María Cortés Selected Works 2020
Contents I Selected Works 2020 01 I MLA Thesis Project Hg to H2O 02 I National Competition Terraced Landscape Market 03 I Academic Competition Intermodal passenger transport station 04 I Ecological and Urban Master Plan Santa Monica Landscape 05 I Public Space Design Monteria Public Space Design 06 I Design Studio IV University Avenue Test Strip 07 I Superstudio The shifting city 08 I Design Studio IV Toronto Ravines 09 I Option Studio V Stories of de Comal 10 I Start-up Project La Formaleta
Professional Project Academic Project Competition
Un paĂs de paisajes, pero sin arquitectos paisajistas A country of landscapes without landscape architects
I was born in a country of contrasts. The lushness of its natural resources, diversity, landscapes, colors, vegetation, fruits and coffee are difficult to equal, yet we allow others to extract and exploit these resources regularly. We continue to face internal wars and conflicts which have been ongoing for over 70 years, yet, we also advocate for peace, change and better opportunities. We are riddled with economic difficulties, lack of social benefits, crime, drug trafficking, corruption, and poverty, yet we make everyone feel welcomed and at home when visiting. To me, these acts of positivity and kindness are what it means to be Colombian, our ability to come together and seek to enact meaningful changes despite the adversities we face. Colombia is a country rich in history, biodiversity and environmental resources. It is a country abundant in diverse, rich landscapes, where contradictorily enough, landscape architecture as a profession does not exist.
Hg to H2O Thesis Design Studio, Winter 2020 Instructor: Behnaz Assadi John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design University of Toronto
https://unpaisdepaisajessinarquitectospaisajistas.com/ Hg to H2O: Remediation of landscapes affected by mercury contamination through illegal gold mining processes. In recent years, an increase in illegal gold mining processes in Colombia has been severely affecting the country’s landscape. This criminal activity has resulted in unnecessary ecological degradation, such as mercury contamination in the air, soil, and water. Heavy metal contamination is now a national environmental problem. This thesis explores remediation strategies that can be enacted in post-mining areas affected by mercury pollutants. Exploring phytostabilization methods with native species can act as a first step towards rehabilitating this landscape in a way that allows healing processes in wounded areas. The hope is to cure the scars caused by the illegal extraction process.
Public Market Nuevo Gramalote National Design Competition: Public Market of Nuevo Gramalote. 2014 First Place Nationwide SCA - Colombian Society of Architects In collaboration with J. Nieto, R. Chain
On December 16, 2010, Gramalote, a small town located in the northeast of Colombia, was completely destroyed due to a geological fault that caused the collapse of the town’s houses and buildings. For this reason, the government decided to create a national competition for architects from all over the country to participate in preliminary design ideas to rebuild the town. The competition offered several categories that included different public buildings with a cultural, social, sports, and public space nature. The design submitted for this competition was for the creation of the public market. For the proposal, understanding the new territory and topography of the place from the regional scale to the site scale, was key to proposing a design in which the landscape acts as the articulating element of the project. For this reason, the proposal won the first place at the national level. Taking as advantage its topography with steep slopes, the project proposes to create a staggered public market with terraces and allotments that located parallel with the site contours. Creating this way agricultural terraces where the community can grow their own crops and sell them later in the public market. In such way, generating a new income for the community through urban agriculture. The proposed structure for the building is made up of a module that is repeated to create a hypostyle room and liberate space on the ground floor. Additionally, it collects rainwater on its roof to be used in the irrigation of outdoor crops.
