Recent architecture in Latin America

Abstract

Hugo Segawa is a reference in the history and criticism of contemporary architecture in Latin America. Grounded on the review of the main topics addressed during the last two decades of the twentieth century in Latin American Architecture Seminars in which Segawa participated as well as his 2004 book, Latin American Contemporary Architecture, this paper seeks to approach Segawa’s view of recent architectures in Latin America. Thus, some aspects of the work and thought of architects such as Alejandro Aravena, Angelo Bucci, Solano Benítez, Rafael Iglesia, José María Sáez and Ricardo Sargiotti are introduced. This analysis starts from the following question: What role do theory and history of architecture play when designing? Further underlying questions are also raised: Is it possible nowadays to draw a line between the specificity of the local space and the spread of the universal? What disciplinary significance does the experimental work of some of these professionals have in architecture? Which is the role of architecture when facing the urgencies that the asymmetries of this globalized world entail?