Time Laboratories: Architecture of Imperfect Chronologies

Miguel Forero Barbosa
Year: 1995 - present
Location: Bogotá, Colombia

From Model Workshop to the Device of Material Consciousness

The encounter with Morgan (August 2012) took place on a sleepless night after hours of searching in the underground level of a parking garage. In the morning, we took him to the veterinarian because he presented a delicate health condition. That is how Morgan came to be in the Model Workshop. Over time, Agatha, Titin, Ulises, and later, Percy, Trufa and Frida joined to become an essential part of my family.

The familiarization and adaptation period presented many difficult moments. To appropriate and take control of his territory, Morgan urinated all around the premises, severely impacting the materials and activities of the Workshop. Pure love has a strong scent, leading to a particular way of appropriating a place, a new form of territorialization where three species could coexist.

With time, the Workshop has become-largely through error and mistakes-into the Laboratory for Architectural Scale Models, an experience that, through careful observation and analysis, generates knowledge and supports the teaching I have been imparting since 1996 at the National University of Colombia.

As Morgan's personality took form, Paty arrived with a very particular kitten, Ulises, which approached people without reservation and enjoyed being petted. Ulises and Morgan became inseparable companions and were the detonator for the Model Laboratory to transform and adapt in line with their subtle indications.

Ulises arrived with a complicated clinical history. The streets had marked him with signs of abuse and disease. Currently, two wonderful beings alleviate his absence; Linda, individualistic and carefree, and Aquiles, abandoned at birth in a rainwater canal, once again evokes Morgan's paternal instinct.

The Architectural Scale Model Laboratory transforms into a sort of artifact, where the prevailing technology and materiality make movement almost impossible. It is like a time capsule, opening a space-time portal and becoming, due to its physical, material, and technological density, the Device of Sensitivity and Material Consciousness, which, through guayas, pulleys and tensors, is modified as needed. It affects those who visit it, generating awareness between 'doing' and 'thinking' about things.

Little by little, other kittens arrive: Ramón, Mono, Negrita, Katie, and especially, Manchitas and Millu, which give birth to more than twelve beautiful kittens. This situation fractures and dynamizes the space, as their encounters must be handled with great care.

Haptically and continuously, their movements and interaction with the workshop are proposed and resolved: passages, tunnels, bridges, and glass boxes are formulated for them to sunbathe on the street without being precisely on the street. The fact that the kittens can be everywhere without negatively impacting the activities happening means that space flows through the interstices.

In my brother José's space, other kittens gradually arrive, drawn by both food and curiosity: Ternura, Muñeco, Blanquita, Federico, Chiquis, Prince, Luna, Tesoro, Manchis, Búho, along with eleven puppies. They shape and define the artifact by addressing their welfare and their requirement for daily sunlight.

Román Bauer Arquitectos
Year: 2021
Location: Ayacucho, Perú

Neither Ephemeral nor Permanent: "El Museíto Itinerante"

Do we need more buildings? At a time when people do not visit museums, and art galleries only attend to a small public, the decision to take this exhibition to the people, to urban life, means setting up in the oldest meeting point, the plaza. Following the tradition of market squares and the ephemeral architecture of ceremonies and festivities, the proposed structure is conceived as temporary but reusable. It breaks with single-use, ephemeral ideas and comes closer to the travelling circus, albeit with fewer textile elements, evoking a kiosk or pavilion. This would therefore require an only slightly larger investment than traditional disposable awnings, and resource savings in the midterm.

The structure was imagined to be as neutral as possible. This meant it could transcend the theme of the initial exhibition while also responding to its potential locations, which in this case refers to the edges of plazas. It seemed preferable not to occupy the center of the plaza, which tends to have columns, monuments, or trees, and instead occupy the outer edges, on the limit between the road and the sidewalk. This gave the interior space a very interesting asymmetry; one side could be completely closed to protect against the noise and chaos of the vehicles, opening up the space towards the center of the plaza, with trees and people walking or sitting in conversation. This opening was not direct nor completely transparent. Rather, it was conceived to generate a little distance from the exterior. The corrugated polycarbonate achieved a certain level of abstraction of the surrounding landscape. People could therefore focus on the interior exhibition.

