4. CARACAS, NOW

CARACAS: A CROSSHATCHED CITY

Fig. A5 - Caracas, Venezuela, Source: https://opticagerencial.wordpress.com/tag/el-quinto-sistema-de-direccion-y-manejo-de-la-libre-iniciativa/

4. CARACAS, NOW

A tale of disparity

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CARACAS, NOW

President Nicolas Maduro has been running the country for the past six years under the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, inheriting power following the death of his superior and previous president, Hugo Chavez in early 2013. To give context to the architectural issues in the city, understanding the geopolitical environment is essential. The economy is in a state of seemingly infinite hyperinflation causing Venezuelans to endure high levels of poverty, little or no access to medicines or food and Maduro appears on an international broadcast asking people to “trust” that he has the formula that’s going to help the country recover. (Phillips, T, 2018)

During Chavez’s presidency, the price of oil - 95% of the country’s export (Depersio, G, 2018) - collapsed, causing an imbalance in the country’s economic climate. Price controls on basic goods were introduced and wages fell by 40%. Since 1994, the bolivar, the currency in Venezuela, has been devalued three times and lost 98% of its value in one year (Gillespie, P, CNN, 2018). In May 2018, Andrea Diaz of CNN suggested that it would be wiser to invest in the virtual gold of ‘World of Warcraft’, which at the time of publication, was seven times more valuable than bolivars (Diaz, A, CNN, 2018).

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CARACAS: A CROSSHATCHED CITY

REVOLU

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Because of the poor economy, Venezuelans are suffering. 90% of the country is reported to be living in poverty and eating on average one meal a day. In 2017, each Venezuelan lost an average of 11kg according to studies conducted by Simon Bolivar University, Andres Bello Catholic University, and the Central University of Venezuela.

TION

Since the beginning of the crisis, the UN estimates that more than 3 million Venezuelans, around 10% of the country’s population, have left the country hoping to build a future elsewhere, leaving homes, cars and shops empty. (Phillips, T, 2018) No community has remained untouched by the strain of the crash, and despite the cities inherent structural division, there is a united movement – leave the country, there is no hope for Venezuela. Tom Phillips of The Guardian spoke to former oil industry security consultant and landlord, Luis Saavreda, whose 26 flat tower block in Caracas has only 14 flats occupied. “This populism – this so-called socialism – has finished off our country. It isn’t finishing the country off. It has finished the country off ” (Phillips, T cited Saavreda, L, 2018). Alfredo Brillembourg of Urban Think Tank put it aptly that “Indeed, we have lost faith – if in fact we ever had it – in the capacity and the will of any government to resolve the disparity between rich and poor, to recognise the value of a common ground, to blur the boundaries that divide the world into us and them, have and have-not.” (Brillembourg, A, 2013).

Fig. B5 - Rioting in Venezuela, AP, Source: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/ articulo/mundo/2017/07/27/eu-ordena-salir-de-venezuela-familias-delpersonal-de-embajada-en-caracas

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Fig. C5 - Hugo Chávez, illustration by the author, Nathalie Harris, 2018

Fig. D5 - Nicolás Maduro, illustration by the author, Nathalie Harris, 2018

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CARACAS, NOW

Brillembourg makes a point, this hope in governments and organisations is lost, there is no more belief in a system, yet he suggests that we must rather place our beliefs with “the realisation of practical, sustainable solutions in the architectural profession”. We, as followers of the practice of architecture, must provide.

Brillembourg is from Venezuela himself, and it seems that he has inherited the rebellious attitude that Venezuelans have from a lack of trust in the government. He challenges architects to provide that solution, to help to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. He challenges the profession, and the ethical standpoint of the architect, perhaps suggesting that we value solutions rather than creating deities.

Not only has this mass exodus changed the face of the city, it is changing the faces of other cities in other countries. Many Venezuelans are crossing the borders to Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Europe, and the US. I spoke to my cousin, Leon Zinn, who left the country in 2007, to study at the University of Miami about the migration patterns in Venezuela. “Parents down there, since they’ve gone through hard times as well, recognise the signs early and they try very hard to get their kids to leave the country and maybe even study abroad or live with relatives outside of the country as quickly as possible”. He went on to discuss the reasons why he has not returned to Caracas since leaving “There was a huge migration of people leaving the country back in 2005 before Chavez … would restrict people leaving the country … there’s a huge risk for me not to be able to come back [to the United States].” (Zinn, Leon, interview, 2018)

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Affluent

‘Middle Class’

Impoverished

Crosshatched areas

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In the contemporary urban environment that is Caracas, there are two faces, two sides to the city, visible by the architecture that is present on either side. As the city is located within a valley, geographical locations very much dictate wealth. Despite the country’s current poverty levels, there is still a sense of hierarchy within the structure of the urban fabric. The wealthier citizens reside within the epicentre of the city, on the valley floor, and the more impoverished spread across the valley walls of Caracas. The social structure is not completely black and white, as there are pockets of crosshatched areas, such as in China Mieville’s science fiction crime novel, The City and The City.

