/projects.
/about.
/contact.
workshop. 1er. Taller Internacional Bamboo Think Tank "del Territorio al Detalle" Caimalito
fecha. Agosto 2014
lugar. Caimalito, Risaralda (Pereira), Colombia
equipo de profesores. Arq. Carlos Hernández / Arq. Daniel Nadal
aliados. ESTUDIO SPN (Juana Canet, Rut Cuenca and Elena Gómez)
colaboradores. Inq. Germán Rubio + Arq. Simón Velez + Arq. Marcelo Villegas + Lucia Mejia (Yarima) + Ximena Londoño + Universidad Católica de Pereira + Facultad Ciencias Ambientales de la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira + Escuela Taller de Bogotá + Asociación de Usuarios del Acueducto de Cerritos + Corporación Club Campestre de Pereira + Alcaldía de Pereira + Sociedad Colombiana del bambú + Clemencia y Manuel Sanint + Jorge Villa
caimalito
KEYWORDS learning by doing, live projects, social innovation, participatory design, community
This was an experiential workshop using a combination of theoretical and practical methodologies to provide students with new skills related to the use of bamboo and participatory design working with the community of Caimalito, Colombia. The film shows the experiences, processes, interactions and discoveries of the participants.
Caimalito is a settlement located in the Municipality of Pereira. The community originated by the illegal occupation of the areas near the train tracks over 70 years ago. The current population has legalized their status but they are in a disadvantaged position due to the lack of public services, jobs and resources.
The workshop was organized by Bamboo Think Tank (BTT), a platform created by Estudio SPN and PEI program of the Javeriana University in Bogotá, who had already collaborated in previous projects. The platform also included local bamboo experts and members of the bamboo industry and the community of Caimalito.
 |  |  |  |  |
|---|
Estudio SPN works between practice and academia in the fields of architecture, urbanism, participatory design and research, with a special interest in projects of community support through the design of productive cycles and strategies. They have used bamboo as the key driver for these socio-productive cycles studying solutions of habitability and urban regeneration in disadvantaged areas.
The PEI program develops projects outside the university as a key part of their program. The aim is to immerse the students into the social, spatial, cultural and environmental reality of each project. This process facilitates first hand research and aims to ensure that students develop a sensibility towards the people and the place in which they work and produce coherent proposals.
The approach and pedagogical intent of the workshop can be framed within the live project pedagogy. In order to describe this project we use the definition of live projects by Anderson and Priest (2014)1 and describe the different actors and networks involved “A live project comprises the negotiation of a brief, timescale, budget and product between an educational organisation and an external collaborator for their mutual benefit. The project must be structured to ensure that students gain learning that is relevant to their educational development.”
workshop development and activities
- Students: the workshop combined students from 3 different backgrounds. International students (some of which were already practicing architects); Colombian architectural students from Javeriana University (PEI program) and Escuela Taller students from the joinery & construction course (this is a vocational school for disadvantaged students coming from areas of armed conflict).
- Brief: students were asked to develop proposals to improve Caimalito.
- Timescale: the workshop took place over two weeks in two different locations outside university: Bogotá (based in the Escuela Taller) and Caimalito.
- Product: the outcomes were both tangible and non-tangible. The regeneration of the disused train station shed and adjacent garden, designing and making furniture for that space, creating a stand for film screenings etc., were tangible outcomes. Non tangible outcomes were the learning the students achieved about a different reality which led them to design and make appropriate proposals for the users. The positive stimulation of the local community meant that the locals took ownership of the disused shed and gained skills to work with bamboo bringing the material into value.
Politically, the workshop had an impact in the local government triggering the process to provide Caimalito with a vocational school in the future.
- Educational organization: Bamboo Think Tank.
- External collaborator: Caimalito community. Typically young people, kids, mothers and some seniors of the community were engaged with the workshop working together with the students.
