Día 31

Parque de los Pies Descalzos

Día 31 | 30 de septiembre

Stepping Stones

This afternoon I went out observe and experience what most consider is the primary project to change the consciousness of what could be possible in this great city, Parque de los Pies Descalzos (Park of the barefeet).

Designed by Felipe Uribe de Bedout, Parque de los los Pies Decalzos is situated in the Plaza Mayor/Alpujarra area of Medellín. An area completely removed from the normal grid of the city and reprogrammed for Governmental and Convention facilities, Parque de los Pies Descalzos started off as a small project to convert an auxiliary parking lot into an outdoor resting/lunch area for the employees of epm’s (Empresas Pública de Medellín) main building called ‘Edificio Inteligente’, the Intelligent building. Felipe pushed the boundaries of what could happen for the space into an opporunity to change the people’s perceptions on what a public space could be. What developed was a unique park that pushes users to experience the tactile features of a collection of open spaces.

Excerpt on Pies Descalzos and public space in Medellín from my Interview with Felipe on Día 22 (non blogged interview)…

Parque de los Pies Descalzos brings round the clock public life to a sector of the city normally devoid of life after 5pm. And in what could be seen as a place akin to the beach, a place only 125 miles away but due to the mountainous terrain takes over 3 hours to commute to, Pies Descalzo brings the merriment and serenity of the seaside to the Valley to be enjoyed by all.

below, a few pictures from the day…

Stepping Stones

West façade

Wood|Sand

Grass|Wood

East façade

Water|Stone

knee pool

Man Resting

Throughway to Street from West

Throughway to Park from East

Site plan sketch

Bamboo garden

Teenagers playing in the fountain

East façade

Western Canopy

Pedestrian Path

Seating

Sand lot

Child in sand

Sand lot

Día 30

un entrevista con Ani Velez

Día 30 | 29 de septiembre

Ricardo Velez (Left) and Ani Velez (Right)

Today I met with Ana Elvira Velez. A master of Colombian social housing and urban design, Ani is one of the Architects responsible for the revival of the Zona Norte area, coming up with the new plan for the perimeter of Jardín Botanico, kneading the former rugged boarder into a more inviting space with the ability to pull people towards and welcome them into the Jardín Botánico.

Born in Medellín, Ani’s family moved around quite a bit in her early youth. Her father, an Engineer, worked in London for Ove Arup on the Sydney Opera House before going to Purdue University and later on to Jamaica before finally coming back to Medellín.

Ani studied at the Architectural Association where she studied under and later worked for Wiel Arets. While studying in London, her family’s home bacame a quasi Colombian Architectural Embassy for the, then budding, Medellín Architects, of which most came to London to study English language and/or to tour Europe.

My interview lasted a good portion of the afternoon covering a broad range of subjects from her family’s international travel when she was young and how it left an impression on her, to the dichotomy of Social housing approaches within the city today. At the end of the day, Ani took me to see one of her hosing projects, La Playa Apartamentos, on the near eastside of the city.

Here is an excerpt of my interview where Ani explains a bit about what drew her to design and the opportunities that brought her back to Medellín.

A bit later on in my interview I had a chance to peg Ani on social housing on the periphery of the city and her views about it, here’s our exchange.

below, Site visit…

pedestrian walkway

pedestrian walkway

commercial unit

breezeway|public space|circulation corridor

Ricardo Velez (Left) and Ani Velez (Right)

Día 23

Biblioteca epm

Día 23 | 22 de septiembre

Revistas lounge

Today I went out to finish up touring the sequence of public spaces along San Juan (Calle 44) I started a few weeks ago, along the journey through the buildings and squares that straddle Avenida San Juan, I revisited Plaza Cisneros and Biblioteca epm.

Biblioteca epm is another Empresas Públicas de Medellín project. Completed in 2005, Biblioteca epm is the city’s downtown library located across the Avenida from the La Alpujarra government center. An interesting note is that although located downtown, the library doesn’t function as the main library but more as a learning library with a lot of space dedicated towards lectures/meetings, teaching and technology.

After being in Medellín now for 3 weeks and thus being able to see more than one example of an Architect’s work, I’ve quickly become a fan of Felipe Uribe’s style. The way he crafts space and views is really interesting as one perspective/view draws you to another with the simple play of heights and volumes. I’ve been continually drawn towards his places and spaces as they have a magnetic effect on a person to explore and understand them.

The other day I had the opportunity to interview him (a non blogged interview) where he explained a little bit about his design intentions Biblioteca epm and Plaza Cisneros.

Below, a few pictures from the day…

Catálogo

Revistas lounge

levels

Biblioteca epm

Way finding

Bamboo + Seating

Revistas lounge

Sala de Formácion Especializada

piso 3°

Reading Room

Protesters

Study room

Reading room

Circulation

Protesters

Conference rooms

looking east

Sala de Computadores, Piso 1°

1° piso lounge

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Día 21

una entrevista con Jorge Pérez

Día 21 | 20 de septiembre

Today I met with Jorge Pérez Jarmillo, Architect and former Dean of the School of Architecture at UPB-Medellín. At only 45, Jorge has had an intriguing and inspiring story to his life; first by helping to foster in what many have said is a learning laboratory approach to solving architecturally the city’s dilemmas, serving as Dean of a school of Architecture. And secondly, serving as Chief Deputy for the Regional Metropolitan Planning Department… all while fitting in time to work on his own, self titled, practice. Jorge attributes the sensibility of visiting Architectural landmarks his parents allotted the family in his upbringing as a pivotal reason he chose architecture. Jorge’s sister was also influenced by their upbringing and became an Architect as well.

Throughout the course of my hour long interview I focused on questioning Jorge about the time period in which he took over as Dean of UPB-Medellín’s Architecture program, a period of time in which he was a freshly minted Bachelor of Architecture graduate at age 28.

Here in his own words, Jorge explains how he became Dean of Architecture at UPB-Medellín and the vision he laid forth, (apologies for the background noise, we met at a busy cafe)