Architecture and urban planning in Latin America face deeply rooted social, environmental, and economic challenges shaped by historical inequalities, rapid population growth, and unplanned urbanization. Addressing these issues requires innovative solutions that balance housing needs, ecological preservation, and respect for local identities. Amid this complex landscape, several visionary female architects are making a difference with creative and impactful approaches.
The relationship between architecture and the environment is multifaceted. It involves a dynamic interaction between built spaces and the surrounding natural context. It shapes how buildings and cities function, impacts ecosystems, and influences the well-being of inhabitants.
Many factors link architecture and the environment. They span from practical considerations such as natural materials and renewable energy sources to broader aspects like integrating and appreciating local culture. Within this wide range of possibilities, we have selected five interviews that showcase different approaches to this theme. These interviews stimulate essential reflections on the contemporary architectural context.
Born in Brazil and educated in Paraguay, Gloria Cabral is an architect who early on learned that home can be many places—or none at all. Guided by a comprehensive understanding of the geography, culture, and social conditions of the places she designs, she has left her mark on buildings and artistic installations constructed in various locations, from Assumption to Venice.
Besides her interest in the specificities of the places where she operates, Gloria focuses on resource economy and material reuse — a trending theme that Gloria has championed for over fifteen years. We had the opportunity to speak with the architect about her experiences in Paraguay and Brazil, some of her works involving recycled brick, and her insights into architecture and sustainability.
Two South American architects have been selected as the winners of The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal’s 2018 Women in Architecture awards. This year’s top prize, Architect of the Year, has been awarded to Peruvian architect Sandra Barclay, while Paraguayan architect Gloria Cabral has been selected as the winner of the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture, with both being recognized by the jury for their mastery of materials.
Using concrete and bricks made of raw mud, architects Solanito Benitez, Solano Benitez, Gloria Cabral, Maria Rovea and Ricardo Sargiotti built a wall able to be constructed by the two materials working in tandem. Once the concrete dries, the bricks are washed away, returning the mud back to its natural state, leaving spaces in the lines of concrete, like a kind of negative.
This artistic intervention arose from an invitation to participate in an art exhibition in Unquillo MUVA, Cordoba, Argentina from April 11 to May 3, 2014.
More information and images below.
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Bricks are an iconic element of Solano Benítez’s studio. An ancestral material, forged by man using an ancient technique of modeling and baking. Bricks are very versatile, cheap and easy to manufacture – even marginalized areas of the world can afford to build houses with brick. Benítez feels the poetry of brick and has experimented with its versatility, relying solely on bricks as the main construction material. [1]
Gabinete de Arquitectura's exhibition, designed by Solano Benítez, Gloria Cabral and Solanito Benítez, was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Participant in the International Exhibition, Reporting From the Front, for “harnessing simple materials, structural ingenuity and unskilled labour to bring architecture to underserved communities.”
In May last year, the Rolex Mentors & Protégés initiative announced a surprising partnership in its name: Paraguayan architect Gloria Gabral was to spend a year working alongside the famously elusive Swiss master Peter Zumthor. The differences between the two architects - from the languages they spoke to the age of their respective careers - were obvious from the outset. But as explored in this article by Paul Clemence, originally published by Metropolis Magazine as "Intuitive Connection," over the past year they've been discovering that the things that they have in common run far deeper.
It was an unlikely pair. He is a well-established architect with a long career, working out of a small town tucked deep in the mountainous Graubünden canton in Switzerland; she is at the beginning of a promising career in Asunción, Paraguay’s capital and largest city. They did not even share a common language, yet they connected through something more binding than the spoken word: an intuitive sense of space—and their work ethic.
Peter Zumthor has chosen to mentor Paraguayan architect Gloria Cabral as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Cabral, a partner at Asuncion-based Gabinete de Arquitectura, will spend a year collaborating with the Swiss architect, who has dedicated his expertise in an effort to learn, create and grow with the young talent.
Describing Cabral’s work to reveal an original spirit, Zumthor stated: “In Gloria’s work and attitude I sense a keen interest in the physical experience of architecture, which makes it exciting for me to collaborate with her.”
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