Fábrica de Cultura / School of Arts and Popular Traditions in Barranquilla, Colombia:  Inauguration
20.01.2022

https://vimeo.com/671132418/7b94f37ec3

Developed by ETHZ / Chair of Architecture and Urban Design Prof.Klumpner in collaboration with an international network of partners such as Universidad del Norte , the Fábrica de Cultura: BAQ will provide a “maker space” for teaching young people the creative arts and popular traditions centered around Barranquilla‘s Carnival. Operated by the Municipality of Barranquilla, the facility will offer cultural education, in music, dance, sculpture, dress making, painting poetry, theater, food production, digital film and audio techniques, to all residents but especially to the popular Barrio Abajo.

The design utilizes local materials and processes of fabrication and adopts open building principles to establish a creative framework that can be modified and reprogrammed by users over time. Working closely with engineers from the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, as well as experts in sustainable building technology from the Chair of Architecture and Building Systems (A/S) and Block Research Group (BRG) at ETH Zurich, the aim was to develop a flexible building prototype, a public square and historic building renovation that can be replicated throughout the region.

The Fábrica de Cultura: BAQ project is sponsored by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank as part of the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative. In September 2016, the project was recognized with an International Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and shown at 17th International Architecture Biennale in Venice 2021.

Photos Copyright Klumpner Chair of Architecture and Urban Design ETHZ / Alejandro Arango and Luis Bernardo Cano

CREDITS

Development: 2014-2021 (Ejecución 2018-2021)
Implementing Partner: Alcaldía de Barranquilla / Secretaría de Cultura y Patrimonio
Surface: 11’500 m2
Costs: 29´000 Mio COP / con un aporte de estos de 23´000 Mio COP por el Sistema General de Regalía (SGR) / OCAD

Design: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) – D-ARCH Chair of Architecture and Urban Design / Universidad del Norte de Barranquilla (UniNorte)
Architects: Prof. Hubert Klumpner / Diego Ceresuela (ETHZ), Prof. Manuel Moreno / Prof. Sergio Chirivella (UniNorte), A. Brillembourg (until Feb. 2019 ETHZ)

Design Team, Architecture and Research ETHZ / Chair of Architecture and Urban Design Prof. Klumpner: Pablo Levine (Project Coordinator), Blanca García-Gardelegui, Alejandro Jaramillo, Michael Walczak, Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou, Cristian Zabalaga, Lucas Lerchs, Ursina Roffler, Diogo Figueiredo, Lea Rüfenacht (Coord. Phase 1), Marie Grob, Sofia Avramopoulou, María Paula Celia, Melanie Imfeld

Graphic Design: Ruedi & Vera Baur
Consultants Fábrica de Cultura / ETHZ
D-ARCH ITA SUAT: Prof. Dr. Arno Schlueter (Head of the Institute of Technology in Architecture ETHZ), Dr. Jimeno Fonseca, Prageeth Jayathissa
D-ARCH BLOCK RESEARCH GROUP (BRG): Prof. Dr. Philippe Block (Co-Director BRG), Dr. David López, Dr. Tomas Mendez, Marcel Aubert
D-ARCH ITA Information Architecture: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmitt (Director of the Singapore-ETH Centre / Future Cities Lab), Dr. Estefanía Tapias

Design and Engineering Team UniNorte: Prof. Fabián Amaya (Project Coordinator 2014-2018)/ Prof. Ricardo Vives / Prof. Guiselle García, Sharik Pereira, Sharon Pico
Stuctural Engineering: Prof. Dr. Andrés Guzmán / Dr. Osvaldo Guzmán
Mechanical Engineering: Prof. Antonio Bula / Prof. José Solano
Electrical Engineering: Prof. Daniel Soto / Prof. Rafael de Jesús
Telecommunications Engineering: Prof. Lácides Ripoll
Hydrosantiary Engineering: Prof. Augusto Sisa
Mobility and Transport: Prof. Victor Cantillo / Prof. Boris Goenaga (Mobility)
Budgets: Prof. Luis Villadiego

Municipality of Barranquilla
Mayor Jaime Pumarejo  
Ministiry of Culture, Tourism and Heritage Maria Teresa Fernández / Director of Heritage Claudia Gelves
Period 2014-2019 Mayors Alejandro Char / Elsa Noguera, Secretaries of Culture Juan José Jaramillo / Afif Siman, Collaborators: Luis García, Yehoshua Sánchez, Paola Sarabia
Escuela Distrital de Artes y Tradiciones Populares de Barranquilla: Yino Márquez, Cristian Pacheco, Alejandro Navia, Eliseo Barraza, Helda Diaz, Gustavo Quintero, Eder Hernández, Mario Zapata, Nivaldo Castro, Emilio Zapata, Einar Escaf, Ana Román
Construction Accompaniment: Luis Rojas, Luis García

Goverment of the Atlantic
Governor Elsa Noguera
Period 2016-2019 Governor Eduardo Verano, Ministry of Culture María Teresa Fernández

Contracts: Consortium EDA Caribbean / Guillermo Cuello, Óscar Rodríguez (Construction Director)
Inventory: Consorcio de las Bellas Artes / María Fernanda Barros
Stair Construction: Smart Steel / Ramiro Mendoza

With the Support of:
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) / Swiss Government
Raymund Furrer (Head Economic Cooperation and Development), Dagmar Vogel (Director Infrastructure Financing Division), Martin Shenton, Christian Brändli, Natalia Mayorga
Period 2014-2018: Nicole von Reitzenstein, Cliff Hammer, Christian Sieber, Jerome Wieser, Gregoire Labhardt
Local Consultants:
Economía Urbana / Julio Miguel Silva, Claudia Silva

And

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Mauricio Claver Carone (President), Luis Alberto Moreno (President 2005-2020), Ramiro López, Francisca Rojas, Tatiana Gallego (HUD Washington)
Financiera de Desarrollo Territorial (FINDETER)