The original commission required quick design and construction. It was designed in two weeks, the elements were constructed in a week, and the assembly took three days. The details were specifically made to facilitate assembly in terms of time and the weight of each piece, as well as the internal articulations.

The little museum already has a life of its own, far from the interference of the architects who imagined it. The state has assembled it in six cities for periods of a month in each place, and it continues to roam. The locations have not always been squares surrounded by vehicles and this has sometimes led to a strange result. The possibilities of combination have not been explored. There are two identical structures, however they have never been united in configurations that could include one single closed space, an L shape to define a patio, or joined along the length to generate a larger exhibition. In fact, it is still used for the original exhibition, which demonstrates how relevant it is. Experiments into how the structure could work with different types of content are yet to be done.

Asociación Semillas para el Desarrollo Sostenible
Cooperation: CPS - Comunità Promozione Sviluppo, Comunidad Nativa de Otica, CART-Central Ashaninka de Río Tambo
Funding: NEMATSA SRL, Comunidad Nativa de Otica
Year: 2019
Location: Comunidad Nativa de Otica, Río Tambo, Junín, Perú

The “Atyaro Pankotsi” Community Center as an Example of Transformative Architecture

The “Atyaro Pankotsi” community center, which means “big house”, is located in the native Ashaninka de Otica community in the central rainforest of Peru. It exemplifies how architecture can be transformative, adapting to social and cultural needs without compromising the environment. The project demonstrates that the construction of new buildings can integrate local materials and be designed to transform over time, offering a versatile space capable of adapting to diverse community activities and necessities.

The project came from the Otica community's need for a meeting and gathering space which reflected their cultural identity. Through participatory workshops, architecture became an expression of community contributions, giving way to a building that incorporated local materials such as wood, artisanal clay bricks, and stones from the river in its foundations.

Located at the heart of the community. The building is comprised of one versatile space and a module that houses the kitchen, office, and craft workshop. The structure is raised from the ground to protect it from floods and serves as a grandstand towards the exterior and interior, generating a sort of rectangular amphitheater.

Adaptation and Resilience

The “Atyaro Pankotsi” community center embodies the principles of gradual and progressive architecture as it was designed to transform over time. The generous and flexible spatiality allows it to adapt to a variety of uses and activities throughout the day and over time. From meetings and workshops to craft fairs and dances, the building becomes a versatile space which evolves with the changing needs of the community. Not only does it offer a physical space for meetings and activities, but also promotes a sense of belonging and cultural pride between the inhabitants of Otica. By engaging the community in the design and construction process, the project became a tangible manifestation of their identity and values, promoting social cohesion and the exchange of knowledge and abilities.

Conclusion

The “Atyaro Pankotsi” community center demonstrates that architecture can be a powerful tool for strengthening communities, preserving cultural identities, and promoting environmental sustainability, including in the context of construction. By integrating local materials designing the building to transform over time and to serve as a versatile, generous space, this project exemplifies how architecture can adapt to the changing needs of communities without compromising their resilience or their connection to nature. In a world where programmed obsolescence and environmental deterioration are ever more concerning, the “Atyaro Pankotsi” community center reminds us of the transformational potential of architecture when it is practiced with sensitivity, commitment, and long-term vision.

Enlace Fundación
Year: 2017 - 2024
Location: Oaxaca, México

Agua del Espino is a small town of approximately 1000 inhabitants living on what is known as an ejido¹ covering almost 2000 hectares. Continued deforestation of communal land for firewood and mescal production has become concerning. Agricultural practices and grazing have also contributed to increasingly arid soil, not to mention the effects produced by climate change. Access to water is increasingly difficult and the dry seasons are longer. Migration to cities and to the United States, particularly among men, has become inevitable, given that remittance is an important source of income for townspeople. After several visits beginning in 2016 Elisa Silva, along with Memo Sánchez and Diana Ponce from the Rethink foundation, organized two design workshops. One of these was with students from the University of Harvard, and the other, in 2019, from the University of Toronto. Students visited the region, spoke to inhabitants, walked through the territory, and identified possible strategies for mitigating these trends. Results were shared with inhabitants, who showed great interest in the proposals. We started with reforestation activities thanks to the support of the Harp Helú foundation. Then, in a joint effort between Enlace and Rethink and in alliance with local authorities, a regional organization focused on water management, the Instituto de la Naturaleza y Sociedad de Oaxaca (INSO), and Professor Pablo Pérez Ramos from the department of landscape at GSD, we accessed a grant from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies from the University of Harvard to continue working on the strategies surmised below:

