The architects from their works
Architect’s presentation
Simón Vélez (2 of february of 1949) is a Colombian architect. His work is characterized by the use of wood and a plant called Guadua,a kind of bamboo that grows fast, as an structural and decorative element. He has obtained different prizes of architecture and has been on some important events such as the Biennial of architecture in Venecia
He learnt architecture in the “Universidad de los Andes” of Bogotá. He was influenced by Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus school of design but he started to explore the indigenous architecture and the traditional materials of his country and that determined the path that he would follow during his career as an architect.
Vélez has created union systems that incorporate the guadua as an structural permanent component in the commercial and residential structures
Materials
The guadua is a kind of Bamboo that can reach 30 meters high and 22 centimeters of diameter. This species is a sustainable and renewable resource becaiuse it automultiplies itself without needing seeds for reproducing.
It also grows very fast, almost 11 centimeters per day and it’s said that in only six months this plant can reach its maximum height.
The guadua is a material, not only technical but also aesthetically significant. It constitutes a material, totally suitable for construction. In addition to having all the qualities by itself to be a structural element, it is multifunctional. It is used as a box, support column, roof or cable for the popular framework among others.
The technical aspects of guadua are so significant that they compete with the functionality of concrete or steel. And the aesthetic aspects are of such quality that they allow all kinds of use in a home or in a monumental structure
His work
The Zeri pavilion was built for the Hannover exposition 2000, it was one of his last works in wich he experimented with the unions of the different structural elements and he got excellent results. The Zeri pavilion is a circular construction, therefore it has no start neither end. It is open and without obstacles.
It symbolizes a universal access organization that incorporates the concepts and technologies that are applicable anywhere and within everyone’s reach. Taking into consideration that guadua is even more resistant than concrete and steel during earthquakes, not because of its hardness or thickness, but because of its flexibility, a quality that led Vélez to consider its pavilion a structure indifferent to earthquakes. Those qualities allowed the development of a pavilion built in 4 months with 3000 guaduas, a total area of 2000 m2 and 500 tons of weight, where 400 tons are concrete, 10 tons of steel and just 90 tons of guadua, exposing an incredible saving of resources and a structural feat with its 15 meters overhang.
We can conclude that Simoón Vélez has been able to gather sustainability, creativity and beauty alltogethter by using a very flexible material with which he has been able to create some renowned strucutres such as the Zeri Pavilion.
