans reaching up to 170 meters.

By utilizing a single airport terminal, passengers will not need to travel on internal train services or underground tunnels, and the design of the building ensures shorter walking distances and few changes of level, all making for a more relaxing experience for users.

The building is designed to be the world's most sustainable airport, with the single lightweight shell using far less material than a cluster of buildings, and cooling and ventilation strategies that require little to no mechanical assistance for most of the year.

Foster + Romero Alliance Wins Competition to Design the Mexico City Airport Expansion

A duo comprised of British architect and Pritzker Prize winner Norman Foster of Foster + Partners and Mexican architect Fernando Romero of FR-EE has won the competition to expand the Mexico City airport, Reuters has reported.

The new airport not only plans to solve overcrowding at the current terminal, but also to “develop economically and socially one of the most densely populated and marginalized regions” of Mexico.  The project is set to be finished by the end of 2018. 

Learn more about the airport and the winning design team after the break…

Dogchitecture, Inspired by "Architecture for Dogs"

Dogchitecture is an exhibit inspired by Architecture for Dogs”, a project by Japan's Kenya Hara that sought to reinvent the doghouse and integrate it into the world of design.

10 Mexican offices took part in the initiative, including: BNKR Arquitectura, Rojkind Arquitectos, Broissin, PRODUCTORA, a-001, Taller 13, PMS Arch Buro, ROW Studio, Laboratorio Arquitectura Básica y ESOS.