Topographic Voids

University of los Andes, Bogotá Colombia, Faculty of architecture and design

Project idea

"Topographic voids" arises under the premise of the "Hyper anomalies" proposed in the course in which it was developed. These anomalies seek to promote unconventional responses to traditional architectural situations: in this case, the way to verticalize and create an alternative solution to the urban renewal process of an area of Bogotá characterized by carpentry was explored. Understanding then the premise of anomalies, the project explores how to invert the logic of developing green buildings, where it is then nature that establishes the design guideline to which architecture must adapt.

Project description

"Topographic voids" proposes a new model of verticalization of the wood treatment program in the 12 de Octubre sector (characterized as the Bogotá timber cluster) that precedes the urban renewal processes proposed for the area and which explores a new vertical landscaping system. 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; 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 vertically, so the project explores a new way of insert environmental and topographical scenes in an architectural body.

On the other hand, the project proposes to re-signify the carpentry and joinery work typical of the place of intervention through the consolidation of a large laboratory for the alternative exploration of wood: a central programmatic core is proposed where classrooms, workshops, and other spaces are located, dedicated to the treatment of the material, which is complemented with a social, communal and residential program that is inserted in the periphery of the structural core.

Digital booklet: https://www.yumpu.com/es/document/read/66027210/vacios-topograficos

Technical information

The project is modeled from a grasshopper parameterization code that alters and generates subtractions on a traditional grid in which voids are created where various natural biomes are inserted. A modular wooden structure is worked with various types of joints that allow the building to grow at the same rate as the vertical growth of the city, so that it does not impose itself as a foreign body in the intervention site. For this, codes and models were implemented in rhinoceros that allow simulating the drawing and growth of the project.