Fig. E5 - Poverty map of Caracas, diagram by the author, Nathalie Harris, 2018

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CARACAS: A CROSSHATCHED CITY

The division of Besźel and Ul Qoma is evident through the architecture, the clothing, and the cars. The novel’s utopian hidden city, Orciny is speculated to be the crosshatched areas between them. Citizens of either city are taught to ignore the other, and interacting with the other city would cause intervention from the “Breach” organisation policing the division. Though the novel is set within eastern Europe, the premise rings true with the city of Caracas. Petare and the informal side of the city, with a sizeable population of 364,684 people (geonames.org, 2018) identifies itself through its ad-hock architecture, the community built structures, and the symbiotic relationship with abandoned formal structures. Then there are the formal districts, Altamira, Los Palos Grandes, La Florida. Traditionally home to both old and new money, the architecture harks back to the modernist era, filled with straight lines, and tall structures. Within the wealthier districts are streets considered to be ghettos.

Speaking to my cousin, Leon Zinn, who grew up in Caracas, I asked about an average day walking through the streets. He spoke of “hole in the wall” areas, “you would have these really beautiful condominiums and then you would have these places in between.” “All of a sudden you would hit a wall and in this wall there would be an entrance, and in that entrance if you look down it would be a very narrow alleyway, and you would see building after building just crammed together... you would either cross the street and try not to walk in front of the space because there is a very high chance of you … being kidnapped, held for ransom, or worse being killed just for your stuff that’s on you.” (Zinn, L, interview, 2018)

Within the formalised city, there were many aspirational buildings, such as the 23 de Enero blocks. None as informalised as the Centro Financiero Confinanzas, more commonly known as Torre de David after David Brillembourg, the developer of the tower. The third tallest building in Venezuela, it stands 45 storeys tall, yet in the wake of the 1994 Venezuelan banking crisis, the financial group supporting the construction collapsed, and following the death of Brillembourg in 1993, the construction of the tower was abandoned. With the building empty, the people of Caracas began to inhabit it, creating homes within the structure that led to communities.

The building became a microcosmic city; providing shelter, space for businesses, hairdressers, supermarkets, churches, and gyms. 750 families inhabited the walls of the intended office, with each customising their spaces to suit their identities. “Its members have, with great ingenuity and determination, turned a ruin into a home” (Brillembourg, A, U-TT, 2013) including making amendments to the original structure to suit their needs and create a functioning building.

The intention of Enrique Gómez, the architect, was not to create a vertical city, but to create a commercial development in an economic climate that could support the structure. However, intentions are separate from reality, and like with 23 de Enero housing project, we see the people of Caracas become their own architects, not waiting for someone to tell them that its okay to inhabit, but simply doing so and providing basic human needs for themselves.

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Fig. A2 - Aerial diagram of Torre David, Source: Google Earth, edited by the author, Nathalie Harris

Fig. F5 - Section diagram of Torre David, Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source:http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

Fig. G5 - Diagram of Torre David, Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

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Fig. H5 - Torre David, Iwan Baan for Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

CARACAS, NOW

The people of Caracas rebel against the idea that the government is protecting them, and find ways to protect themselves, “Perhaps only Caracas, with its volatile combination of economic turmoil and demagogic politics, could give birth to such a chimera”(McGuirk, J, 2014). It seems that the average caraqueño is faced with a choice, flee their home country for the hope of something better or stay and fight the economic turmoil by repurposing their surroundings.

It is an anthropological need to seek out shelter, and the adaptive reuse of the empty building is becoming more and more pertinent to today’s society.

As office blocks, old warehouses, housing blocks, and more buildings become abandoned, perhaps the adoption of adaption rather than replacement of buildings is integral to create a sustainable solution to housing shortages around the world. In order to facilitate this shift in attitude, the architecture profession needs to embrace the repurposing and reuse of what is already built, assuming the resourceful attitude of the dwellers of Torre de David. These spaces “have the capacity to affirm difference and to afford the means of escape from authoritarianism and repression.” (Brillembourg, A & Klumpner, H, U-TT, 2013)

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Fig. I5 - Torre David, Iwan Baan for Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

Fig. J5 - Torre David, Iwan Baan for Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torredavid/

Fig. K5 - Torre David, Iwan Baan for Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

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Fig. L5 - Torre David, Iwan Baan for Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

Fig. M5 - Torre David, Iwan Baan for Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

Fig. N5 - Torre David, Iwan Baan for Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

Fig. O5 - Torre David, Iwan Baan for Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

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Fig. P5 - Torre David, Iwan Baan for Urban Think Tank, 2011, Source: http://u-tt.com/project/torre-david/

CARACAS: A CROSSHATCHED CITY

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