Final+Project!

Hi everybody! My name is Daniel Licón and this is my final Project for the “English for architecture and urban planning III course” and I’ll be talking about what makes Venezuelan architecture unique focusing above all in certain aspects like **color, lights, texture, acoustics, rhythm, vertical & horizontal circulation and space & scale.** I’ll mention some representative buildings of Caracas city but I’ll emphasize in the “Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas”. I hope that you like it. In Venezuela there are many architectonic masterpieces of many talented Venezuelan architects of various styles and functions. Between all the brilliant works that we can find in Caracas there’s a World Heritage Site and this is the “Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas” designed by the architect Carlos Raul Villanueva and built between 1940 and 1960. But the sidewalks are not the only elements designed to **guide** the people through the **space**. In “Plaza del Rectorado” the buildings located to both sides of the square **delimitate** the **space** and the perspective made by the two of them **guides** you to the entrance of the “Edificio del Rectorado” and to the famous “Plaza Cubierta”. In “Plaza Cubierta” we can find countless interesting things. One of them is the roof which **shape** **leads** the people’s way. There are parts where the roof is not continuous, but this **staccato** helps to stand out certain elements like sculptures or full colors murals. And it’s not only the shape of the roof that is amazing but the effects that produces with the help of the **light** too. The **shadows** that it projects **leads** the people’s way and the openings in it produce an **accent natural lighting** that adds interest (in some cases with help of accent **artificial lighting**) to the works of art located through the entire place. In “Plaza Cubierta” we find two of the most important buildings of the university: the “Aula Magna” and the “Biblioteca Central”
 * Horizontal circulation** is the most common type of circulation found in this university. Many **sidewalks** are located through the entire complex for the comfort of the pedestrians. Many of them are **defined** by their roofs, covering the space, giving the sense that you are inside a building when you are not. There are other sidewalks that are **defined** only by the vegetation. This sidewalks **guide** you to all the buildings and not only that, they **lead** you to see many of the art pieces, made by national and international artists, which you can find in this place.



“Aula Magna” is considered one of the five auditoriums with better **acoustics** throughout the world. This was achieved by these big objects suspended on the roof named “Nubes Acusticas” and almost every element in the place: the **shape** of the auditorium, the material of the seats, the wooden objects located upon the stage and even the lobby that catches all the **exterior sound** preventing it to enter the place. The **speech clarity** in the auditorium is superb, allowing everyone on the seats to hear whatever happens on the stage and mitigating the **noise** of the public.



In the “Biblioteca Central” almost the first, most important and most stunning object that you will find in the building is placed before your eyes: it is a huge stained-glass window with beautiful **colors** like red, yellow and above them all blue which, with the help of lighting, **transmits** a mystical **feeling,** like if you are entering a place where you can be sure that you will find knowledge and wisdom. This library has many floors and you can have access to them using the **stairs** or the **elevator**. The **spiral staircase** found on the ground floor is interesting. In the middle of the stairs is located a sculpture as a focal point, giving the impression that the stair was made to surround it so you can watch the sculpture from every angle. In the university there are many other buildings, all of them with its particularities that make them unique but with certain characteristics that help you to establish a relationship between them:

· A **rhythm** marked by the **repetition** of **shapes**, windows, bay spacing or alternating **colors** on the facades or halls of the buildings.



· Openings on the walls and roofs of the buildings to take advantage of the **sunlight** and natural ventilation.



· The **texture** of the walls is almost the same in every building: **rough** concrete which gives the sensation that these buildings are strong and resistant. This texture makes them look imposing.



· There are not painted walls in the whole place. The **color** is used in the mosaics that cover the facades and interior of the buildings or in the artworks. As we could see there are many reasons to see why the “Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas” is considered a World Heritage Site. But this is only one of the architectonic jewels that we can find in Caracas. There are many others.

The “Teatro Teresa Carreño”, for example, is one of the most important cultural complexes of Latin-America. Between the characteristics that make it attractive are: · The Theater’s rough concrete **texture** that makes it sees solid and strong, · The **rhythm** achieved by the strange but beautiful shape of the building and the decorative elements that are inside of it · The perfect **swelling** in its interior **spaces** and · Its excellent **acoustics.**



Other example is “Parque Central” (Caracas) where the **verticality** of its buildings defines the **circulation** in the complex. The mirrored façades emphasize the sensation of climbing up to the sky when you see the skyscrapers. These were the highest towers of Latin-America until 2003.

In conclusion, Venezuelan architecture was always trying to surpass the boundaries and was looking to innovate, experimenting with new things that in the end were appreciated throughout the world. As the time passed the quantity of architectonic masterpieces in Venezuela diminished though there are still Venezuelan architects that create great artworks. It’s our duty as future architects to keep improving our national architecture and this project bring us a bit closer to that objective. Now having cleared all these important concepts for the architecture understanding is easier to analyze an architectonic work and to design a building that will fulfill everyone’s expectative and necessities.

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