Kalapa Holistic SchoolLandscape Architecture Competition






2019 - 2021

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 Bacca
State:


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is situated in the Sabana de Bogotá, a rural area with increased deforestation rate (85% of its native forest has been replaced by agriculture and urbanism).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.