PROJECT: ATELIER CARACAS
TYPOLOGY: ARCHITECTURE
LEAD DESIGNER: CORINA MONTERO
TEAM: CHRISTIAN MAIER, JUANCHO MESA
FABRICATION: ALFREDO MENDOZA
PHOTOGRAPHY: OUTER VISION
IN THE LAST DECADES THE LEVELS OF SOCIAL DISTRESS AND CONCOMITANT INSECURITY REGISTERED IN VENEZUELA HAVE FORCED URBAN RESIDENTIAL COMUNITIES (KNOWN AS “URBANIZACIONES” IN CARACAS) TO LIMIT, AND IN MANY CASES SEVERELY RESTRICT ACCESS TO THEIR URBANIZED AREAS AND PROPERTIES. AS A RESULT, ENTRANCE GUARD POSTS TO THE NOW GATED COMMUNITIES HAVE BECOME UBIQUITOUS, THE SECURITY MODULES COUNTING GENERALLY WITH REDUCED WORKING/LIVING SPACE FOR ONE OR TWO GUARDS, INCLUDING (SOMETIMES) A SMALL BATHROOM.
SPATIALLY THE GUARD POST TENDS TO BE EXCEEDINGLY SIMPLE, GENERALLY WITH LITTLE REGARD PLACED ON ERGONOMICS AND EVEN LESS ON AESTHETICS, CONSIDERING THE FACT THE GUARDPERSONS WILL SPEND LONG SHIFTS WORKING AND MONITORING INSIDE THE CRAMPED SPACES. IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE ACCEPTED AND GENERALIZED SOLUTION IS BARELY UTILITARIAN, HAVING A SPACE JUST LARGE ENOUGH TO FIT ONE OR TWO PERSONS, WITH A WINDOW FOR THEM TO PEER OUT FROM.
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