1. Mapping of territories and soil uses to identify areas of greater risk, those vulnerable to losing existing forests, and opportunities for intervention.
2. Rainwater collection and filtration using small-diameter pots.
3. Reforestation in controlled access fields.
4. Regenerative agriculture combining various species, including trees, to avoid monocultures.
5. Controlled grazing for animals in determined zones.
6. Production of mud bricks using mescal waste products, creating a thematically beneficial construction material with the carbon footprint of zero.

On January 14th, 2023, the town's inhabitants met with the agency to address the landscape's worrying decline. They unanimously agreed to participate and implement the strategies with the hope that they would lead to the recuperation of soil, better crop yields, increased access to water, and the replenishment of river aquifers. The shared governing of the land, uses, and customs and the respect for elders' knowledge has made adopting new measures for redirecting current trends easier.

1 This could be translated as a 'common', or 'common/ shared land'.

Ariel jacubovich | oficina de arquitectura

Aurea
Year: 2006 - 2007
Location: Maschwitz, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Castillo Garden
Year: 2007
Location: Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jardín Guardia Vieja
Year: 2017 - 2019
Location: Almagro, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Between 2006 and 2007 we received 2 commissions for the intervention and rehabilitation of two dwellings: Aurea and Castillo Garden. One of these was a large house constructed in the 1950s in a small forest on the outskirts of Maschwitz, 35km from Buenos Aires. The plan was to move “Aurea”, a center of physical techniques and home of the director and her three daughters. The other commission was the rehabilitation of an old apartment on the lower floor of a housing block from the early 20th century, in a corner of the Chacarita neighborhood.

The inquiry and architectural proposal process had to incorporate what we considered as relevantly pre-existing. In the case of Aurea, we used images of Pilates, the center's main activity, which helped define the qualities of the project through progressive translation. In Castillo Garden the previous uses of the dwelling partly defined the forms of what would be constructed. Until the 1960s it was used for ripening bananas that came from Ecuador, then later as a commercial space and a timber yard. Until work started, the marks of its previous uses remained, such as painted wood prices or gas pipes for heating bananas in the basement. The proposal incorporated the 'things' we had found; they influenced our interventions and way of organizing construction.

Some years later the possibility arose to take on, together with Jane, the owner of Castillo Garden, a new adventure in remodeling an old PH (a common typology in Buenos Aires: successive dwellings on the same lot, accessed by a corridor). The Jardín Guardia Vieja project came from conversations in which we imagined partial possibilities for each place without setting anything in stone, before the qualities, openings, and visuals of the spaces started to become defined. We found it important to appreciate an old, abandoned glass factory, overwhelmed by vegetation, which stood on a neighboring plot. Not a common landscape in the city, it was idyllic, and allowed us to consider other ways of urban occupation that currently exists as ruins.

Once she had moved to the new house, Jane started to think about a new way of community habitation. By chance, she met the owner of Aurea. Together (and with many others) they are building a community based on the definition of protocols for new, collective forms of inhabiting a semi urban space.

Looking back, these three cases take on another meaning when presented together. They are houses to inhabit, but they focus on the dialogue between what is there and what is added. This moment of tension generates a space in which to live. These processes which we call 'ways of doing' transform what pre-exists from the past into 'work materials'. Using the material qualities of the space, the phantasmal becomes a way of maintaining what was there before. It has disappeared, but still holds relevance. Through the phantasmal, the pre-existing can remain despite transformations, and participate in the construction of an identity through architecture. Moving into the future, these lines overlap and intertwine in the search for new domesticities. Together, the developed projects will serve as pre-configurations for new forms of cohabitation.

