The architectural Embrace

Student: Noortje Weenink

Title: The architectural Embrace

Semester: 2018 Autumn

Teachers: prof. dr. ir. Tom Avermaete, dr. ir. Klaske Havik, Jorge Mejia Hernandez

The Architectural Embrace aims to build a metaphorical bridge between socio-economical, political and architectural contradictions in Bogotá by means of a hybrid layer—an alien object in the rigid urban grid of the city, rupturing the existing notions of what and who is valuable in the city. It thus criticises the current and past practices of neglect and disdain towards the lowest classes of society and explores the role of architecture in challenging political and societal problems.

The city’s contrasts are especially striking at the junction of four building blocks in neighbourhood Los Mártires—a poor labour area close to the city centre.

1. A dominant and introverted military recruitment battalion
2. A public, empty square commemorating the martyrs of the Colombian Independence (Plaza Los Mártires)
3. A highly regarded Catholic church (Basílica del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús), exuding wealth and a place of worship
4. A former wealthy dwelling area, now a hotbed of crime overcome by decay and neglect (El Bronx)

But how does one progress in such a notorious place as El Bronx, where the urban memory is built on transgression and felt by the (architectural) uncanny, without erasing the past? How does one respect and commemorate (pre)existing conditions without dictating a collective meaning? And how does one create an architectural alternative that does not colonise the place? The Architectural Embrace approaches these paradoxes by offering a place of reflection amidst the roaring city life and its power struggles. By means of a new type of architecture, unfamiliar to and disrupting the context and its hierarchies on both urban and architectural scale, the building criticises existing practices and paves a way towards a new perception of the location. It thus lies on the verge of the uncanny and transgressional space.

The concrete, circular structure breaks with the rigid urban grid and offers an enormous public space, hidden from the chaos and hierarchies of the city. This static, geometrical architecture protects the inner plaza from this outer pandemonium. It is an architecture that presents the user inside with a feeling of security or belonging, by distancing and thus protecting it from the chaotic city. The architecture continuously changes the relation between visitor and its surroundings by means of subtle and obvious height differences, visual distortion and framing. 

In The Architectural Embrace, the city of Bogotá is presented with a monumental architecture representing the abolished fourth block of El Bronx. Instead of erasing “the hell of Bogotá”, it recognises the importance of this area in the city and it emphasises the value of the lower classes of society, while addressing the history of neglect of the location. Thus, as a tool of (and place for) reflection, the project may work as a catalyst for sustainable change and an alternative to the gentrification that brings about a vicious cycle of displacement, decay and demolishment in the city. 

More information about this project can be found here.