urban think tank and torre david visit berlin

‘beyond torre david’ by urban-think tank, iwan baan, SuAT group, berlin, germany
image © designboom

‘beyond torre david’ by urban-think tank
on display at the aedes gallery
on from july 12th to august 20th, 2013

‘torre david’, the informal urban settlement presented at the 2012 venice biennale by zurich and caracas-based practice urban-think tank in collaboration with prominent architectural photographer iwan baan and ETH’s SuAT group are presenting the continuation of their research at the aedes gallery in berlin. ‘torre david’ was originally destined to house offices and administrative space for a bank in caracas, venezuela. after construction was abandoned in 1994, residents began to inhabit the unoccupied space creating their own vertical community with all the necessary amenities of life within the world’s tallest informally occupied building. serving as a case study specifically for the site but also for a larger conversation of slum conditions and informal settlements all around the world, ‘torre david’ is a poster child for rapidly growing developing cities and the people who accommodate themselves in the available spaces with their own forms of guerrilla social structures, services, and spaces. the exhibition lays out several interventions on varying scales that aim to improve the lives of the nearly 3,000 inhabitants. an elevator in a 45-story building with only stairs facilitating vertical circulation could be a significant improvement. the architects have also analyzed the implementation of centralized heating, cooling, and water supply to help make the structure more functionally appropriate for its inhabitants. the project remains an ongoing investigation into the improvement of informal settlements around the world, looking at ‘torre david’ as a crucial case study to be applied to developing cities around the world and developing the idea laid out by giancarlo di carlo that the person and architecture should function as one.

documentation of the life and development of the ‘torre david’
video courtesy of vocativvideo

image © daniel schwartz courtesy of ETH/ U-TT

at the exhibit opening
image © daniel schwartz courtesy of ETH/ U-TT

image © daniel schwartz courtesy of ETH/ U-TT

entrance view
image © designboom

scaffolding tower houses the projector screens and is clad in torre david’s facade during the day and night
image © designboom

image © designboom

graphic boards and video screens are held up with a wood frame structure
image © designboom

image © designboom

a row of comics illustrates torre david’s story, creating a sequential datum around the space supported by additional graphics and information
image © designboom