With a grasp of context exceeding the hackneyed deference, the Swiss architects Daniel Buchner and Andreas Bründler address it in all its complexity. Their buildings may look autonomous but all of them remedy fragments of the respective place and pro

Luis Fernández-Galiano   There is no better architecture exhibition this summer than that of Veronese at the Prado. The great painter created the myth of rich and opulent Venice with his crowded compositions of exquisitely dressed characters participating in lavish dinners i

Faced with the landscape, it often seems that one would do best to simply bend and stay silent, but a debate can only become truly stimulating when the participant confronts it with eloquence, as does the Basel practice of Daniel Buchner and Andreas

Buchner Bründler Architekten   Switzerland   In the deep Onsernone Valley in Ticino, an ensemble of traditional stone constructions that were in a poor state of preservation, especially the main volume, have been refurbished. Because of damages in all the wooden structural elements, the consoli

Buchner Bründler Architekten   Switzerland   Part of a development on the grounds of a loading terminal, a block maintains a certain industrial look but gives it nuance through exterior galleries conducive to community living. The mixed structure of steel and concrete accommodates apartments th

Buchner Bründler Architekten   Switzerland   A block which contains open-plan levels for offices and retail premises simultaneously provides a covered nexus between a railway platform and a bus shelter. With one of its bays jutting out in a cantilever, the monolithic ensemble of supports and sl

Buchner Bründler Architekten   Switzerland   Settling on a sloping tract of land, two rows of dwellings integrate numerous spots for neighbors to socialize in, from loggias and roof decks to a central plaza and a small orchard. The eleven units varying in size feature spiral staircases rising t

Buchner Bründler Architekten   Switzerland   A coach house survived the demolition of the ‘fin-de-siècle’ villa that it served, and after fulfilling different purposes in the course of the 20th century, it has become home to a family. That there could only be windows on two sides was solved by

Buchner Bründler Architekten   Switzerland   Three turrets built with reinforced concrete rise as sculptural skylights on top of the roof of an old merchandise warehouse transformed into a hall for showcasing art. The base of the lanterns is used as a way to separate the spaces of the exhibitio

Luis Fernández-Galiano   China’s transformation in the 21st century can be felt on a visit there, as chronicled in ‘Six Watercolors’ (AV Proyectos 130), but is also documented through its cinema, which since the dazzling appearance of Zhang Yimou with Red Sorghum (1987) has

Luis Fernández-Galiano   Two iconic museums in New York and London opened anew in May. The Frick Collection returned to its original home on Fifth Avenue, after expansion works that lasted five years, carried out by Anabelle Selldorf, and the same architect remodeled the Sai

Léon Krier   During his long career Le Corbusier (1887-1965) worked in several distinct architectural styles: - vernacular and classical, from 1910;- nautical, 1920 onwards;- steel and glass, 1930 onwards;- béton brut, 1944 onwards. The specific nautical style w

Luis Fernández-Galiano   The ancient world nurtures us with histories and myths, and two recent books offer this spiritual food in easily digestible bites. David Hernández de la Fuente, professor of Greek philology at Madrid’s Complutense, whose Pequeña historia mítica de Es

Carlos Verdaguer   Discussions on neoliberalism nowadays pose two problems. The first comes from the vagueness of the term, turned as it is into a non-concept, devoid of content; a mantra which has embodied everything malign about the capitalism. On the other hand, at

Lluís Alexandre Casanovas   Here is a compilation of conversations that took place at O Instituto, an independent space in Porto for sharing experiences of colonial processes, founded by Paulo Moreira. At first it looks like an introduction to decolonial theory and practice, pr

Alejandra Galache   On the wooded hills of Saint-Cloud, outside Paris, stands a distinctive house. Dominique Boudet, editor-in-chief of Le Moniteur, tasked OMA in 1984 to build a home with conditions stipulated by his wife, Lydie Dall’Ava, who wanted bespoke spaces for

Luis Lope de Toledo   What happens when an architect sets out to design without a preliminary scheme, and speaks with the builder only via WhatsApp? Manuel Ocaña transforms what could have been a minor anecdote – turning a pigsty into a family room – into a deep, non-comp

Pablo Canga   The production of renewable sources has transformed territories, and now also the buildscapes of cities. Advances in solar capture technologies, their reduced costs, and the inclusion of photovoltaic panels in technical codes have made them prolifera

Miguel Sotos   Compiling families of carpentry joints has always been an arduous, practically unmanageable task. In a huge effort, Sascha Bauer and Daniel Pauli have not only collected a myriad, but also built a cross-cultural bridge by investigating their typologi

