Questions And Answers
Carlos Pardo, Colegio en Santo Domingo
By Cathelijne Nuijsink
Mark Magazine
General Questions on Colombia
1.
How can architecture be the driving force of a city’s transformation?
To achieve this, architecture has to clearly interpret the necessities and ambitions of a society and has to have the capacity of projecting them in time. In addition, architecture has the compromise of giving an answer according to the lot´s conditions, not only the physical aspect (geography, climate and topography) but also on the human aspect (manners, behaviors and culture).
2.
What is the most important issue architects in Colombia should focus on to improve the social inequality in your country?
I think that as architects we should give a greater importance to public space, understanding it as the vital and humanizing space where all of us recognize each other as a society.
We have the obligation of assuming a more humanist attitude in each project regardless of the economical level to which it is directed to.
I consider that to decrease social inequity with architecture´s help, we must have a more critical and profound knowledge of the ambitions and basic necessities of our society.
3.
Please compare and describe the situation of public spaces and public behavior 10 years ago in Colombia with the current situation after the social interventions.
What are the biggest achievements so far? (Please give clear examples)
Ten years ago in Medellín, it was almost impossible to go up to the neighbohoods located on the Northeastern hillside due to security conditions. Since the middle of last century this zone of the city, characterized by its strong topography, started to grow with no planning. This generated a discontinous urban system with very low quality, full of staggered alleys, narrow and sinous streets, with no sidewalks and very few parks. This lack of public space and equipments, added to the low investment of the government, poverty, low quality education and the influence of narcotraffic, gave as a result a violent behavior of its inhabitants, to the point of being one of the most insecure zones of the city in the last 30 years.
In the year 2003, and having as a point of departure, the construction of the Metro Cable (Cable Car public transportation connected to the Metro) a process of urban intervention called Proyecto Urbano Integral (PUI) Nororiental -Northeastern Integral Urban Project- was started. It covered the physical, institutional and social dimensions and 30 infrastructure projects were made: walkways, pedestrian bridges, parks, public spaces, schools, libraries, etc. But the most important thing was to have involved the community through workshops of imaginaries, design practices and direct participation on the execution of the projects which permited the inhabitants of the place to appropiate of these projects.
Today this zone is transformed in a radical way, not only physically but also socially up to the point of becoming a secure place for living and turning into one of the tourist sites of the city.
I consider that this urban project is one of the best examples of urban transformation that have been carried out internationally and it would be important to study it with more attention.
4.
How did Colombian people learn how to enjoy outdoors/public spaces/parks/green after not being able to do that for years? In what way did it change the way of life?
In cities like Bogotá and Medellín all the urban interventions that have been made have been accompanied by educational campains to explain and teach the good use of public space, bicycle routes, environmental care, etc. generating in this way an important citizen culture.
With the construction of these public spaces, security in the city and the confidence of the people has been recovered little by little. It is evident the way in which the number of people that go out to practice sports, ride bicycles, jog, walk or simply to enjoy fresh air has incremented. There was a time were the only option was to stay at home and watch tv.
5.
Colombian architecture was for a long time based on one single architectural idea (Rogelio Salmona using Colombian red brick and natural shapes like spirals, radial geometry and curves). Today, architecture is developing into heterogenic ideas and styles.
What makes your approach/style different from your Colombian contemporaries?
The problem of today´s architecture is the thirst of inmediate recognition (Facebook architecture), for which some architects have specialized in combining preconceived formulas with borrowed images (Photoshop architecture). The result is a very mediatic product of fast consumption...ephimeral architecture, very fashionable these days.
For us the language in architecture is not a question of style or fashion. The architecture we´re interested in doing is the one that expresses respect for the primacy of the place and that values our cultural legacy, we are interested in an architecture of permanence that responds to specific uses and is capable of interpreting the ambitions of a determined society.
Here is were we differenciate from some of our Colombian collegues.
6.
What can other countries learn from the current transformations in Colombia?
They can learn that in Colombia real changes regarding social inequality, education and poverty are happening; and eventhough we have taken long in starting, we are starting to have sucess thanks to the political will of some of our governors and with the help of urbanism and architecture.
