Contemplating materials: the design and construction of a pavilion made of guadua
No. 10 (2012-07-01)Author(s)
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Andrés Pinzón Latorre1Universidad de los Andes, Colombia apinzon@uniandes.edu.co Profesor del Departamento de Arquitectura, Facultad de Arquitectura y Diseño. Arquitecto de la Universidad de los Andes, Master of Science in Building Sciences en Delft University of Technology, Países Bajos, y en Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Estados Unidos.
Abstract
Choosing the material for a building is paramount in the design process as it determines the success of the construction and building work. The architect should be aware of the processes of extraction, transformation, assembly, and function of the materials in order to be able to involve them in their earliest plans. Given the complexity of this process both the question of the materials and the entire construction tends to be resolved in a conventional way instead of being studied from the point of view of new tectonic possibilities. This article explores materials through the design and construction of a pavilion for children that was constructed by undergraduate students who use prototypes of analysis in order to understand and visualise the options available for a material like that of guadua.