arquid   Spain   Casa Umbral (Threshold House) stands out for its unique ceramic facade and its carefully designed openings and volumes that both ensure privacy and connect with the exterior. With a total area of 768 square meters it is organized in four volumes: one

vaumm   Spain   The parking garage in the Beraun neighborhood of Rentería, a municipality in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa, presents itself as an urban infrastructure which, though initially built for vehicles to be left in, could be repurposed in the future. Par

Endosdedos arquitectura    Spain   This new seven-unit apartment block is located in the Málaga neighborhood of Molinillo, at Duque de Rivas 48. The project name, Mazarí, refers to both ceramic material and the kiln used to make it in a week-long baking process. With a tradition that

Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra   Spain   Built in the 13th century, the listed ensemble of the Reales Atarazanas (Royal Shipyards) is in a privileged spot in the center of Seville: the Arenal quarter, halfway between the Guadalquivir and the monumental complex of the Cathedral, between the

Tuñón y Albornoz Arquitectos   Spain   The new classroom and library building is organized as a compact structure, with a perimeter bay of classrooms that braces, in its interior, three large voids placed diagonally along the section that harbors two multipurpose rooms and a canteen. The

Kengo Kuma   China   Located in the south of the Chinese province of Jiangsu, the city of Yixing is known as the ‘ceramic capital’ and renowned for its production of pottery using purple clay. A work of Kengo Kuma, this museum presents shapes inspired by Shushan Mountain

ALE ESTUDIO   Spain   The Botijo house goes for rational, austere construction where the elements forming the structure and enclosures are presented in honest engagement with the surroundings. It stands on a street in Madrid’s Carabanchel neighborhood, where low houses ar

Narch Arquitectes Maira Arquitectes dataAE   Spain   The residential building on Carrer Palamós is integrated into an urban fabric of La Trinitat Nova, a Barcelona neighborhood characterized by isolated blocks. Volume-wise, it presents a series of setbacks that break up the large scale of the developme

Alventosa Morell Arquitectes   Spain   With a simple design and a bioclimatic focus, the LA House is laid out around a central fireplace, surrounded by four brick volumes. These four solid-looking ceramic boxes are placed at the ends of the house and contain the rooms. In contrast with th

Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra   Spain   The Royal Shipyards of Seville are the city’s most impressive civil construction. They are located in a privileged spot: in the Arenal neighborhood, midway between the river and the monumental site of the Cathedral, the Archive of the Indies, and the

JSa   Mexico   The firm JSa – Aisha Ballesteros, Benedikt Fahlbusch, Javier Sánchez – has turned a deteriorated forest into an urban park that features an ecotechnologies center for Xalapa-Enríquez, the capital of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Under the auspices o

Arquitecturia   Spain   An old construction on the premises of the agricultural cooperative of Flix – a municipality in Ribera de Ebro, a comarca of the province of Tarragona – has been turned into a cultural center. Counting a built area of 524 square meters, the new spac

Tropical Space   Vietnam   Next to the Terra Cotta Studio in Dien Phong, another work of the Vietnamese firm Tropical Space, this workshop uses its folds to embrace a preexisting kiln for ceramic bricks. Two walls rising 5.4 meters divide the main parts of the new construction

Vector Architects   China   In the heart of the city of Jingdezhen, known for its porcelain production, stands this hotel designed with the idea of preserving the constructions of an old industrial complex, including the existing camphor trees. The entire program is organized a

llps arquitectos   Spain   In the Teatinos-Universidad district of the city of Málaga stands the Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therapy, a work of LLPS Arquitectos (Eduardo Pérez Gómez and Miguel Ángel Sánchez). The complex – with a built area of 31,639 square meters – is br

Carles Enrich   Spain   This tower recreates extreme building situations for the training of firemen – using double and triple spaces, spiral staircases, cat ladders, wells, doors, windows, etc. Cantilevered balconies are used for rappelling exercises and vertical rescue dr

Rafael Landete José Manuel Escobedo    Spain   The aim of this project located on the Levante beachfront is to foster environmental awareness and publicize the seafaring history of Benidorm. The three different volumes – projection room, exhibition gallery, toilets – are like three rocks bathed b

BAAS Arquitectura casa solo arquitectos   Spain   Wrapped in ceramic brick slats and lattices adapted to the different requirements inside, this day center belongs to a network of municipal health facilities that provide long-term treatments, sparing locals the need to commute to the capital. Organi

Ripoll Tizón Estudio de Arquitectura   Spain   With breathtaking views of the bay of Palma, this terraced house is located in the upper part of the plot, adapting to the sloping topography of the land through different levels. Three courtyards are introduced in the facade as transitional spaces b

López+Aroca    Spain   The Murcian firm headed by José María López and Edith Aroca, in collaboration with The Pink Panther Collective, has won the competition to refurbish the civic center of Roldán, a district under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Torre Pacheco. T

Nua arquitectures   Spain   Initially conceived as a house on a podium, to which floors were added with the aim of accommodating a hotel, the building was turned into a geriatric residence, and then abandoned for thirteen years. The original idea of the project involved demolit

