BAUCIS (2017) is a bachelor’s degree thesis project by Gustavo Correa Hernández, Andrés López Tobón and Andrés David López from the school of architecture at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. (This project received a meritorious thesis award)
The importance of every step in the process of building an idea and materialize it is essential to obtain a result that is outstanding and striking when experiencing a work of art. BAUCIS is the result of exploring art and architecture references, theories and movements interested in creating art in architecture through a conceptual process. Our purpose was to create a piece of work where we could make a paradigm shift in the context that we find ourselves at the university and in our city Cali. In this context we are usually focused and demanded by others to create buildings as products to solve people’s needs, reducing the importance of conceptualizing the process and in this way minimizing the role of the architect; that should be the person that can create a whole experience for people while being in a space to live architecture. The vision of the architect as an artist is often forgotten and this is reflected in our city. With BAUCIS we prove that we can integrate a well-researched process while supplying people’s needs and creating an architecture of impact for our city and its people.
This building is located in the financial and historic center of Cali, Colombia next to the Cali river that crosses the city from west to northeast. The center of the city is a commercial place with different kinds of businesses that are open only during working time and as a consequence pushing away residential areas and its activities. When considering this, the place becomes marginalized and allows the city to keep growing to its sides. When the city center was conceived, nature and its vegetation were left aside and it almost disappeared, leaving only the spaces near the river to provide people with the benefits of nature.
https://www.ccv.adobe.com/v1/player/ccv/RdVb5IFPZwx/embed
The purpose of this project was containing the chaos, that is usually outside in the streets, inside the building where people have the chance of experiencing something new day by day with the varied activities that are appealing for them and that allow them to explore their creativity. With BAUCIS, we want people to go towards the center of the city (making it more dense) instead of running away from it by renovating and creating an impact in the sector and an influence in all the buildings around it. The impact is created with the proposal of different types of commerce that include restaurants on the ground floor and in this way the existing public space (Cali River Boulevard) is enriched with the activities of the program of the proposed building. We also want to give the area an improvement by connecting the already existing natural environment system and a new one, by adding plants in the areas near the building and inside of it, so that people and other species can co-exist in the sector. This building will give the center and the city a whole new life, meaning and value by giving it a big importance to the public space that can be enjoyed by everyone.
Conceptual Collage for organizing the ideas.
Source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/61507535/BAUCIS-Undergraduate-final-project-of-Architecture by https://www.behance.net/Linktavo is licensed under cc by-nc-nd (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en_US)
