Design guide: The Latest Architecture and News

The manipulation and combination of materials are ongoing pursuits in architecture. This has not only broadened the possibilities for construction but also enabled the creation of distinctive shapes and aesthetics by using the same materiality. An example of this is Portland cement, an essential element in the mixture of water and aggregates that make concrete, which allows the creation of both load-bearing and decorative elements. In parallel, as a result of the exploration of innovative materials, fiber cement emerged (invented by Ludwig Hatschek) at the end of the 19th century, combining Portland cement, mineral-based materials, and cellulose fibers.

Nowadays, fiber cement —distinguished by its key technical qualities of slenderness, lightness, durability, and flexible aesthetics— has stood out in various applications associated with design, ranging from furnishings to facade systems. It is in the latter where it has adopted notable expressions due to its textures, incombustibility, rain resistance, and malleability. For this reason, we have developed a design guide that addresses the use of fiber cement, exploring the principles that should be considered when designing the facade, regarding its materiality, dimensions, layout, details, and special applications.

The UN-Habitat Urban Lab has published “My Neighborhood,” a publication that offers a checklist of urban design principles aimed at creating more sustainable and resilient cities. Containing actions that are applicable at the neighborhood scale, the guide strives to present an integrated approach that responds to key sectors such as transportation, local urban initiatives, housing, public spaces, utilities, and more.

When you tap an Instagram geolocation, the nine most popular posts in that location float to the top. Sometimes, there's an uncanny similarity to these posts: near-identical pictures of smoothie bowls, tiled floors, or neon signs. In part, a place’s popularity on Instagram is a domino effect—one person posts a picture of a mural (Wynwood Walls, anyone?), and then everyone does. But a new Instagram Design Guide from Valé Architects suggests that some design features might be inherently more Instagrammable than others. Valé’s guide is interesting for its quasi-scientific analysis of Instagram aesthetic, but it also has real implications in the architecture world; a building’s popularity on social media (in this case, its Instagramability) can influence its perception in the non-digital world. Here are some of the traits that Valé says make a space successful on Instagram: