XVI Quito Pan-American Architecture Biennale

Thirty years ago, the Colegio de Arquitectos del Ecuador, from Pichincha province, instituted the Pan-American Quito Architecture Biennale (BAQ). Every two years we made the principal platform to address architectural projects of the Americas. Hundreds of unpublished works from North, Central, and South America are featured in each BAQ. In BAQ/2008, design professionals from around the world are invited to participate in a worldwide competition of social habitat and development. With its attention focusing on the increase of poverty in the world, much of which has been caused by urban sprawl as a spontaneous answer to deficit housing, the BAQ/2008, in partnership with the Department of Housing Development and Management of the University of Lund-Sweden, and under the Program PROMESHA (Programa de Capacitación para el Mejoramiento Socio Habitacional para Latinoamérica), this year's BAQ will feature an international award recognizing efforts made in the region to improve the lives of vulnerable urban populations, within a sustainable framework, which grants them better living standards and an improved quality of life. http://www.baq-cae.ec/