‘Designing for Life’ Exhibition Opens Next Week
Stair Street Housing, Petare Norte, Caracas (Asya Tokbey/Caracas20 CC BY)
Wentworth Institute of Technology’s CEIS Commons will host the opening of the “Designing for Life: Fragile Ecologies” exhibition on Thursday, March 30 at 6 p.m. The exhibition—free and open to the public—will remain on display until September 15, giving visitors ample time to explore the work of the School of Architecture and Design.
“Fragile Ecologies” examines how community-based urban ecological design approaches can deliver on the promise of spatial democracy. These design principles aim to benefit historically underserved populations who are most at risk in the face of multiple crises in 21st-century cities.
Library-Reservoir connection to the Casa Borges Cultural Center, Petare Norte, Caracas (Cheryl Bratsos/Caracas09 CC BY)
This exhibition and symposium event at Wentworth celebrates the role of the Caracas Studio in the architecture program since 2009, the teaching and accomplishments of Professor Manuel Delgado, the special relationship with Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, and the development of Wentworth's Master of Urbanism degree program.
More than 160 student projects in five design studios will be featured. Previous Designing for Life exhibitions were held at Wentworth in 2008 and 2013.
A 6-meter long 1:1000 scale model showcases student proposals for extending the design principles of Manuel Delgado and Gruppo Medellín’s 2012 competition-winning proposal for La Carlota Park to address the fragile social and physical ecology of Petare, the densest self-produced community in the Western Hemisphere.
Professors involved since 2009 include Robert Cowherd, Manuel Delgado, Bill Boehm, John O'Connell, Muhammad Abdussabur, Alberto Cabre, Tom Lesko, and Ignacio Cardona.
