New Architects in Latin America

TONY HORNECKER COMES TO SANTIAGO, CHILE

2009-12-30T14:54:00.002Z

I have been back in London for 9 months and miss my Latin American adventure. While I am considering what to do with all the information I gathered, here is something for everyone in Chile...

London artist Tony Hornecker is constructing a temporary installation in Santiago, Chile for 4 days. The Pale Blue Door will be live from 21 - 24 January 2010.

I have just been working with Tony Hornecker in London. He designed an immersive installation - 'Christmas at Number 42' - at The Architecture Foundation in December. You can watch a report by BBC Mundo below as a preview for the Chilean project. It will be amazing.

TRIPTYQUE

2009-03-31T13:55:00.005+01:00

A visit to the studio and Sao Paulo projects of new Franco-brazilian practice Triptyque. More information and photos will be published when I return to London.

MMBB

2009-03-31T05:17:00.005+01:00

A visit to two recent houses by MMBB with Giovanni, one of the younger architects at the Sao Paulo practice. More photos will be added when I get back to London.

Vila Romana

Residência no City Boaçava

And the dog house...

23°S ARQUITETURA

2009-03-31T04:53:00.016+01:00

I met with Luís Pompeo, one of 10 partners at the new architecture collective 23°S. Each partner brings different skills and interests - from architectural design to infrastructure and project delivery - and this is reflected in the diverse projects the practice is competing for. The first completed project is the refurbishment of a school building originally designed by João Batista Vilanova Artigas.

NAUTILO

2009-03-31T04:32:00.004+01:00

Nautilo was co-founded by Gustavo Viana and Andre Becker in 2003. Together they have designed a number of residential projects and new houses.

IGOR DE VETYEMY: CITY OF SEX

2009-03-25T14:18:00.006Z

Igor de Vetyemy made headlines in Rio de Janeiro with his graduate project, Cidade do Sexo. His proposal for a sex centre in the middle of the city - with sex pods, museum, health clinics and offices - picked up media interest when he was called to city hall to present the project to the mayor.

CGI of Cidade do Sexo

AT HOME WITH MARLENE AND MARCOS ACAYABA

2009-03-10T21:11:00.016Z

This incredible house was designed by Marcos Acayaba in 1972 (completed in 1975) at the age of 28. He still lives here with his wife, design critic and blogger Marlene Acayaba.

Video of living space.

Marcos' studio.

A book on mid-century modernist houses in Sao Paulo by Marlene Acayaba.

GRUPO SP: TWO HOUSES

2009-03-08T15:24:00.020Z

Casa em Carapicuíba
This house for a filmmaker and his family is split over three floors, to allow for living and work space, with an entrance deck below the top level.

The top floor is a work space for the owners.

The floor below ground level is the main living floor, with a large open living room and separate kitchen.

Kitchen.

The lowest floor is a private space for the family - bedrooms, bathrooms, garden and pool.

Casa no Morro do Querosene
The house is for a historian and professor, and is designed around his extensive library.

Central living space and library.

Kitchen, with view to back garden.

The boys' room.
The central core (with frosted glass) contains toilets and bathrooms.

View from back garden

BEHIND THE SCENES

2009-03-10T16:06:00.002Z

Photos by Jonathan Davies, Grupo SP, showing the documentation of Casa em Carapicuíba taking place.

GRUPO SP

2009-03-08T15:09:00.004Z

Grupo SP is the office of Alvaro Puntoni, João Sodré and Jonathan Davies.
Model of recently completed house for Alvaro's brother, a historian and professor.
Model and CGI for a new apartment building for design-led Sao Paulo developers, Movimentoum.

The recent Casa em Carapicuíba, 2007, published in Japanese Numéro magazine...
... with top Brit supermodel, Agyness Deyn, on the cover. Go Aggy!

VOLT

2009-03-08T14:57:00.004Z

The new Volt bar opened on 2 March, designed with neon artist Kleber Matheus.

Kleber (centre) with video artist Ed Andrade (left) and Yassin Lahmar

RODRIGO CERVINO

2009-03-08T14:36:00.006Z

The best possible introduction to Sao Paulo, Brazil and South America's largest city, is a visit to the home of architect Rodrigo Cervino in Oscar Niemeyer's Edificio Copan, the largest structure built in Brazil with apparently the largest floor area of any residential building in the world.

Rodrigo's office is in the adjacent Edificio Itália, Sao Paulo's second tallest building.