Intermodal Passenger Transport Station IV ILAFA steel design competition for architecture students, Summer 2011 Instructor: Camilo Villate, María Claudia Villate ArqDis Faculty of Architecture and Design University of Los Andes In collaboration with G. Suaréz Umaña
The IV ILAFA steel design competition for architecture students, established to propose a design for an intermodal passenger transport station. The proposal presented develops a design that offers to revitalize and update the old savannah station in the city of Bogotá. Due to the rapid growth of the city of Bogotá in the second half of the twentieth century, this old station was abandoned and disconnected from the urban fabric, leaving it as an interstitial space and an urban void in the downtown area of the city. Therefore, the proposal for this competition proposes to preserve the old and historical building by attaching a new metallic modular structure design that connects the project in different levels. The proposal responds to three main objectives: 1. Enhance and revitalize this urban void of the city by proposing a master plan to develop and densify the downtown area of the city. 2. Connect through a promenade and public space the two major roads (13th and 19th avenue) on the site. 3. Achieve a combination between existing transport modes of mass and collective transport (transmilenio and buses), the planned city modes (subway and suburban train), and the pedestrian and ecological paths. The conceptual strategy results in four parallel strips: strip of mass transport, pedestrian strip, strip of ecological areas, and commercial strip. Formally the project contemplates a fluid canopy structure that joins the functional strips of the project in all its dimensions.
Master Plan Santa Monica Led, coordinated, and designed the urban and lanscape design for the MP. 2017 Project Directors: Andrea Henao, Ivan BolaĂąos Urban and Landscape Department Contexto Urbano S.A. In collaboration with A. Henao, A. Romero
This project aims to create an ecological Integrity through mixed residential uses in the heart of the city of Cali, Colombia. The design was developed from the idea of providing new high and low density housing near the financial district of the city of Cali. It is located strategically in the downtown area of the city. In this promising territory, the housing project is created with a fundamental principle in which is the conservation of the ecological structure and the understanding of the terrain conditions with steep slopes, create terraced buildings that act as a lookout towards the city. The territory is the main inspiration for the design of an ecological urbanism that act as a connector of the entire ecological processes of the city and its systems. Providing new recreational, sports, cultural, and social activities to the citizens. The main idea of the project is based on the interpretation of the territory where the project is located, were the creation oasis of vegetation and water networks allows different typologies of public space that integrate the project with the ecological structure and the current urban fabric. For the development of this project, different meetings were held with the city mayor, the city planning, the client, and diverse stakeholders to ensure its economic viability. It was proposed to develop it in phases that assume the complete development of this.
Monteria Public Space Design Led, coordinated, and designed the public space design for the city of Monteria. 2017 Project Director: Paula Galeano Urban and Landscape Department Contexto Urbano S.A.
Contexto Urbano S.A. was chosen to develop the design the public space of the master plan for the city of Monteria, Colombia. The design of the sidewalks, pedestrian paths, and public parks develops a pattern that is sealed with local materials of the region, the use of concrete slabs in different shades of gray creates a harmonious composition in all the hardscape public spaces of the project. Accordingly, the design is focused on the creation of a friendly and integrated paths for pedestrians, bike users, and children. For this reason, the approach for the project is developed from the detail scale of each element of the urbanism to ensure the connection and compatibility of the patterns among the entire project.
Design and modulation of prefabricated concrete pieces used for the sidewalk path design
University Avenue Test Strip Design Studio IV, Winter 2019 Instructor: Justine Holzman John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design University of Toronto
University avenue is considered one the of great streets in relation to the City of Toronto network. This project concern to redesign university avenue from Queen’s park at college, south to Adelaide Street, were broader analysis of the entire strip inform the site-scale design proposal that serve as catalysts for transforming the urban public realm within the city. The analysis simultaneously examines University Avenue as a city scale corridor and a highly local streetscape. The current stretch of University Avenue is a broad boulevard, comprised of 12 discrete, and currently, isolated, median islands within 6 lanes of vehicular traffic and 2 lanes of parking. For the purpose of the design proposal exercise it is assuming that the existing median island from College street to Adelaide street will be move to the eastern edge of University Avenue. The design exercise proposes the exploration of a section of the street that can be replicated throughout its entire profile. The concept identifies the different barriers that currently exist between the pedestrians and the public space. This proposal aims to fragment these barriers to create a friendlier open space for pedestrians by the creation of a gradient of public space from the street to the buildings.