Martin Huberman & El Estudio Normal:
Martín Huberman, Guadalupe Tagliabue, Abril Pollak and Roberta Di Cosmo.
Year: 2023
Location: (Lollapalooza), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Capot, the site-specific installation designed for Lollapalooza Argentina by the Estudio Normal, explores the relationships we form with the objects around us. In this case these are cars and their capots.¹

The installation focuses on the specific uses we apply to cars once they are parked. When cars leave the kingdom of the streets behind to become a simple, static feature of the urban landscape, we find that they naturally produce an endless stream of magical possibilities for use. These have become commonplace in daily life.

At one time or other we have all used the capot of a car as a seat while waiting for someone to come out of a recital, as a picnic table while we stand around sharing a drink, or as a leaning post while sending a text. The dreamers among us may have used them, still warm from use, to lie and watch the stars, cuddle, or maybe sleep.

Capot was constructed out of all the moments that feed objects with experiences and stories, transforming them, and giving them a second life. The 95 capots are assembled at the center of the festival like a lighthouse, beckoning visitors to meet there. They offer an opportunity to get together, meet strangers, while also providing somewhere to sit between concerts, or simply as the preferred spot for a magical weekend.

Capot is the first installment of Autopartes, Estudio Normal's most recent investigation into the auto-part industry which is a central motor for the national economy and sole pulse of our streets. It is possible to change the way we look at the formal potential for the catalogue of parts that make up an automobile. We can therefore rediscover each part and use them in new ways, while also forming new relationships between design and industry and, more importantly, between industry and potential users.

The installation's design prioritizes notions of low environmental impact in that most of the resources used, including the capots themselves, go back to the production chain after the exhibition. This minimizes the need to specifically make parts for the installation and avoids the excess of resources that would be required for their production.

In this way, we guarantee that the efforts necessary for producing the ephemeral do not have repercussions for the eternal.

1 'Capot' can be translated as the hood or bonnet of a car. The original word is maintained to coincide with the name of the installation.

Al borde
Year: 2009 - 2019
Location: Puerto Cabuyal, Manabí, Ecuador

In 2007, in a small cabin no more than 12 m², the Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) school was born in Manabí, Ecuador. This educational project is an initiative managed by the Puerto Cabuyal community, under a teaching methodology that looks to motivate autonomous, exploratory, and creative learning.

In 2009, when the cabin became too small, we were invited to join the project. The 'new' Nueva Esperanza, 36 m². The architectural design concentrated on the potential of local constructive techniques, and of making the most of material management and labor in order to support the community. Creating a space according to the educational model proposed by the school, and constructing it using local knowledge, began a collaborative process that neither the community nor we had expected.

In 2011, the school needed a bigger space again. As the new space was a continuation of the Nueva Esperanza school we decided on the play of words “Esperanza-dos”,¹ to highlight the community's transformation. This time, with a better understanding of the territory and participative process experience, and conscious of the capacity for community engagement, we designed a constructive and growth logic allowing us to make decisions with the community about the in situ layout of the space.

In 2012, the community replicated the constructive system in the first stage of the Esperanza-dos to grow the school again. The community assimilated the constructive system in such a way that our presence was not needed during the construction process.

In 2013, the community's requirements grew. On the one hand, the school needed to grow to include a kindergarten and house for visiting teachers. On the other, the community looked to create new spaces for public and productive use such as a chapel and designated areas for community tourism. When we saw the community's enthusiasm and organization, and the formal and structural experimentation processes involved in the construction of their homes, we thought it natural to create an architecture school in the community. We called it the “Última Esperanza”.²

In 2016, after seven years of life, the Nueva Esperanza reached the end of its useful life. The community decided it was best to dismantle it and build a new school. It did not make sense to propose a new project because they built one identical to the original. This idea, which allows us to preserve the constructive tradition and transmit it generation by generation, can be seen across other cultures. For example, a new Ise sanctuary, the most important Shinto temple in Japan, is built next to the old one every 20 years. The old temple serves as a reference before it is dismantled.

The last time we went to Puerto Cabuyal, in 2019, we joined a maintenance session. There is no long-term intervention plan in the community, only a shared will to be part of something bigger, to which we all feel capable of contributing.

1 'Esperanzados' in Spanish translates to 'the hopeful'. 'Dos' translates as 'two', so the play on words has the additional meaning of 'Hope - two' (hope version 2).

2 'Última esperanza' translates as 'Last Hope' or 'Latest Hope'.