Camilo Lopez, FRA-RP’s Post

Reflecting on homebuilding's evolving landscape, I find myself drawn to the root of our construction desire—the need for a warm sanctuary and community. As 2024 approaches, I'm inspired by the trend of reviving traditional building techniques that honor our ancestral wisdom. This renaissance isn't just about nostalgia; it's about connecting through stories embedded in our spaces. I aim to spark meaningful discussions and invite you to share your thoughts as I navigate this journey. I commit to sharing content that encourages reflection and community vision, sprinkled with a dash of joy 😉🏡. Join the conversation with #SustainableBuilding #TraditionalCraftsmanship #CommunityBuilding, and let's shape our collective narrative towards architectural innovation in 2024.

"We need to see this joined-up thinking at all scales of place, co-created with the community. Often development is proposed which doesn’t work for people, or for place, or for the planet, with minimal amenity for homes, with the development leaning heavily on place and nature in the wider area to ‘prop up’ poor design." Read Susan May's blog post on People, Place, Planet for The Glass-House:

Revitalizing aging facilities through adaptive re-use is key to promoting sustainable development within our communities. Explore these remarkable repurposed fire stations, like the Firehouse Art Studio in Chicago, where our team delivered architectural solutions. Witness how these structures embrace a new lease on life, serving a fresh purpose while preserving their historical significance. https://buff.ly/4c8mvvO #SustainableGrowth #AdaptiveReuse

Our cities deserve designs that work for everyone. Urban design isn't just for today, it shapes the future of how we live and connect. What role do you think design plays in building better communities? Share your thoughts below. #UrbanDesignMatters #CityPlanning

Co-living is the new ideology of neoliberal housing. This is the argument of this recent paper on the issue. Interesting, this ideology is made of the following believes: believe in a 'corporate futurism' (the future is like google), 'technocratic urbanism' (government as ticking boxes on how many units they make in how much square meters), 'market populism' (co-living operators are solving the housing crisis), 'curated collectivism' (cool architects can produce spaces that people like to use together, plug-and-play type of design). A nice application of google-ideology to housing, I would say. here the article https://lnkd.in/d3De-Jcp #postgrowthcities Richard RonaldCody Hochstenbach

Put simply, hostile designs are intentionally created to restrict behaviours in urban spaces in order to maintain public order. Another way to look at it is a way of designing some people out of public space. It’s one thing to create inaccessible built environments through thoughtlessness. It is another to do it intentionally. Hostile design has emerged as an architectural response to homelessness, specifically rough sleepers. Rough sleepers need a flat surface on which to lie down, but flat surfaces are also a place of rest for other citizens. The unintended consequences are that other people are designed out. See link for my synopsis and the research paper that takes a human rights perspective to the issues.

When Gustav Magnusson asked me to be part of his project "Keynote Conversations: 100 interviews for reinventing the city", I must admit that it sounded like an overly ambitious project. I took months to send my contribution, and I finally did it after much polite insistance from Gustav. Now the book actually exists and I must say it is a great read. Full of interesting practitioners and thinkers with perspectives I either endorse already or which are new to me and totally inspiring. My text is a very condensed description of three ideas that are guiding much of urbz's work: 'Mess is More', 'Form Follows Process' and 'Conflict is Creative'. Urban projects must build upon local dynamics, not repress them. Relationships, uses, affects and meaning which are embedded in localities are the starting point for any urban intervention. Let use reclaim common sense, intuition and empathy. Let us connect with people and species who inhabit the spaces we seek to plan and design. But what if our subjectivities fail to converge? What if inhabitants can't reach a consensus? The aim of participatory urbanism isn't to find a compromise between diverging preferences. Our purpose should be to make sure that all parties, the loud ones as well as the marginalised ones, can express themselves. Points of disagreement are full of creative potential. If anything, conflicting viewpoints is the only thing missing from the book! Perhaps it is because it focuses on the interviewees' vision, rather than their methods. Could this be an idea for the next volume? Thank you Gustav Magnusson for your kind invitation. It is an honour to be featured alongside such accomplished urbanists as Ethan Kent, Rahul Mehrotra, Jack Self, Meriem Chabani, Philipp Rode, Camilla Richter-Friis van Deurs, Aseem Inam and many others ! I take this opportunity to thank also my friends and partners in crime at urbz: Rahul Srivastava and of course Samidha Patil, Bharat Gangurde, Kareena Kochery, Amin Khosravi, Andrés Sánchez Arias, Geeta Mehta and many others who keep on inspiring me and giving me joy. It's all team work and that's what makes it real. https://lnkd.in/dphR8qRb

