2014 MCHAP
CAI - Peripheral Immediate Attention Center
EDU Enterprise of Urban Development of Medellin
Medellin, Colombia
August 2011
PRIMARY AUTHOR
John Octavio Ortiz Lopera
CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
Margarita Maria Angel Bernal (General Enterprise of urban development CEO ) Gustavo Adolfo Restrepo Lalinde (Urban Projects Manager (2008-2011)) Alba Milena Garcia (Architect) Adolfo Emilio Arboleda (Architect) Marcela Villada Posada (Architect) Diego Alberto Serna (Architect) Miguel Angel Guerrero (Architect) Victor Hugo Garcia Restrepo (Architect) Jeronimo Franco (Architect) Julian Esteban Gomez Carvajal (Architect) Jose Puentes (Architect) Natalia Cardona (Architect) Gustavo Ramirez (Architect) Andres Montoya (Architect) Maria Elena Arango (Project Coordinator) Mauricio Jaramillo Vasquez (Forestal engineer ) Gloria Lopez (Social Manager)
CLIENT
Alcaldia de Medellin – Secretaria de Gobierno
PHOTOGRAPHER
Julián Esteban Gómez Carvajal Victor Garcia John Octavio Ortiz Lopera Adolfo Arboleda
OBJECTIVE
The building was conceived as a light house, to be a permanent reference for citizens in areas where the help has been required and where assistance has been almost forgotten by the state. The idea consists of a recognizable element in the distance, a tower that evokes protection and becomes a benchmark in the city, excelling as a mark on the landscape. The CAI is a Peripherals - light houses that is 24 hours awake, with a permanent life . During the day it behaves like a nice building, open to the public, full of color and life, appealing to citizens, contrary to preconceived ideas of a monochromatic security. And at night it becomes an icon of light in the city, thanks to a spotlight that illuminates the sky element determining the location of the nearest security and promoting an enlightened and reliable environment. The 9 CAI, for its strategic location, located on the slopes of Medellin turn into links between the inhabitants and the state, allowing to build a city more equitable and better for the citizens.
CONTEXT
In the city of Medellin transformation process, public facilities are protagonists, as they have become transformed and have become an urban reference that give a sense of belonging to those who live in the territory where these are located. In the Security and Violence Prevention Program of 2008 – 2011 period, provided resources for the construction of 9 CAI (peripheral immediate attention center). These small buildings were strategically located in peripheral areas of the city high on the slopes, where informality and low comfort indexes has been protagonists; these buildings have the task of state presence, control and provide security to the inhabitants of these places. These buildings are designed from the imaginaries of the communities which allow us to recover and strengthen a positive image of the Police and the State presence in the territory of the suburbs which are in a development processes. This physical investment was accompanied by social programs with security policies that seek a comprehensive transformation of the city.
PERFORMANCE
The building was conceived in its materiality as a suggestive space, where concrete allowed us to form a replicable piece, which it’s textured and pigmented walls become a formal treatment of the material allowing to build a dynamic building that invites people to live it and recognize it. This light container becomes a sculptural icon, which opens into the city through a square that calls and invites the user to enjoy it, changing the restrictive image that these buildings have had throughout history. The evolution over the recent years of these buildings has shown positive behaves of it, especially that people recognize secure environments and the restrictive imaginary of police have become elements of trust of citizens to the state institutions, besides some decreases in violence levels by neighborhoods.
