(“Text as submitted by architect”)
Alejandro Forero
Alejandro Forero graduated in 2017 from UPB University from the faculty of architecture and design in Medellín, Colombia. With 9 years of experience, he worked first in the workshop with his father, who is also an architect, and developed experience there in housing and building design. In 2021 he decided to start his own enterprise. He always liked to work with steel and sustainable materials, respecting the environment, so he made an architectural workshop with these principles. The use of steel was very important in this process; he did a lot of research on using and optimizing this material. The workshop has made a big impact in the housing area of Medellín.
Practice Ideology
Green Mecano is an architecture workshop, where the main objective is the optimization of the use of steel. The projects are always articulated from a system of modules that can be connected in many ways and that grows organically according to the rhythm of life of the users.
To materialize this, a bolted connection system between columns and beams was developed that facilitates and speeds up construction, making it faster than traditional construction and adjusting it to any type of terrain. The final result is an innovative, sustainable, and environmentally friendly construction system, which allows an architecture workshop to design an infinite number of projects.
The Mecano structure, a braced metal framework that optimizes the use of steel and speeds up the construction process. This technology approaches the project with greater agility and dynamism, as the entire structure arrives ready at the construction site and only needs to be braced and assembled like a set of Legos, thus optimizing the construction process on such challenging terrain.
Respecting the existing topography and integrating harmoniously with the environment is one of the main objectives that this workshop has because of Colombian natural lots, which are really mountainous.
