THE RECONNECTED CITY
WORK TEAM
Luis Aranguren Lizcano
Nicolas Martinez Achury
Sergio Meluk Barón
Luis Aranguren Lizcano
Nicolas Martinez Achury
Sergio Meluk Barón
MANIFESTO
After a sleepless night, friends, under the reddish skies of a clouded city
we have realized what architecture holds for us in the future.
Architecture cannot limit itself to the understanding of the world but must
concentrate its efforts in its transformation.
If in the 20th century, with the high-rise tower, the city block had a reinterpretation,
in the 21st century the high-rise tower will allow a new
interpretation of the city. The inhabitant of this future city must construct his
own idea of dwelling. Dwelling in an ever changing and moving world.
Contemporary city is characterized by vast areas of undifferentiated
architecture, the absence of the idea of place, constant visual stimuli of
commercial advertisement, isolated residential zones in the peripheries,
hotspots of mass consumption, and residual traces of abandoned industrial
infrastructure.
Movement in the city has been shaped by the needs of the car. The city of
the future will be faced with the need of materializing human, mechanical
and natural movements of the city. Multiple kinds of motion in the city as
a way of reconnecting and securing the unity of a fragmented whole.
The overcoming of the idea of “function” is the main challenge in the architecture
of the tower. In which technology/technique (a means to and
end) is confused with the objective of these constructions. Being as the contemporary
world has prioritized efficiency (capital) over space (the spirit).
The architectural object transforms from a nomadic presence into an extension
of the city. The conception of architecture as iconographic objects,
unique and isolated, is an extension of the idea of architecture as a good
of mass consumption and the prioritization of private over public interest.
Its state of crisis implies the reprioritization of the whole over the part, the
collective over the particular, interconnexion, public space, activity and the
care of human connections over private property, isolation and appearance.
The tower must construct a new idea of street. The street has historically
been characterized by a linear, connecting, open, and public quality.
Even more so than the park. With the passage of time, with ever greater
intensity, the network of streets as an expression of public space take on
more importance and more presence in cities. Nonetheless the opening
of architecture to public space has been timid and focused on particular
efforts. Limiting its effects to the first floors of the buildings or its platforms.
The interweaving of private and public space is still incipient. The possibilities
of this exploration are yet to be discovered. Contemporary architectural
space does not yet exist. “The transformation of lifestyles demands
its realization.”
we have realized what architecture holds for us in the future.
Architecture cannot limit itself to the understanding of the world but must
concentrate its efforts in its transformation.
If in the 20th century, with the high-rise tower, the city block had a reinterpretation,
in the 21st century the high-rise tower will allow a new
interpretation of the city. The inhabitant of this future city must construct his
own idea of dwelling. Dwelling in an ever changing and moving world.
Contemporary city is characterized by vast areas of undifferentiated
architecture, the absence of the idea of place, constant visual stimuli of
commercial advertisement, isolated residential zones in the peripheries,
hotspots of mass consumption, and residual traces of abandoned industrial
infrastructure.
Movement in the city has been shaped by the needs of the car. The city of
the future will be faced with the need of materializing human, mechanical
and natural movements of the city. Multiple kinds of motion in the city as
a way of reconnecting and securing the unity of a fragmented whole.
The overcoming of the idea of “function” is the main challenge in the architecture
of the tower. In which technology/technique (a means to and
end) is confused with the objective of these constructions. Being as the contemporary
world has prioritized efficiency (capital) over space (the spirit).
The architectural object transforms from a nomadic presence into an extension
of the city. The conception of architecture as iconographic objects,
unique and isolated, is an extension of the idea of architecture as a good
of mass consumption and the prioritization of private over public interest.
Its state of crisis implies the reprioritization of the whole over the part, the
collective over the particular, interconnexion, public space, activity and the
care of human connections over private property, isolation and appearance.
The tower must construct a new idea of street. The street has historically
been characterized by a linear, connecting, open, and public quality.
Even more so than the park. With the passage of time, with ever greater
intensity, the network of streets as an expression of public space take on
more importance and more presence in cities. Nonetheless the opening
of architecture to public space has been timid and focused on particular
efforts. Limiting its effects to the first floors of the buildings or its platforms.
The interweaving of private and public space is still incipient. The possibilities
of this exploration are yet to be discovered. Contemporary architectural
space does not yet exist. “The transformation of lifestyles demands
its realization.”
INTRODUCTION
This proposal for the CTBUH competition uses the tower as a mechanism to
affect Bogotá, a city which exhibits some of the problems of many contemporary
cities across the world. The problems identified in contemporary
cities are: the fragmentation of its parts, the persisting idea of its architecture
as composed of isolated and independent objects, the confusion
between the goals of architecture and the technology used to achieve it,
the absence of the idea of place, the prioritization of the car resulting in a
limited range of movements inside the city, the lack of public space, and
the prioritization of private over public interests. Therefore, the goals of a
tall building are: the reconnection of the fragments of the city, the establishment
of a new idea of architectural object, the multiplication of public
space, the construction of new possibilities of movement in the city, and
the construction of a new relationship between the inhabitant, the object,
and the city. As a means to achieve this, the specific goals with this project
have been: the expansion of public space at ground level, creating connections
between the building and its surroundings improving the towers
arrival to the ground, creating continuous flow between the public street
and the top of the tower, establishing an urban tapestry of streets in high
altitude in this way multiplying public space in the city, and the freeing of
area inside the tower allowing for a better quality of space in its interior.
