The autonomy of collective open spaces in five Latin-American works

Abstract

This article analyzes five works participating in the Latin American Architecture Award Rogelio Salmona - open spaces / collective spaces wich stand out for the strong public character of the free areas they promote: Conjunto Parque de Los Deseos (Medellín, Colombia), Centro Comercial Larcomar (Lima, Peru), Museum of Memory and Human Rights (Santiago, Chile), Centro Cultural Palacio de La Moneda (Santiago do Chile, Chile) and Colegio Antonio Derka (Medellín, Colombia). Based on a critical review and graphic analysis of each work, it proposes an investigative approach to its design strategies, considering such examples in the particular context of Latin American cities. The analysis suggest that the use, location or property of the works do not seem to be the only determining factors in proposing open spaces of sociability in the five cases, and that the strong public character of such spaces may be linked to the fact that they present relative autonomy in relation to the buildings, enhancing and diversifying the activities sheltered by the built-up areas; still, they indicate that, at least in these five analyzed works, buildings, open spaces and cities established relationships of mutual benefit.