Architecture
HABITANDO EL MURO
COMERCIAL PUBLIC BUILDING - ARCHITECTURE CONTEST
The farmers house constitutes a great operational, dynamic and daily space in the life of the town. Due to its strategic location within the reconstruction of Gramalote, (Colombia) it was the key piece to connect the main ecological structure and pivot life on both sides, giving a new meaning to the connections of the proposed place. This set of buildings also opened the possibility of rethinking the practices that revolve around the countryside. So, in response to these two great challenges, a set of buildings is located that presents a tribute to work in the field but simultaneously understands the logic of the place. The square - historical space of connectivity - as a place of exchange and connection not only modifies its form but also its identity giving the space flexibility so that different incidents can occur. It connects the system of public spaces proposed in the plan and the main ecological structure. The square claims the use of the road as a public space and serves as a channel towards the heart of the project and its multiple spaces.
HABITANDO EL MURO is more than a public building or equipment; it is the synthesis in process of understanding the historical landscape, of an unpublished program proposed by the contest and the relations of a productive territory. It is not only the intersection in the daily life of the town but the reconstruction of the memory applied to the present. The classical square with its four walls is reinterpreted here to have a more sensible approach to the context. The wall is the essential component of the proposal. It is therefore the irreducible of the architecture of the place.
The program is separated into two complementary buildings: one of a daily nature and another of an eventual nature. To achieve this, the WALL is interrupted and rotates to frame the square, which allows the project to open and move through it. The WALL, continuous but fragmented generates another dual condition: The wall and the threshold. The wall defines and structures while the threshold diffuses the space.