ARTEVIVO: School of Arts and Crafts as A Cultural Bridge for Barrio Colombia | Bachelors Design Project on Cultural Architecture

Site Context

Historically, the area stretching between the Museum of Modern Art of Medellín (MAMM) and Barrio Colombia functioned as an industrial zone. Over time, it has evolved into a lively creative district, with MAMM acting as both a cultural landmark and a connector between the two neighborhoods—a symbol and gathering place for the community.

Amid this process of urban renewal and thanks to its strategic location, new opportunities have emerged to create connective spaces that nurture and expand artistic, performative, and creative practices. Two neighborhoods with distinct dynamics are linked through art, transforming their intersection into a shared territory of collective creation and expression.

Within this context, several types of public spaces have been identified, each responding to the area’s urban conditions and the needs of its residents:

• Green corridors and rest areas, encouraging relaxation, well-being, and soft mobility while integrating nature.
• A central plaza, a flexible setting that accommodates diverse activities throughout the day, serving as the project’s most dynamic and inclusive node.
• An active urban plinth, generated by commercial uses on ground floors, which boosts social interaction and economic vitality.
• Activity-oriented outdoor spaces, designed to encourage lingering, participation, and a sense of community ownership.

This reading of the territory highlights a space in flux, where art serves as the thread binding together memory, diversity, and future opportunities. The analysis not only guides the design but ensures the project is rooted in the needs and aspirations of the community it is meant to serve.

Design Process

The design of the School of Arts and Crafts emerged from an understanding of the site as an extension of the city’s existing dynamics, with the potential to be activated through artistic exchange. To encourage this, the ground floor was designated for commercial uses, while the building itself was fragmented to form an artistic plaza. A central vertical void was also introduced to extend public space upward, allowing it to flow seamlessly into the building’s interior.

Inside, the spatial atmosphere was envisioned as immersive and sensitive, turning everyday experiences into opportunities for artistic engagement. These interiors were designed to spark encounters, encourage reflection, and nurture collective creation, fostering a stronger bond between people, space, and artistic expression.

The façade was imagined as a flexible, climate-responsive skin that adapts to environmental conditions while serving as a canvas for artistic intervention. Its composition reflects the project’s creative essence, bringing color, rhythm, and vitality to the building and affirming its role as a dynamic, ever-evolving cultural landmark.

Final Outcome

ARTEVIVO emerges from a careful exploration of how art can inhabit and transform urban space. Conceived as a cultural threshold, it bridges Barrio Colombia and the MAMM, weaving together landscape, community, and creative expression. The fragmentation of its massing opens onto an artistic plaza at ground level—an inclusive, active space that fosters encounters and energizes the surrounding context. This public condition extends vertically through a central void, which organizes circulation, creates visual continuity, and distributes the collective experience across different levels.

Stepped terraces function as cultural platforms, accommodating workshops, activity zones, and spaces for reflection. These elevated stages become catalysts for cultural exchange, inviting visitors, learners, and passersby to engage, create, and connect with art in diverse ways. Here, architecture is not a boundary but a continuation of the city’s cultural and social fabric.

Externally, the façade becomes a dynamic canvas, reflecting the site’s creative energy. Internally, art flows through pathways, atmospheres, and programs, shaping an immersive and transformative experience. 

Conclusion: ARTEVIVO is not an isolated object but a vital cultural landmark within the urban network—a building that embodies art in its form, welcomes it from the outside, and celebrates it from within.

[This Academic Project has been published with text and images submitted by the student]