Kalapa Holistic SchoolLandscape Architecture Competition
Location:Bogotá, ColombiaTeam: Santiago Pradilla (Palafito Arquitectura)
Laura Vispe
Luisa Brando
Consultants:Mateo Hernandez Antonio Caro
ZuluArch
Collaborators: Pedro Martinez
J
ose Lopez
Juan Jose BaccaState:
Awarded:First Prize
Kalapa is situated in the Sabana de Bogotá, a rural area with increased deforestation rate (85% of its native forest has been replaced by agriculture and urbanism). The challenge of designing for a holistic school with a non conventional philosophy is thought as an opportunity to rethink how architecture can respond to a territorial problematic. Working with an ecologist we found how the line of encounter between
two ecologies (savanna and native forest) is a place rich in biodiversity. To revert the deforestation tendency and multiply this line, the master plan establishes 8 native environments where each buildings sit between two, becoming a membrane that reinforces their ecological and physical attributes. Nature, students and construction are a dynamic system that grow in correlation.