Rodrigo's portfolio includes the recent Galeria Adriana Varejão at the Inhotim sculpture park.

A GAGGLE OF ARCHITECTS

2009-03-05T22:37:00.011Z

I have been meeting some incredible architects but, in the words of Roisin Murphy, it's never enough. Inevitably some slip through the net. So here's a round up of architects from different countries that I have not had a chance to meet in person for whatever reason.

Argentina
Lucio Morini, based in Cordoba. (new studios, below)

Chile
Beals Lyon
Grupo Talca

Colombia
Paisajes Emergentes
A landscape and architecture office working from Medellin. (new project, top)
plan b Arquitectos
Orquideorama project (below) by plan B and JPRCR (J. Paul Restrepo and Camilo Restrepo), also based in Medellin.

Grenada
COCOA - Caribbean Office of Co-Operative Architecture

Mexico
Tatiana Bilbao
Great portfolio of work including Estudio Explanada, 2008 (below)

PEZO VON ELLRICHSHAUSEN: ONE NIGHT IN CASA POLI

2009-02-06T18:21:00.009Z

Casa Poli, 2005. The happiest concrete cube in the world. Photos by Jaffer Kolb.

WHAT MAKES A HOTEL GAY?

2009-03-03T19:10:00.007Z

A new hotel has opened in Buenos Aires that caters for gays and lesbians. Here are a few of the design features that distinguish it from its hetero counterparts. It starts with a swimming pool, viewed from below from the lobby and central stairwell...

The swimmers can watch the gym bunnies...
...who can watch the sun bathers...
... who are all observed from the jacuzzi.
In the bedrooms the central feature is a glass bath/shower
And an outdoor pool for sunbathing next to...
...glass box 'feature' showers...

...and a bar.
Scopophilia, anyone?

Max Zolkwer

2009-03-03T21:17:00.005Z

Max showed me the extension and refurb of his small, but perfectly formed, PH house, 2009.

CHAU, ARGENTINA

2009-03-03T22:19:00.001Z

It was a pleasure.

A TIGRE SPA

2009-03-03T21:48:00.006Z

Ana Rascovsky designed the spa extension to this Tigre summer house.

The local flora

ON THE RIVER IN TIGRE

2009-03-03T21:34:00.005Z

Boat trip out to Ana Rascovsky's Tigre retreat.

SUPERSUDACA

2009-03-03T20:49:00.003Z

Supersudaca is a pan-Latin American collective of architects that met while studying at the Berlage Institute in 2001. While in Europe they realised there was a common bond between Latin American countries that was not being explored so started a think tank for architectural and urban investigation. Their moto is: "We don't want to change the world with architecture, we want to change architecture with the world."

Projects include built work, workshops, and a design competition for tourist resorts in the Caribbean. They have also conducted installations at Witte de With gallery in Rotterdam and won an award for best entry at the Rotterdam Architecture Biennale in 2005.

I met with Ana Rascovsky and Max Zolkwer (below), both based in Buenos Aires. Other members are currently in Talca, Lima, Curaçao, Montevideo and Rotterdam. The team is led by a taskforce, Supersudaka, in Talca.

Summa+ / Barzón

2009-02-21T19:46:00.003Z

Fernando Diez and Tomas Powell run two architecture magazines from Buenos Aires. Summa+ serves the industry, while Barzón has a more cultural / consumer remit.

FLORENCIA RODRIGUEZ

2009-02-26T16:21:00.003Z

Florencia Rodriguez is an architecture curator and critic in Buenos Aires. She curated the exhibition HEX about new architects in Argentina in 2007. This show is now touring, and opens today in Spain at Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Florencia has just been appointed the director of CEAC, a new centre for contemporary architecture at the University of Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires.
The HEX catalogue

NICOLAS CAMPODONICO

2009-02-28T17:11:00.004Z

Recent projects coming from Nicolás' studio include critically acclaimed residences in Uruguay and a new tower (model below) currently under construction in his hometown of Rosario.

CECILIA PUGA

2009-01-23T16:43:00.004Z

Studio visit with Cecilia Puga, architect of some of Chile's finest homes.

Cecilia shares an office with Smiljan Radic on the 20th floor of this tower in central Santiago

CASA VIEW

2009-02-28T17:38:00.008Z

A new house in Rosario by Johnston Marklee & Associates and Diego Arraigada.

Diego Arraigada