Articles by Enrique Tovar

Throughout history, the functional essence of bathrooms has remained unchanged due to their design being shaped by biological parameters. Initially, the function of bathrooms was solely related to hygiene and waste management, resulting in the conception of bathrooms as unhealthy and merely utilitarian spaces. This led to their separation from the rest of the spaces designated for coexistence.

Nowadays, the understanding of our building culture and the application of local construction methods may seem like a distant and obsolete concept given the role of industrialization and globalization in the construction industry. We can now obtain almost any material from around the globe just by searching the internet for a distributor in our region. But this practice has important implications for our society, from the loss of architectural identity to environmental costs related to high CO₂ emissions associated with the processes of extraction, manufacturing, transportation, and disposal of these materials.

One of the most important challenges in architecture, when it comes to creating spaces that work for everyone, is the diversity that exists in people, their needs, and how to integrate them into a design. Disabilities are more than a condition; they are a way of living according to human diversity that requires architectural solutions of equivalent multiplicity.

Beyond light as a physical phenomenon perceptible by the human eye, daylight is an inexhaustible architectural resource that is sometimes taken for granted. Just like the air we breathe, we are all aware of the existence of light, but rarely do we seek to do anything else with it. It is essential to recognize its presence as an enabler of experiences in space, due to its intrinsic relationship with architecture and human beings.