In the realm of architectural development metrics, there comes news of progression that set the scene for defining moments. The unmissable story revolves around a developer bravely visioning and accelerating plans for a project near the historic Gruene water tower. • Analyzing the site, • Gruene's locality has been known for being not just an irreplaceable emblem of historical relevance, but also a prominent place-holder for new development opportunities. Mapping developing trends and real estate markets and interconnecting with the narrative, leads to a prediction: • This new development could possibly incentivize a ripple effect, rejuvenating surrounding regions and leveraging unforeseen scale of growth. Crystallizing the analysis and bringing different perspectives together: • While some may worry about losing the historical charm of the locale with this new development, it also serves to remind us that progress and preservation are not mutually exclusive. • It poses the grand challenge of design and creativity for the developer to respect history while meeting contemporary needs. Thus, this upcoming development reverberates multifaceted vibes: • Novelty where new infrastructure will rise - tapping into a modern suburban lifestyle, equidistant from progress and tranquility. • A harmonized blend of the old and new is imminent - invigorating dynamic synergy while preserving the essence of the past. To conclude, this development isn't just a testament to real estate versatility or evolving cityscapes. It is a live reminder of the delicate power of balance – a layered narrative of space, progress, and preservation interweaving into community values Continued watch on such spaces turns essential as they stand to define the modern city aesthetics and, more importantly, the dwelling choices of the contemporary populace. In facing the prospect of transformation, Gruene will become an exciting case study of development plenarily cognizant of both future goals and historical context. With the world under constant evolution, such initiatives inspire us to continually adapt and learn. Thus, we set out on the roulette of continuous growth - guaranteeing relatability, employability, and flexibility in our career endeavors for the now and the future. Explore and embrace! #development #urbanplanning #history #progress #preservation

The 2024 Housing Oregon Conference, Oregon’s annual networking and education event for housing professionals across the state, brought together over 1,000 participants and offered 60 workshops. Scott Edwards Architecture's Principal Hayley Purdy and Senior Associate Eugenia Fama-Higgins presented “The Value of a Post-Occupancy Survey in Affordable Housing,” a key component of bringing community engagement full circle in a responsive design process. Read more about their presentation on our blog, linked below. 📰: https://ow.ly/l2r450UlbzB #MultiFamilyArchitecture #MultiFamilyDesign #AffordableHousing #ArchitectureBlog

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗸𝘆𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀: 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗨𝗻𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴? 🏨 🤔 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 2060. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗸𝘆𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁. We've spent decades perfecting the art of building up, but have we considered the monumental task of taking down? This isn't just about demolition. It's about reimagining the entire lifecycle of our urban giants. How do we dismantle these behemoths without leaving a scar on our planet? Can we transform this challenge into an opportunity for innovation? Imagine a future where skyscrapers don't just occupy space, but become a reservoir of resources for the next generation of urban development. Where the end of a building's life marks the beginning of a new cycle of creation. This is the frontier that awaits us - not in the clouds, but in the art of descent. It's a future that demands new thinking, new technologies, and a complete paradigm shift in how we view urban architecture. 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝘆𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲? 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲? #FutureOfCities #SustainableArchitecture #UrbanInnovation