A river garden punctuated by 9 pavilions along the River Arzobispo, in Teusaquillo - Bogotá. The design proposal involves 3 levels of intervention :
- the urban/ecological scale for the re-naturalisation of the currently polluted river Arzobispo;
- landscape design for the articulation of the river bed and the zoning of the garden;
- architectural design for the creation of the pavilions and the infrastructure which allow the interaction with the re-naturalised landscape.
The architecture of the river garden allows to reconstruct, along with the physical archaeology of the place, through the exposure of raw and unapparent elements, also a human archaeology in the enclosed gardens of people's memory. The notion of "Sólido.Líquido.Lítico" derives exactly from the temporal dimension through which solid and liquid elements come into contact. The extended stratification of solid ground and the repeated shaping action of water produce the physical state of 'lithos', stone. Metaphorically, the lithic state can be considered as one of the physical states of this architecture, where the mass of the built encounters the ephemerality of time and use, giving birth to a state of reduction to its elemental state, a dissolvement to the essence and a permanence in the memory of the people who lived within it. Connection and memory triggers an effect of belonging. Through belonging, individual care enters into action and stimulates a collective behaviour of responsibility, which is likely to produce a change of attitude towards taking care of the river.
This process of addressing at once the natural environment as well as the human environment can produce durable positive effects. First, the re-naturalisation of the river Arzobispo can be a model to be applied to many other watercourses in the wider area of Bogotá. Secondly, it allows to envision a public space which resonates with the history and culture of the Bogotan society and that is likely to be embraced as a positive platform for public life, outside of the dynamics of power, fear and violence.