Harquitectes   Spain   This 144-square-meter residence is squeezed between party walls, on a plot that stretches in an east-to-west direction. The west facade faces the town’s main street, and the east side is used for wheeled access. The urban regulations allow: a volume

Tropical Space   Vietnam   This office building, covered by brick walls with a concrete structure, is located on a quiet street in Ho Chi Minh City. The functional areas are divided by a continuous vertical void, favoring the access of natural light and air circulation. The of

The winners of the latest Tile of Spain Awards for Architecture and Interior Design, organized by ASCER, the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association, were announced. Chairing the jury was Rafael de La-Hoz, with José González Gallegos (Arangur

The expansion of its Teatinos Campus has enabled the University of Málaga to equip itself with cutting-edge facilities and greatly improve its offer of academic programs. One of the beneficiaries of this is the Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therap

The winners of this year’s Tile of Spain Awards for Architecture and Interior Design, organized by the Spanish Association of Wall and Floor Tile Manufacturers (ASCER) with the purpose of highlighting works that make good use of Spanish ceramic tiles

ASCER, the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association, announced the winners of this year’s Tile of Spain Awards for Architecture and Interior Design. The aim of this these accolades is to distinguish architectural works and interiors that have

Nothing is timeless, still less in architecture, but if one had to look for a material to represent the notion of permanence, it would be brick. Wood was perhaps the first ever to be used by humans, and will perhaps continue to be the one most widely

ASCER, the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association, announced the winners of the latest Ceramic Tile in Architecture and Interior Design Awards, given yearly to highlight projects completed in Spain that have made outstanding use of ceramic f

The Guardian   Oliver Wainwright   One hundred years after Anni and Josef Albers met, their work, philosophy and funding clout have made possible a stunning hospital that is saving lives in one of the hottest places on Earth. When Anni Albers began weaving at the Bauhaus in the 1920s,

The new winners of the Tile of Spain Awards for Architecture and Interior Design, organized by the the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association (ASCER), have been announced. The purpose of these prizes is to promote use of Spanish tiles in arc

In the capital of the Indian state of Odisha, the New Delhi-based firm Studio Lotus has built new offices for the Department of Agriculture. As a government building it was conceived at the outset strictly for official use, but the architects propose

On marshland where lotus plants abound, a pair of mid-20th-century granaries that were in disuse have been brought back to life as a 2,448-square-meter art exhibition gallery, thanks to a project carried out by the Shanghai-based firm Roarc Renew, wh

The Beijing studio Zhu-Pei has built a museum adjacent to what is left of the thousand-year-old imperial pottery-making complex of the prefectural city of Jingdezhen, a porcelain capital of the world, China’s Sevrès. The building is composed of a ser

Brick Award   In 2020, six winners were awarded in five categories: Sharing Public Spaces (University of Silesia, Faculty of Radio and Television, by BAAS Arquitectura), Feeling at Home (Can Jaime I nIsabelle, by TEdA arquitectes), Living Together..

There are new holders of the Tile of Spain Awards for Architecture and Interior Design, organized by the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association (ASCER) to draw attention, precisely, to the use of ceramic tiles in works of architecture and in

Joaquín Medina Warmburg   In the work of Eladio Dieste, whose birth has been one hundred years, technical ingenuity was placed at the service of the social program and Catholic fervor.

Elena Merino   Fernando Moral   In the humble words ‘brick’ and ‘tile’ lies the simplicity, only apparent, of a material that has come down to our days with very specific technological variations. Nevertheless, the modest nature habitually attributed to brick is quickly proven wron

Pepa Cassinello   The idea of baking clay arose shortly after the discovery of fire. So prehistoric man did the first mutation of this natural material, and obtained something more stable and resistant: ceramic. With it he made small everyday utensils, such as bowls,

Eduardo de Miguel   Last February, two major international events connected to the industrial sector of ceramic claddings took place. First was CEVISAMA, the International Exhibition of Ceramics for Architecture, held yearly in Valencia for manufacturers to present thei

Fernando Tabuenca   Jesús Leache   A material used in diverse periods and civilizations, modular and warm at the same time, brick has been discredited by modernity but maintains its place in contemporary architecture.

Luis Fernández-Galiano   Brick is the Esperanto of construction. While a few cultures may ignore its grammar, those that command its vocabulary are legion, expressing physical needs and immaterial yearnings through the essential language of ceramic prisms. Versatile as no ot

This brick house in Buenos Aires has two theoretical references. On one hand, Kenneth Frampton’s definition of tectonics, which he considers not only a “mere disclosure of the construction technique, but, rather, its expressive potential.” To Frampto

During the late 1980s, the German architect Hans Kollhoff designed and carried out works of great material force, among them Piraeus – a vast flexing brick apartment block located in one of the dockland sites of Amsterdam – and the ascetic mass housi

In the olden days, when bricks were brought out of the kiln where they were baked, the pieces closest to the focus of heat – and therefore overbaked – were discarded on account of their dark burnt tone and their rough volcanic texture. At the start o