Sambinha Architecture, Biophysics, and Cheap Energy

To my friends and family who are unfamiliar with my town, I’ve often described it by asking them to picture the US in the pre-interstate highway era. It’d take about Continue reading →

More Definitions :: Informality vs. Informalities

While reading some of the posts from last week, I couldn’t help but ask myself again ‘What is informality?’ The more I learn about the subject, the more difficult it Continue reading →

Skins+Signs :: PART 2

AESTHETIZATIONS+GENTRIFICATION “Observers of the contemporary city have described the late capitalist urban condition as characterized by a trend toward the aesthetization, where the primacy of the visual and the centrality Continue reading →

“Informal” Designers, Part 2

My last post looked at stair design in favelas in São Paulo, Brazil, and how spatial constraint, material availability, and communal negotiation impact design. This post will look at another Continue reading →

Incremental housing or Sites&Services Reloaded?

elel Quinta Monroy, housing project in Iquique (Chile) by Elemental; Image taken from Eduardo Rojas presentation at the IADB Most of the cities in developing countries have been constructed using incremental Continue reading →

Falling in Love with the “Barrio,” the risk of toying with informality

Post by Silvia Soonets [Proyectos Arqui 5] on Caracas

The Architect’s Gaze

Intro Post by Bethany Opalach In representational works of art, the image itself is the object of our perception and attention, while the subject is transformed into only part of Continue reading →