Topographic Voids

“Topographic voids” proposes a new model of verticalization of the sector of the “Doce de Octubre”, a traditional Latin American neighborhood in Bogotá, Colombia. This area is characterized by carpentry and joinery work as its main economic activity, marked by some specific urban conditions such as lack of green spaces, low porosity, and a high programmatic load at the first level. The proposal seeks to reduce the programmatic pressure on the ground floor and precede the urban renewal processes planned for the sector so that a new vertical scenario is progressively generated which grows at the rhythm of the city but that guarantees the continuity of the timber trade as an emblematic piece of the place. Moreover, the project explores a new vertical landscaping system to increase green areas by bringing them to the middle of the dense urban fabric. The project is built on a modular structure that grows in connection with the vertical development process of the city through a wooden structural system marked by three construction stages following one of the vertical structural models proposed by Fazlur Kahn. Through different parametrization processes, a series of voids are generated in the structure on which various biomes are proposed: those biomes replicate and recreate different Colombian thermal floors that change their thermal and plant condition as it grows upward, so the project explores a new way of inserting habitats and topographical scenes in an architectural body capable of mitigating the environmental impact of the logging activity in the sector.

On the other hand, the project proposes re-signifying wood understanding it not only as raw material and economic trade but also as an educational training program for the people of the place of intervention. To do this, it is proposed to rethink the cabinetmaking and upholstery process and create a vertical wood laboratory that incorporates new technologies in the treatment of the material that consolidates the “Doce de Octubre” as an alternative cluster of experimentation with wood. It develops a modular structure in laminated timber that houses materials treatment workshops to adapt the traditional processes of cutting, carving, and thermoforming, among others, and create new pieces that transcend the production of commercial furniture and that nurture the growth of tower, consolidating it as a performative piece in wood that stands in the middle of the city and that seeks to glimpse the activity of the sector. A central programmatic core is proposed where classrooms, workshops, and other spaces are located (dedicated to the treatment of the material) which is complemented by a social, communal, and residential program that is inserted in the periphery of the structural core.