In 2021, we were commissioned to design a small house located in Matanzas, a coastal town in Chile known for its excellent conditions for water sports. The client requested a 70 m2 house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, designed for a young audience, that had to be cost-effective to build and preferably developed on two levels to have sea views.

Located on Guaxuma Beach, just 20 minutes from the urban center of Maceió, the project is situated in a sparsely populated residential area, characterized by a hot and humid tropical climate, where the land still preserves the native coastal vegetation. Near the land, with an extension of 500m, there is a minimally urbanized waterfront with some beach bars.

“Title 24” (California’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards) inspired the design of the net-zero homes. We see the state’s recently implemented code as an opportunity to reinvent the Southern California single-family dwelling.

Construction on the MVRDV-designed Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre is complete, transforming an old mixed-use tower into a vibrant and colorful skyscraper hosting a hotel and a wide range of facilities for the welfare of women and children: a library, an auditorium, a children’s theatre and “discovery hall”, as well as therapy rooms and offices for staff. With its colorful façade, the building is a refreshing presence in Shenzhen’s Futian district; more importantly, at 100 meters tall, the building sets an important precedent for repurposing buildings in a city that is soon to see a “great wave of adaptive reuse”.