Alberto Ballesteros   Looking arouses curiosity. This goes for a chemist peering through a microscope or an astronomer through a telescope. Also, whether for a photojournalist with the lens or a painter with trained eyes, observation is a constant that underlies all appro

Enrique Morillo   “We are all pilgrims who seek Italy.” As Goethe’s poem notes, with the popularization of the Grand Tour in the 18th century, il bel paese became the quintessential destination and few could help succumbing to the search for the ideal of beauty in its

“Thus do we command that all things which were given to the churches, or will from here on be given to them by kings or others faithful to God, shall ever be safeguarded.” As we undertand it, preserving heritage is largely a modern discipline, but a

Elisenda Foradada, Mireia Noguera, Miquel Autet   Spain   Vic’s Adoberies district, the heart of a tanning industry that for centuries was the driver of this Catalonian city’s economic growth, has had a rebirth thanks to a careful and respectful architectural intervention carried out by the municipal archit

Firm Arquitectura   Spain   The old City Hall of Fonsagrada, erected in 1845 and in disuse since 2015, has been turned by the Galician practice Firm Arquitectura —Daniel Gómez Magide and Adrián López Rancaño— into a museum for works of the cartoonist Fraguas, known as Forges, t

Pablo Millán   Spain   Declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 2014, the La Calderona cistern in Porcuna (Jaén) was a water tank of the Roman city of Obulco, believed to have been connected to a hydraulic infrastructure of the municipium, possibly public thermal baths. Dur

vaumm   Spain   The refurbishment of Zarautz Palace, which was in a ruinous state, constitutes another stage of its history. While preserving the heritage value of its walls, the project turns it into a new cultural facility for Getaria. The design worked out by Vau

SOLUM   Italy   Although Daedalus built the labyrinth in Crete, it is now on the other side of the Ionian Sea that an intricate, inward-looking construction rises, opening out to the surroundings on only one of its sides, towards the sea horizon. With the simplicity

Javier Vellés Montoya, José Antonio Aguado Benito    Spain   In the heart of Tomelloso’s La Esperanza neighborhood, a multidisciplinary team has successfully executed a project to stabilize a cave system at risk of collapsing under the busy Príncipe Alfonso avenue. The intervention – led by the architects José

Palma, KRI, IIOIO, MOFA, KOIZ   Switzerland   At the end of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Puck breaks the fourth wall to remind the audience that what it has just seen is but a piece of fiction. The installation that this year has won the International FAD Award breaks the floor of a

H. M. King Charles Inaugurates a Monument

There was a time when the reappearance at night of Sirius – the main star of the constellation Canis Major and the brightest in the whole firmament – heralded the year’s warmest period: those ‘days of the dog star’ that in the classical world stretch

The Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura has been named a new recipient of the Praemium Imperiale, a prestigious annual accolade given by the Japan Art Association in five artistic disciplines, Architecture included. It comes with a prize of 1

Peter Zumthor, SOM   United States   After years of planning, redesigning, and construction work, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has for a few days opened the doors of its new David Geffen Galleries, a winding concrete-and-glass building by the Swiss architect Peter Zumtho

With the same ascetism of many of his other art centers, Tadao Ando in 2013 built the Museum SAN (Space Art Nature) in the mountains of the South Korean city of Wonju. In celebration of its tenth anniversary he added a meditation pavilion, and now he

The organism formed by Spain’s regional associations of architects gave recognition to the best buildings completed in the country, in a celebration of the discipline that this year made sure to include the role of urbanism, with the already announce

The Vall d’Hebron Research Center by BAAS Arquitectura and Espinet / Ubach Arquitectes has won the 67th FAD Award for Architecture. The projects selected in the other categories are: La Nave in the Vía Trajano neighborhood of Barcelona, by Atienza Ma

After two years in operation, the Casa de la Arquitectura sets itself as a dissemination platform through prizes for helping to make society more equitable and sustainable, with sections focused on specific values. In the maiden edition, the accolade

She is known mostly for her surrealist images as well as for her detailed documentation of her lover Pablo Picasso’s process of creating Guernica. But before all of that, the French artist Dora Maar had proven herself as a commercial and fashion phot

In the portraits on show until 26 October at the Menorca outpost of the Swiss contemporary and modern art gallery Hauser & Wirth, a pair of ice-blue eyes is the only giveaway of the fact that they are of one same person: Cindy Sherman. The American p

Ever since 2022, when the prestigious magazine Sight & Sound named her hypnotic Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles the greatest film of all time, interest in the filmography of Chantal Akerman has only grown. Besides this masterwork,

The project AV/Arquitectura Viva, which comprises the magazines AV Monographs, Arquitectura Viva, and AV Proyectos, completed its fortieth year in December 2024, and with 2025 just in we received New Year’s greetings from Kenneth Frampton, who at nin