Final+Project

What makes Venezuela unique from an architectural perspective? **

 One of the most relevant aspects that calls our attention when we take our bags and start a journey in Venezuela is the variety of forms, colors, heights and distribution of its architecture. It is well known that a good architecture is that one that knows how to get the best combination of color, lights, texture, acoustic, rhythm, circulation and scale, and we consider that in Venezuela we can enjoy of many places that discover good blends of those elements.

Starting from orient, the region where the heat weather and its condition of be at the sea level determines the type of architecture that people needs to stay comfort and be able to take advantage of its benefits, it’s easy to find buildings that are very integrated with the nature and near to the beaches, a good example could be Isla Paraíso, a residence building located in Anzoátegui State, specifically at Lechería; this construction presents a rhythm determined by the repetition of windows on its principal façade making a good use of nature light to emphasize which are the public and private spaces, also presents a fit scale to offer great views of the city and highlight the horizontality of the sea.

Other examples on this city are the two main malls: Plaza Mayor and Caribbean Mall. Plaza Mayor is a place where the first thing that calls our attention is the presence of colors, an excellent resource to establish uses and emphasize rhythms.

And at the Caribbean Mall is just very attractive the ways of circulation that we can enjoy from one level to another, there are stairways, elevator and ramps that give us the opportunity of get pleasure of the same interesting places from different perspectives.

Then when we continue to the central region we can appreciate a little bit of many things. The first constructions that appear when we are crossing mountains are the famous huts of earthenware and zing; they aren’t the best example of architecture but now are part of ours and through time go by people experiment new ways to make them grow up and now there are some of them with two, three and four floors.

Nowadays some people looking for give them a new well looking create a mixture of different textures and colors on their facades just to try to offer a new perception of this place creating a piece of art.

Then start to appear other constructions that reflect how our architecture had been transforming since colonial times. We always had thought that in Caracas we can find a resume of our country history reflected on its architecture, so it makes a good work. In Caracas we can appreciate some theaters like the Teresa Carreño, where architects made a good work with the scale, adapting different volumes that are intercepting between them to generate spaces with different height conditions and also made a good work with the acoustic, where like in the Aula Magna of the Central University there are some absorbing panels that reduce the reverberation time and noise caused by the public and present the adequate inclination of ceiling to guarantee a good sound from the beginning to the end of the auditoriums.

Besides it is impossible to depreciate the quantity of buildings that conforms the city, each of them tries to respond to people and city needs, looking for the best ways to establish connections between places and also evidencing the existence and predominance of vertical circulations because of its heights. In the majority of the cases the constructions are related with the context and work together to improve the city and highlight important spaces but there are some exceptions that architecturally are master pieces but where implanted in wrong places. The best example of it is the well known Four Seasons located in Altamira’s Square.

This square since many years ago was bordered by some buildings that recognize its and the obelisk magnificence, maintaining the same down scale to make of the square the protagonism of the story but then this protagonism was stolen by the appearance of the Four Seasons, a construction that because of its scales nowadays became the principal attraction of the place and work like a selfish construction, but in despite of that results very interesting in terms of spatiality, use of rhythm on its façade to distinguish different uses, entries and unify the project.

Other masterpieces of architecture in this zone are The CCCT, a mall that makes a good use of rhythm with the repetition of lines of windows, The Cristal Park, The Capitolio Building which evidence an horizontal circulation because of its large form and mark a rhythm by the repetition of columns just like a Greek construction, The winner of two architectural awards Ciudad Banesco that offers vertical and horizontal circulation and an interesting spatiality, the other winner of many architectural awards San Ignasio Mall that presents the two types of circulation to offer different perspective and appreciations of spaces, have an adequate scale and have different textures and forms on its ceiling to minimize the entering of light, allows a good ventilation of place and also minimize the noise caused by the continuous traffic around the mall, and finally which is going to be an eternal reference for any architect: The Central University of Venezuela, the best work of the architect Carlos Raul Villanueva, where people can appreciate a good relation between buildings, excellent works on its ways, and the best work in the use of light to emphasize places, create roads, establish places of permanence, and make fun some places that probably were bored without it.

Finally in the Occidental region, a place with different climatic and geographical conditions the architecture change, we start to see more colonial constructions in one part and more urban constructions in other. The colonial constructions try to conserve the same down scale but impress with the different uses of colors and the rhythm on their facades thanks to the repetition of tall windows characteristics of the period, that if they are not the same have similar designs. In this region is where is placed the Venezuela Pavilion designed by Carlos Raul Villanueva, which consists in the literal representation of an orchid with the capacity of take open and close, giving a spectacular show of lights.

I consider that definitively in Venezuela we count with good architecture, the appropriated use of the different elements on each constructions makes our country unique from an architectural perspective, which is a mixture of different tendencies but make a good work together, and now it’s our work to explore and learn from each of them to take the good things and improve the future designs.


 * Final Project worked with Laura Medina**

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