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Questions And Answers
Carlos Pardo, Colegio en Santo Domingo
By Cathelijne Nuijsink
Mark Magazine
General Questions on Colombia
1.
How can architecture be the driving force of a city’s transformation?
To achieve this, architecture has to clearly interpret the necessities and ambitions of a society and has to have the capacity of projecting them in time. In addition, architecture has the compromise of giving an answer according to the lot´s conditions, not only the physical aspect (geography, climate and topography) but also on the human aspect (manners, behaviors and culture).
2.
What is the most important issue architects in Colombia should focus on to improve the social inequality in your country?
I think that as architects we should give a greater importance to public space, understanding it as the vital and humanizing space where all of us recognize each other as a society.
We have the obligation of assuming a more humanist attitude in each project regardless of the economical level to which it is directed to.
I consider that to decrease social inequity with architecture´s help, we must have a more critical and profound knowledge of the ambitions and basic necessities of our society.
3.
Please compare and describe the situation of public spaces and public behavior 10 years ago in Colombia with the current situation after the social interventions.
What are the biggest achievements so far? (Please give clear examples)
Ten years ago in Medellín, it was almost impossible to go up to the neighbohoods located on the Northeastern hillside due to security conditions. Since the middle of last century this zone of the city, characterized by its strong topography, started to grow with no planning. This generated a discontinous urban system with very low quality, full of staggered alleys, narrow and sinous streets, with no sidewalks and very few parks. This lack of public space and equipments, added to the low investment of the government, poverty, low quality education and the influence of narcotraffic, gave as a result a violent behavior of its inhabitants, to the point of being one of the most insecure zones of the city in the last 30 years.
In the year 2003, and having as a point of departure, the construction of the Metro Cable (Cable Car public transportation connected to the Metro) a process of urban intervention called Proyecto Urbano Integral (PUI) Nororiental -Northeastern Integral Urban Project- was started. It covered the physical, institutional and social dimensions and 30 infrastructure projects were made: walkways, pedestrian bridges, parks, public spaces, schools, libraries, etc. But the most important thing was to have involved the community through workshops of imaginaries, design practices and direct participation on the execution of the projects which permited the inhabitants of the place to appropiate of these projects.
Today this zone is transformed in a radical way, not only physically but also socially up to the point of becoming a secure place for living and turning into one of the tourist sites of the city.
I consider that this urban project is one of the best examples of urban transformation that have been carried out internationally and it would be important to study it with more attention.
4.
How did Colombian people learn how to enjoy outdoors/public spaces/parks/green after not being able to do that for years? In what way did it change the way of life?
In cities like Bogotá and Medellín all the urban interventions that have been made have been accompanied by educational campains to explain and teach the good use of public space, bicycle routes, environmental care, etc. generating in this way an important citizen culture.
With the construction of these public spaces, security in the city and the confidence of the people has been recovered little by little. It is evident the way in which the number of people that go out to practice sports, ride bicycles, jog, walk or simply to enjoy fresh air has incremented. There was a time were the only option was to stay at home and watch tv.
5.
Colombian architecture was for a long time based on one single architectural idea (Rogelio Salmona using Colombian red brick and natural shapes like spirals, radial geometry and curves). Today, architecture is developing into heterogenic ideas and styles.
What makes your approach/style different from your Colombian contemporaries?
The problem of today´s architecture is the thirst of inmediate recognition (Facebook architecture), for which some architects have specialized in combining preconceived formulas with borrowed images (Photoshop architecture). The result is a very mediatic product of fast consumption...ephimeral architecture, very fashionable these days.
For us the language in architecture is not a question of style or fashion. The architecture we´re interested in doing is the one that expresses respect for the primacy of the place and that values our cultural legacy, we are interested in an architecture of permanence that responds to specific uses and is capable of interpreting the ambitions of a determined society.
Here is were we differenciate from some of our Colombian collegues.
6.
What can other countries learn from the current transformations in Colombia?
They can learn that in Colombia real changes regarding social inequality, education and poverty are happening; and eventhough we have taken long in starting, we are starting to have sucess thanks to the political will of some of our governors and with the help of urbanism and architecture.