The Shifting City Design Studio III - Superstudio, Fall 2018 Instructor: Behnaz Assadi John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design University of Toronto In collaboration with V. Marshall, Y. Wu, J. Li
This Project reimagines Port Lands Toronto through an intervention that integrates architecture, urban planning and landscape. The project focuses on the development of new infrastructure for the film industry. Considering that the film industry is a relevant cultural and economic agent of the area and the city, the project seeks to develop an area in the city where change and flux became the main agent of the project. For this the enhancement of the ecological structure in the mouth of the Don River is the starting point for the rest of the design. Understanding the environmental dynamics, the dynamics of the city, the urban dynamics, the dynamics of film production, and the dynamics of citizens invite us to design spaces where constant shift in diverse public and urban spaces become the identity of the project. The development of dynamic ecological spaces and public space invites citizens to enjoy different outdoor activities and the possibility of connecting with the natural environment in the daily life. Understanding that the natural system of ravines and Lake Ontario is a dynamic network that changes over time. The proposal of landscape focuses on the creation of wetlands that are created through natural succession. The wetlands network along the entire project aims to contribute in the purification of diverse contaminants that the river drags from upstream. It also creates new mounds of land between the buildings and the river to mitigate flood risk. Creating this way new spaces at different heights for the citizen’s enjoyment.
Toronto Ravines Design Studio IV, Winter 2019 Instructor: Justine Holzman John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design University of Toronto
Toronto is a city of water; its structure of ravines is one of the most relevant elements of the city. In this project the Humber-Don-Waterfront loop that is present in the city is analyzed, to later propose a design on a key site that serves as a catalyst for a positive transformation of the ravines. The project design aims to improve the ecological integrity of the newly conceptualized ravine system, along with providing social, infrastructural, and public benefits to the adjacent urban context. Consecutively, this project locates in the black creek watershed. This site presents a pedestrian disconnection with the current bike trails and pedestrian trails in the area. Additionally, this site has been classified as a main corridor of high importance for the migration of different bird species. Due to this, the project proposes the creation of six typologies of public space infrastructure that aims to resolve the current disconnection through the creation of new bike and pedestrian trails that form and consolidate the system along the ravines. Additionally, these typologies seek to create new spaces so humans and birds can enjoy this ecological system in harmony. Respecting the necessary distances for the correct development of each species. Finally, this project seeks to develop an acupuncture intervention where the diverse typologies can be located and replicated throughout the entire ravine system.
Stories of The Comal - Historias del Comal Design Studio V - Option Studio, Agua del Espino, Oaxaca, MĂŠxico. Fall 2019 Instructor: Elisa Silva John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design University of Toronto
Historias del comal is a project that emerges as a possible response to a conversation with Francisca. This project is located in Agua del Espino, a small town in Oaxaca, Mexico. Here the cultivation, production, and marketing of mezcal is currently transitioning from a small-scale to large-scale operation. This production is characterized by using various species of agave plant for its production, leaving a large amount of organic waste. Additionally, local construction is characterized by the use of adobe brick as the main element in the development of town buildings. Combining these two aspects, the potential of implementing adobe bricks mixed with vegetable fibers from agave residues is evidence. Implementing them for the construction of a small-scale project that manages to understand a local, social, economic and environmental dynamic in this area of Oaxaca. The project responds to the needs of Francisca, a mother of a family and owner of a lot where she produces, plant and cultivates her own daily ingredients to cook them later in her kitchen. The current condition of her kitchen present an affectation produced by an earthquake. For this reason, the project aims to provide Francisca and her family with a new kitchen that integrates the culinary processes typical of Mexican gastronomy. Understanding the planting, nixtamalization, corn production, and comal cooking processes as its main ingredient.
La Formaleta Founder and Designer of La Formaleta, 2018 Bogota, Colombia
La Formaleta emerged as a personal exploration of different materials such as concrete and wood. It progressively transformed into small-scale pieces that responded to the constant search of young people to express themselves more authentically through their personal design and environment. The creation of La Formaleta response for homes of young generations who seek to express themselves and break standards through furniture and home-scale design that differentiates itself from boring and conventional home dĂŠcor. This is an ongoing project that that constantly questions and expresses different forms of habitability through design. Response and question the standardized construction of our contemporary society that is not often unaware of the true necessities, demands, and requirements of its inhabitants.
LEVA
BIELA
TORINO
MarĂa CortĂŠs
Selected Works 2020 maria.cortesherrera@mail.utoronto.ca mariacortesherrera@gmail.com +1 416.835.8655