The Superior Institute of Architecture and Design (ISAD) promoted another edition of the Taller del Desierto during the summer of 2026. This is an intense academic exercise that has been taking place for over ten years, bringing together students from various design fields.
The objective of the Taller del Desierto is to develop and build real-scale (1:1) interventions within the urban setting of the city of Chihuahua. The process spans a period of four weeks, integrating concepts of design, material experimentation, and fabrication, guiding an idea from its initial conception phase to its physical realization.
Information about the project was provided by the project team.
The XIV Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (BIAU) announced the projects selected for the event. In total, 174 proposals were chosen from the 711 submitted in the section dedicated to Works and Publications, with finalists to be notified during September.
With the central theme 'Caring for Life,' the Biennial was structured as a space for a critical analysis of current changes in the territory. This reflection is organized around four main themes: water, vegetation, communities, and housing.
The event, the XIV BIAU, is scheduled to take place in Brasília from November 3 to 7. This year's curation is carried out by Nuno Sampaio, Carlos Quintáns Eiras, Fernando Serapião, Matheus Seco Ferreira, Daniel Mangabeira da Vinha, and Luciana Saboia.
The architectural bureau Aulets Arquitectes invites you to the screening of the short film 'Amarar', which will take place on Thursday, September 17, at 7:00 PM at Espacio Arquia de Madri (c/ Tutor, 16). The term 'Amarar' refers to a traditional Majorcan technique for wood treatment by immersing it in water to increase the material's durability.
This name also denotes a sustainable design project that transforms local pines into highly artistic modern furniture pieces. The project explores the use of wood in civil construction in collaboration with the Universitat de les Illes Balears. The project is initiated by Francisco Sifuentes and Sebastià Martorell, co-founders of the Aulets Arquitectes office located in Palma de Mallorca.
Sifuentes notes: 'On the islands, we have a large forest mass, but 95% of the forests are abandoned. At the same time, we import 70 thousand tons of wood for construction. We, as architects, must build using materials that can restore local ecosystems. A paradigm shift is necessary.'
The short film, directed by Marc Ierro, demonstrates some solutions proposed by Aulets Arquitectes and other project participants aimed at promoting responsible forestry and using wood as a durable, recyclable material with full traceability. After the screening, Francisco Sifuentes, Sebastià Martorell, and Albert Cucchi will participate in a discussion.
Cucchi, author of the article 'Construir el territorio', recently published in the monograph issue of the journal El Croquis about the work of Aulets Arquitectes, asserts: 'What Aulets seeks is the restoration of territory as a genuine field of architectural activity, maintaining proper relationships with resources, ensuring the renewability of extraction processes, and weaving construction with other social activities to create an ecological society.'
Every year on January 17th in Pollença (Mallorca), the Festa del Pi de Sant Antoni is celebrated, during which residents honor their traditions by cutting, transporting, and climbing a pine—an act symbolizing the community's connection to the forest. Currently, almost all the forest mass of the Balearic Islands is abandoned and at risk of fires and natural disasters. In August 2020, a strong storm destroyed over 700 hectares of forest in Serra de Tramuntana. This raises the question: what should be done with all this wood? The short film explains the proposal of the Amarar project, promoted by the Aulets Arquitectes office from Palma de Mallorca: to once again transform Pinus halepensis (Majorcan pine) into a resource for the local economy, restoring ecosystems and activating the entire value chain—from forestry to craftsmanship, industry, design, architecture, and construction.
