Rather than an architectural object, we pretend to develop a landscape related to geography and urban topography inserted there in; we search for organizational rules to develop projects that favor a ´´new natural contract´´. We fold, map, and tear; operations that build architecture-landscape at the same time, reformulating relations between depth and figure, an approximation in the search of alternative ideas capable of favoring that ´´new natural contract´´ tuned with a landscape and a natural order.

The project is located in one of the hillsides most affected by the violence in the eighties because of drug trafficking in the city of Medellin and is part of the social inclusion agenda of the Mayor to provide equal opportunities in social and economic development to the population.

The competition program called for a multi-building (library, training rooms, exhibition hall, auditorium and administration) in a single volume, the proposal seek to divide the program into three groups: the library, classrooms and offices training, and the audience composed of a lower platform, allowing us greater flexibility and autonomy in their use, making the community more participative.

Rather than a building we propose an operational geography that is part of the valley, as a mechanism for organizing the program and the area, making the hidden and irregular contours of the mountain to stand out, not as a metaphor, but as a way of organizing the space in the area, a folded and clipped building similar to the hills.

A landscape Building that redefines the folded structure of the mountain as form and space, eliminating the idea of landscape as a background and enhancing the building ambiguity-landscape.

The sector consists of small brick houses caused by self construction and waste of green areas, resulting from the inability to build on steeps slopes, this organization produces a uniform texture of the city with no visible hierarchy. This is why the proposed building seeks to stand out as a building-landscape icon, constructing the site and maintaining the tension, the geography as an element of hierarchy and the architecture as a texture.

The project is visible from much of the city as a symbol of the new Medellin, making people able to identify their community and build a greater sense of belonging. Today it is one of the tourist attractions of the city.

The other premise was to design the interior in a way that would decontextualize the user and bring him out of his immediate poverty environment, building a warm atmosphere and reflection, based on the light coming from above, and enabling a suitable environment for reading and studying. That is why the facade of the building was designed with very small openings (windows) letting the light penetrate into the interior.

Material used :

1. Slate - Facade

2. Wooden and stone deck – Outside floor

3. Stone – Inside floor

4. Concrete - Curbs

5. Aluminium ref. 1427 and 6mm laminated glass – Window shop

6. Stainless steel - Handrails

7. Light gray concrete - Columns

8. Metal panel sandwich type - Canopy

9. Plaster sheet - Ceiling

10. Polystyrene -Outdoor benches