Spaces of Permanence

Abstract

This project describes the search for new methodologies of analysing an unknown context as well as questioning existing patterns of behaviour in the urban organization. After a fieldtrip to Bogotá, an interests in elements with connecting and separating values in the public sphere has been developed. Teusaquillo, the central area of intervention, has been shaped by educational and cultural institutions. It consists of quiet neighbourhood streets, hectic connecting roads and the green spine, the parkway. The dominance of traffic and movement within the city leaves little space to interact in the public sphere which led to the following question: How can collective space in Teusaquillo be altered from a space of movement to a space of inhabitation? Developing an architectural response to this question, inspirations from the comma in literature and the pause in music have grown from conceptual inspirations to design tools. Apart from this, investigations on intimacy in architecture and the boundaries between architecture, urban planning and landscape played a major role. The street itself became the location of this project and has been analysed in depth. The resulting intervention is envisioned through a new layout of the street based on ground interventions with landscaping elements as well as a modular façade structure that extends buildings and creates spaces of transition. This was developed through a systematic approach that has been tested and validated on other streets. Spaces of Permanence is carried out beyond the boundaries of architecture and questions modernist urban planning ideals. Through acts of slowing, blurring boundaries, introducing means of appropriation and material culture collective space is made accessible and spaces for meaningful interaction are created.