Justified Architecture in a Landscape of Transformation

The Site:

Ciudad Bolvar: The locality Ciudad Bolvar situated in the southwest of

Bogot has the lowest socioeconomic indices and quality of life conditions
in the city, 51% of the population lives on less than 2 dollars a day and the
highest number of people displaced through Colombias internal conflict are
found there.

The projects impact on neighborhood residents: The Corporacin Educativa y

Social Waldorf (Waldorf Educational and Social Corporation) is a local NGO
that provides educational opportunities to 200 children and youth, free of
charge, and through its work benefits approximately 600 people represented
by the students families, of whom 97% are classified in the lowest
socioeconomic index.

Because of the efforts of the Waldorf Educational and Social Corporation

children between the ages one and three (68 students) have access to
preschool education and proper nutrition while children between six and
fifteen (145 students) have access to an after-school program based on
Waldorf pedagogy. Using art, music, weaving and dance workshops students
are encouraged to develop knowledge through sensorial experience.

Design Process

Not withstanding the important work the school achieves, the physical
infrastructure lacks the spatial attributes necessary to fully realize its aims.
For this reason we partnered with the school to improve the spatial
characteristics of the school, which in turn will enhance the quality of the
education provided.
Participatory process:

The experience of the building: Workshops with community members and

teachers allowed for a better understanding of how they experienced the

building through three different perspectives: its spatiality, functionality and
meaning. After they became aware of their physical environment, architects
and community members, in a collective learning process, identified the key
elements that influence architectural space, such as light, proportion, scale,
use, circulation, etc.

Expectations: Once the group realized the power architecture has to

transform a specific environment, community members expressed their
expectations and priorities for proposed interventions and what the
classroom of the future should look like.

Criteria for Intervention

The classroom of the future:

Recognizing that information technology is an important aspect of
contemporary learning, what is most transcendent of an educational process
is its pedagogy. The classroom of the future should educate for individual
freedom and civic life. Therefore, architecture should be the interface that
allows encounters between society and education; thus, the classroom should
not be considered in isolation, but as part of a larger organism: the city.

Functionality: The architectural development of the classroom of the future

has a positive influence on the quality of the education children receive, and
should foster creativity.

Terrace classroom: The intervention requires that the use of the generally
small areas is maximized, thus we propose a usable terrace as an open-air
classroom that permits a flexible space adaptable to different teaching needs.
Spatiality

Landscapes of encounter and communication: Every circulation path is a

possible encounter to foster knowledge; the classroom should not only
function autonomously, but also join the rest of the school through open and

functional circulation.

Box of Light: Due to the existing conditions it is beneficial to open an

illuminating space that improves the quality of light in the complex and
creates a visual and physical meeting space integrating the terrace and
circulation paths.

Faade-window-furniture: Considering space limitations, we propose an

enclosure adapted to the needs of the classrooms. Thus a horizontal band
freely surrounds the classroom, acting as bench, storage space and
illumination.

Meaning:

The school is a community building, open to the public it is a place where

people are presented with students work and progress. Its spatial structure,
however, is introverted and enclosed.

Roof - Landscape - Glass boxes: In a context of socio-economic marginality,

the classroom of the future should foster a realization of the importance of
education to overcome poverty. Therefore, spaces are transparent and light,
showing their interior richness. The terrace, in turn, is exposed to the
neighborhood and the city with open views, as a sign of hope for the future.

An auditorium and amphitheater: The small, existing auditorium will be

transformed into a flexible space connected to the public sphere in the openair where the larger community can fully participate.
Landscaping: Nature is the experiential element though which knowledge and
respect for the environment are strengthened. The classroom of the future
knows no limits.

The created landscape: The roof serves also as a green space where
observation of and contact with nature are possible. A garden will be planted
there for children to discover and nurture life, and also to obtain food for their

own nutritional benefit.

Sustainability:

Reforestation and ecosystem conservation: The proposal recovers the local

landscape though reforestation of native species and the creation of natural
wind barriers in the highest part of the terrain to stem erosion.

Rainwater collection and use: Rainwater will be collected from the hillside and
roofs, sent through a flow-form system, and used for watering the gardens
and surrounding vegetation.

Permeable paving: A cover of permeable paving will be used on exterior

spaces to allow proper breathing of the earth and the correct functioning of
the top-soil.

Landscape in process: The intervention respects geographical and natural

conditions of the surrounding environment. It is a gradual process that
weaves into the existing environment and insinuates the incremental
construction and ownership of the school, the neighborhood, and the city.
Materials

Lightweight Structure: To minimize the environmental impacts of the project,

the proposal is based on an easily assembled wood structure. The correct use
and good quality of the wood will bring back value to a material negatively
associated with low income construction, but of great performance and low
cost.

Natural materials:

Waldorf pedagogy aims at the contact with natural materials for the
development of a childs sensibility. The following are proposed:

Wood: For circulation areas and terrace, as a soft and warm surface that
preserves temperature and can be easily obtained from local mills.

Earth: Ecological bricks will be used for the public spaces and the garden
beds.

Stone: Applied in public space, reducing the use of concrete and brick,
though commonly used in the area are expensive to buy and maintain.

Plywood panel enclosures: An easily found material made of recycled wood,

such as plywood, is used to reduce construction costs and facilitate the
building process by the students and their families themselves.

The Design Team:

The team (from Colombia, Austria and the United States) worked jointly with
teachers and students at the school through a series of participatory
workshops. Arriving at the fundamental premise that architecture should be
the interface that allows encounters between society and education the
project team developed a series of responses to enhancing the existing
constructed space, connecting the built form to the surrounding environment
and a design for the Classroom of the Future.

Location

Sierra Morena Transversal 73H Bis, No. 75B-46 Sur

Bogot, Bogota D.C.
Colombia