To measure.
Luis Callejas, 3 March 2014, Medellin Aquatic Centre, Web.
These aerial views of Luis Callejas’ project named “Cuatro Parques y una Calle”, which was also made in Medellin, Colombia, was created by Callejas to accomplish his intent of emoting his clients. There is not very much color in one drawing; however, different colors are used in the different drawings. On the third drawing of the left column, it can be seen that red is being used on the floor on one drawing and on the second drawing of the same column, green is being used on the buildings. I believe Callejas does this in order to stir emotion in his clients by making them focus on one aspect of his plan and as a result, they may appreciate and accept it.
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To emote. When preparing to discuss and present a project, a fully rendered plan view is always the best option. Of course, you must incorporate section, elevation, diagrams, etc. to your presentation, but a plan view of the entire project rendered appropriately must be the one that stands out the most. Callejas produced this drawing for his proposal of Cultural Park in Bogota, Colombia. Callejas used color in the appropriate places in this drawing. Different types of green for the landscape, blue for the water, and gray and white for the buildings, floor, and anything else that is not a part of the landscape though still associated with it. He controlled this composition through his coloring which clearly helps in his intent o presenting his work to his clients.
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Luis Callejas is an amazing architect. He has done some of the most beautiful and advanced projects. My personal favorite was his project Waterpark in Cartagena, Colombia. It was a complex master plan that Callejas proposed through a variety of plan drawings, models, section/elevation drawings, and diagrams. He mostly collaborates with two of his closest friends Edgar Mazo and Sebastian Mejia. Much of his work has been done in his home country of Colombia but he has recently done projects internationally as well. Although he does not show any hand drawings to the public, I am positive he has many sketches that he produces in the beginning of his design process. I believe every designer develops their ideas and produces their drawings in order to keep that idea and continue their process. Callejas produces many plan drawings and models to emote and present to his clients. He also does a series of section/elevation drawings to measure his projects and diagrams to, of course, diagram things such as spatial usage and building support.
This section/elevation drawing was created by Luis Callejas while working on the Aquatic Centre in Medellin, Colombia. As I have learned in class, an elevation is used to describe the external appearance of an object and a section is used to describe the relationships between different levels of objects as well. Callejas incorporated human figures into the drawing in order to fulfill his intent of measuring the space. The human figures give us a sense of how tall the trees are, how deep the water is, and how tall the walls are as well. Color is only used on the water also to emphasize the importance of it in the project.
Composition diagram 1.5” x 3”
Luis Callejas, 3 March 2014, Cuatro Parques y una Calle, Web.
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Luis Callejas, 3 March 2014, Waterfront in Cartagena, Web.
Discussion of Line, Composition and Color
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Luis Callejas, 3 March 2014, Cultural Park in Bogota, Web.
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To present.
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This computer drawing was generated by Callejas in order to communicate a certain aspect of his proposal for the El Campin Stadium renovation in Bogota, Colombia. As you can see, Callejas uses a very dark shade of red in order to distinguish the various types of pillars from the stadium. As stated before, Callejas does this in order to communicate how Heavy Line Weight and what will support the stadium. He controls this composition by showing the order in which his idea came about. From top to bottom, the amount of red pillars begin to increase meaning Callejas also wanted to communicate his process.
Sebastian Mejia
Manuel Villa
Luis Callejas, 3 March 2014, El Campin Stadium Renovation, Web.
Dashed Line
To communicate.
Red Line
Contour Line
Start Timeline Here Although he is known for his company named LCLA Office, he firt founded a company named Paisajes Emergentes, which was closed in 2011 (”LCLA Office”).
