STREAM: What is packed in a 16kg building block

What is packed in a 16kg building block
enlacearquitectura - Elisa Silva
Moderation: Prof. Tina Gregoric, Eva Mair

Lecture:
Technologically complex building systems presented in the guise of innovation by the “developed” world’s industry are certainly admired in the Global South. And yet in spite of the aspirational tendency to copy and appropriate all things new that come from the “north”, the brick (or block) continues to be the most suitable and frequent way for people and communities to build in Latin America. There are several key reasons for this apparent constructive inertia, none of which have to do with obstinacy or lack of means. The advantages of building with blocks is that they enable participation, they can incorporate unskilled labor and accommodate an open ended building schedule that allows projects to materialize themselves in time, while resources are progressively pulled together. The lecture will share experiences of work in Venezuela and Mexico that signify brick and cement block construction in terms of its social agency and suggest a few oversights in the way social architecture is approached by our field.

Elisa Silva:
Elisa Silva is director and founder of Enlace Arquitectura 2007 and Enlace Foundation 2017, established in Caracas, Venezuela. Their work focuses on raising awareness of urban spatial inequality through public space interventions, the integration of informal settlements and community engagement in rural landscapes. Projects include the program Integration Process Caracas, a cultural/educational initiative that creates opportunities for larger audiences to question negative stigmas associated with informal settlement communities. Part of this experience will be presented at the 17thArchitecture Biennial in Venice 2020. Other projects are the Church San Juan María Vianney in Media Legua, Venezuela, participatory public space interventions in informal settlements and the Sabana Grande Pavement Project in Caracas, Venezuela 2012, amongst others.
Elisa is the recipient of many grants, fellowships and prices and currently teaches at Princeton University School of Architecture. She has been a design critic at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Design at the University of Toronto and professor at the Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, Venezuela. Elisa has a Masters degree in Architecture from Harvard University GSD. She grew up between St. Louis and Venezuela.

http://www.enlacearquitectura.net