Andean Cosmotechnics: Notes for Two Defensive Architectures in the San José Neighborhood in Manizales, Colombia

Main Article Content

Julio Suárez Hormazábal

Abstract

This article examines the experience of the ‘Taller Social Latinoamericano’ (Latin American Social Workshop) held in Manizales, Colombia, in 2022, focusing on the construction of the Apu Kumanday Classroom. This circular space, along with the cultivation of protected plant species, stands as an act of resistance against a largescale urban renewal project. The article analyzes two defensive design strategies: the barricade and the shell, both conceived to confront devastation. From a situated practice, it examines both the interplay between progress and violence, as well as the dual role of architecture, as both practice and technique. These reflections are shaped through community-based planting pedagogies, resulting in the creation of a ‘green barricade’ designed to protect and strengthen spaces. Design is framed as a political, aesthetic, and social act, aimed at repairing the socio-spatial fabric fractured by processes of dispossession and eradication.

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How to Cite
Suárez Hormazábal, J. (2025). Andean Cosmotechnics: Notes for Two Defensive Architectures in the San José Neighborhood in Manizales, Colombia. Diseña, (26), Article.5. https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.26.Article.5
Section
Projects
Author Biography

Julio Suárez Hormazábal, Universidad de Las Américas

Lecturer and director of the Master in Socio-spatial Practices at Universidad de Las Américas. He is pursuing doctoral studies at Universidad de Alicante. After graduating in Architecture from Universidad del Biobío, he obtained a Master’s degree in Architecture from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Revolving around critical spatial practices, his research focuses on temporary architecture, technique studies, and practice-based research. He is the co-author of Situaciones (along with República Portátil; Dostercios, 2020), and author of ‘El andamio como elemento arquitectónico’ (Rita, Issue 13) and ‘La abrazadera giratoria y el espacio en red del andamio’ (Rita, Issue 17). He is a co-founder of República Portátil, a platform for the development of projects and research that address the relationship between architecture, temporality, and socio-spatial practice.

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