Public spaces network: the intervention of the Library-Parks into Medellin informal space

Abstract

In the construction of an argument in favor of the architectural discipline as an extended field, this article aims at analyzing the architectural design of the Library Parks and their urban insertions. The program was a part of a broad territorial restructuring implemented by the Integral Urban Projects from 2004 and 2008 in the city of Medellin, Colombia.

The interventions, paradigmatic as a confrontation of the typical precariousness of Latin American cities, are approached through three analytical categories: its urban character, its systemic character, and its political dimension. Even though they have a local urban dimension, the architectural designs proposed for the Library Parks are part of a system of public spaces affecting the entire city, representative of the action and presence of the State given the political and territorial fragmentation, and the urban violence that historically marks the city of Medellin. Through an architecture that seeks to dialog with the various preexistences – either material or not – the interventions are deposited on a complex overlapping of webs woven by different agents over time. They laden with a strong imagery, symbolic and political character, which are central to the construction of a narrative that intends to make profound transformations in the imaginary of the city as well.