Final+Project


 * Final Project! **

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Hi! I’m Adriana Rodriguez an architect student from the Simon Bolivar University, and today I’m going to talk about architecture in Venezuela, specially the concepts we were dealing with in this course: color, lights, texture, acoustics, rhythm, vertical & horizontal circulation, and space & scale. My purpose is to show how these concepts make Venezuela unique in architecture, all the good and bad things and how that affects our lives.

A ccording to an Archi-Field the color may change the perception of the space, make it formal or informal. With that argument, the color most be based upon the concept and the concept depends of what the architect wants. For the analysis of color in Venezuelan buildings I take the 23 de Enero Development like an example. A residential Development in Caracas made for people of low economic resources. Those buildings were designed for Carlos Raul Villanueva in the 50’s as a result of the government politic. The buildings may be inspired on the Cerro Piloto project and the Marcella habitation unit from Le Corbusier. The buildings has colors in the façades, yellow, blue, red and white that makes changes in the perception of the proportion of the building and also makes the illusion of deepness in the façade and of course has a modern appearance so wanted at the time.
 * Color **

The lightning has influence in the appreciation of space, depends on the color it can looks opened or closed and also adds vitality and feelings.
 * Light **

Color and Light are important to the appreciation of the space, important aspects to be considered in the design process. For de analysis of light in Venezuelan buildings I take the Center San Ignacio like an example, is located in Chacao municipality, northeast of the city of Caracas and faced to the Avila national park. The complex was designed for Carlos Gomez de Llarena & Benacerraf in the 90’s. As a complex of mixed use, workshops and commercial center but managed as a single unit. Is inspired in the colonial architecture, has an open patio that let the sunlight go into the building in all the levels, the natural insulation was an important concept in the designing process treated as constant aspect in our traditional architecture.

Texture basically fills the space. Through texture you can feel the space closer, farther, more or less depth. For de analysis of texture in Venezuelan buildings I choose the Guayana Corporation building like an example, located in Guayana City in Bolivar state, southeast of the country. The building was designed by Jesus Tenreiro in the 60’s. Is a building for the state company Guayana Corporation, integrated by 15 enterprises that explode hydric and forestry resources, iron, bauxite, gold and diamonds. The building is one volume that has a pyramid form created by the umbrellas and it has a metal structure and masonry covered with brick texture, to change the perception of the building like a heavy construction.
 * Texture **

The first application of architectural acoustics was in the design of opera houses and then concert halls. More widely, noise suppression is critical in the design of music venues like bars For de analysis of acoustic in Venezuelan buildings I choose the Aula Magna building in the Universidad Central de Venezuela like an example, located in the university campus, in Caracas. It was designed by Carlos Raul Villanueva in the 50’s. The hall’s acoustic was resolved by the combination of technology and art with the floating clouds by Alexander Calder and were installed while and orchestra played music to make a perfect calibration.
 * Acoustic **

Rhythm is the logical repetition of some characteristics in order to create patterns. In visual arts, is determined by a recurrence of physical properties like shape and dimension. For the analysis of rhythm in Venezuelan buildings I choose the Benedictine Abbey in Guigue, Carabobo state. This complex was designed by Jesus tenreiro and built in the 80’s it has a pinwheel pattern with a cloister as center. It combines simplicity, clarity and order.
 * Rhythm **

According to the architect Ching, circulation is the “movement through space”. In architecture, we talk about vertical and horizontal circulation. As its name implies, vertical circulation can be defined as the movement through a vertical dimension thanks to the uses of stairs, ramps and elevators. On the other hand, horizontal circulation is the movement in path and routs at the same level. The better complex to show this, is the Universidad Central de Venezuela, which it was designed by Carlos Raul Villanueva in the 50’s and its considered as ones of the most relevant works in modern architecture, the university was designed to be traveled and it has different paths protected against the elements to bring comfort to the pedestrian.
 * Circulation **

Is an “empty” area surrounded and delimited by covertures like walls and ceiling. This place can be determinate by void, size scales and measures. In this case the Space selected is the Caracas Square, in the Simon Bolivar complex, in Caracas Venezuela. The square was designed by Germain Castro, and was inaugurated in 1983. The space formerly had been assigned to Bolivar Avenue, but after the restructuring process started in downtown Caracas, it was decided that part of the avenue go underground. The square has an area of ​​12,000 square meters, one of the largest in the city.
 * Space **

Scale is the size relationship of two things or parts to the whole. There are 2 basic measuring tools. One is based on our experience with typical objects, such as bricks, rocks, doors, windows. The other is the human body itself. We then compare the typical objects to the human scale. in architecture, when it comes to scale, often talks about the correlation between architectural structure, and the size of humans being. The better complex to show that, is the Parque Central Complex, a housing, commercial and cultural development, implemented by Centro Simón Bolívar and located in the urbanization of the county in the center of the city of Caracas. Within the complex are the Twin Towers of Parque Central which are two skyscrapers of 225 m tal, for decades the twin towers, were the Caracas' architectural icon.
 * Scale **

Basically because all the example of architecture mentioned until now, were architecture adapted to our country, in physic and social aspects. The only thing that makes architecture in a place unique, is the ability that has to fit itself in that environment, to be able to work almost to perfection in that place, and just in that place. The architecture in Venezuela is unique, because is directly correlated with the society, with the surrounding environment, making it able to work here, and like nobody else has our lifestyle, our architecture is unique because is only for us.
 * How the integration of these concepts make Venezuela unique **