Medellin, Columbia - 1981
Luis Callejas A Case Study by Chris Valenzuela
Luis Callejas, a well known international architect, was born in Medellin, Columbia in 1981. He was the founding partner and former director of a firm called Paisajes Emergentes (now closed) and as of today now owns his own firm called LCLA Office. Both firms are based in his hometown as well. LCLA Office is not only positioned in the field of architecture, but it is also positioned between landscape architecture, architecture, and urbanism (“LCLA Office”). When asked in an interview what the main motivation of his practice was, Callejas replied, “What joined us together in the beginning was when we started to do landscape oriented competitions. So I would say I am most interested in making open architecture. Literally open like without walls and roofs...We are not really landscape architects, but we are architects doing really open architecture” (Callejas). As you can see, landscape is a huge factor when it comes to the methods of Callejas and the union of multiple fields is what motivates him the most. Callejas has also stated that what keeps him motivated to continue on in his practice is what the people think about the world. “I think we are more interested in the non built environment that surrounds our cities than the built environment. So our architecture is more related to these non built issues” (Callejas). His work is also oriented toward creating new forms of engagement with the public realm by altering the rules of typical architecture to make the best and creative projects. One of his biggest goals when working on a project is to make big political and spatial impacts at much larger scales. Considering that landscape being a huge factor in Callejas’ work is already known, to go more into depth, he uses the landscape as a medium for his design in tropical contexts where the landscape is not yet seen as important. Much of Callejas’ work is based in tropical contexts because of his firm being mainly established in Colombia which is a country located in the tropics. Callejas enjoys transforming his hometown of Medellin and home country of Colombia. Before embarking on his own practice, Callejas worked for about two years in the renovation of a garden in Medellin called the Medellin Botanical Garden. This project played a huge role in the urban transformation of his hometown. He continues to transform his beloved city and country through projects dealing with public space interventions. Through maturing and gaining more experience, Callejas’ firm has become a huge success for him. Now, he works on projects internationally instead of working mainly in Colombia. He was won twenty awards from a variety of design competition since 2008 as well (“LCLA Office”). In the same interview referenced previously, Callejas was asked what he thought was the biggest challenge architects face today in which he replied, “It’s all about public space” (Callejas). He was also asked how architects’ roles would change in the future, “The role doesn’t change. You just have to incorporate more things” (Callejas). Callejas continues to this day to work hard and continue his success.
2010 Luis Callejas, along with Edgar Mazo and Sebastian Mejia, completed the aquatic centre for the XI South American games (”LCLA Office’).
2011 LCLA Office is founded by Luis Callejas after the closing of Paisajes Emergentes (”LCLA Office”).
In the same year, Callejas completes the renovation of El Campin, the main soccer stadium of Colombia (”LCLA Office”).
As every professional architect and landscape architect has, Callejas has various techniques that he utilizes in order to support his intent. I have created a series of different lines that Callejas uses for his drawings. He uses the types of lines every architect must use: light to dark line weights, red lines, dashed lines, section cut lines, and dotted lines. However, based on my research, it seems most of Section Drawing his lines are generated from the medium of computer technology. He also incorporates hands on working to his process such as chipboard models; however, it seems he does not show any of his hand drawings to the public. Nonetheless, he utilizes the various types of lines every architect does. Callejas is not someone who uses a vast amount of different colors, but he uses all the ones necessary in order to communicate his intent. In my opinion, the Section Cut Lines most “colorful” of all his drawings was the one I used to create a color palette which can be found above. He produced this drawing for a competition for the design of Cartagena’s (which is located in Colombia) Waterfront. It is mainly filled with dark colors rather than light, bright colors. As I previously stated, Callejas does not use many colors. Most of the time, he leaves his drawings just black and white. However, he uses the rules of the line weight hierarchy and shadows to distinguish buildings, landscape, streets, etc. Dotted lines Callejas techniques in his compositions are a bit different due to the fact that he does not use color very much, but based on the success of his company, I don’t believe it is necessarily a bad thing.
Lesson ONE Visual communication is a huge driving force of design. It is one of the main methods that I am currently learning and now I realize how truly important it is to know how one can clearly communicate their intent through drawings. Graphics are very important in order to visually communicate what you want your audience or client to view. Callejas is a master of visual communication as shown through the 20+ awards he has won throughout his not so long illustrious career. The only possible way he won those awards was with the ability to clearly communicate to his clients through his series of drawings. Lesson TWO Diagramming is also very important in design and it also ties into visual communication. The main purpose of using diagrams in design is to communicate certain aspects of your design and its effects. For example, for the El Campin Stadium Renovation in Bogota, Callejas created a series of diagrams that showed his process of placing pillars throughout the stadium for the intent of supporting the stadium. Lesson THREE The main types of drawings architects and landscape architects produce are section/elevations, diagrams, perspectives, and plan drawings, Throughout my research, I noticed that Callejas created many plan drawings. There were a few of his projects that actually contained more than one plan drawing which I found very interesting. I believe it is clear that he believes plan view drawings provide many benefits to visual communication and I agree.
Social Visual Communication
Pathways
Importance of Diagrams
Importance of Plan Drawings
2013 Callejas also becomes a faculty member at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (”LCLA Office”).
Luis Callejas is awarded the Architectural League of New York Prize for Young Architects (”LCLA Office”).
To this day, Callejas continues to achieve success.