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Engineer's meeting 01

Notes in prep for the first engineers meeting: looking at ideal materials for construction, feasibility & application.

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EXPLORATION OF IDEAS

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The purpose of the building: a community hub

A problem shared is a problem halved

People sustain each other

When poor, unable to pay for things, community kitchens - everyone pitches in. Children learn, food is collaborative and community, cooking creates places to share

Connection / community

When money comes in they move onto other areas but it creates framework for social and community

THIS IS THE NARRATIVE I WILL CHASE!

By creating a space for people to settle in legally, offering things like a legal clinic, languages and job opportunities in collaboration with Bogotá gov. And the police, there is an opportunity to address the stigma of strata, and encourage social mobility!

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EXPLORATION OF ADAPTATIONS TO EXISTING STRUCTURAL FORM IN FONTIBON

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Site exploration: possible proposal

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Poorly used spaces, site selection

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Visuals as assisted by AI

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Visuals as assisted by AI

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Project Matrix for typologies of spaces

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Lessons learnt from Informal Densification [Torre David & The Ponte Building]

01 - Community organisation

They pay a monthly fee of $ 15 to the Cooperative for water, electricity, cleaning of the public spaces, and security. But there is also a scheduled community cleanup. And here is my favorite: “If the occupants receive more than three citations for infractions of the general code of conduct (noisy parties, littering, domestic violence), they are asked to leave.”

02 - No Vacancy

No families owns their space. They only own the investments they make in their respective apartments. When a family leaves, incoming tenants often buy the modifications.

03 - Informal Economy

 “Since the one accessible stairway in the Highrise is the only means of vertical circulation within that structure, sooner or later everyone passes everyone else.”  There is a barbershop, cybercafé, beauty salon, small factories, a auto workshop and some floors have their own grocery. In an adjacent building a church is build. On the ground level is a large basketball-court. The court is well regulated. It’s forbidden to swear or to play without sportswear. On the 28th floor there is a small gym. “That same floor has an extended balcony […] where some of the woman often bring couches and chairs to socialize.” But the biggest informal place are the stairs.

04 - People

At present there are more then 750 families. The book indicates that the unfinished high-rise is especially advantageous for informal vendors, thanks to its location.

 

05 - Satisfaction

Jean Caldieron, assistant Professor at the Florida Atlantic University, studied the residential satisfaction among the households. He asked 60 people (from different floors) a few questions. According to them the most serious challenges of living in the Tower are: lack of elevators, criminality, water service and electricity.

The most important advantages of living in the tower, besides a free solid shelter with panoramic views, is its location  near the city center (86%) and the proximity to urban transportation (53%). “Many of the dwellings do not have sanitary services and some do not even have natural light. These issues together with the community issues are very troublesome”

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Guillermo Barrios, the dean of architecture at Caracas University, however calls it a ‘bad practice’: “Every regime has its architectural imprimatur, its icon, and I have no doubt that the architectural icon of this regime is the Tower of David. It embodies the urban policy of this regime, which can be defined by confiscation, expropriation, governmental incapacity, and the use of violence." To some people in the government the situation is unacceptable: “For me, it’s a symbol of anarchy, a symbol of a lack of government and of public inefficiency,” says Sulemar Bolivar, the head of urban planning in Caracas. Others see the tower as a metaphor for the state’s failure to provide its citizens with housing, public facilities and safety. According to Jean Caldieron, the researcher who interviewed 60 inhabitants, it is “a monument of misery and an inadequate use of an expensive urban facility”. In other words: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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TORRE DAVID: Informal Vertical Communities

Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner

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