Saturday, August 11, 2007

bogotá, transmilenio

I came to Bogotá for two main reasons. First, the city provides a prime Latin American case study on infrastructural development at the metropolitan scale. Like Mexico City, the bulk of Bogotá sprawls across a vast plane of reclaimed land. Unlike Mexico City, Bogotá has decided to develop its roads and bus system instead of implementing an underground Metro. Second (and this is related to the first) I am interested in the work of Giancarlo Mazzanti, a local architect who takes systemic approaches in creating public projects. The two interests dovetail in the pedestrian bridge system his office designed for the Transmilenio bus stations. The bridges, a kit of supports and sections that can kink over and around contextual obstacles, now mark the rhythm of the bus routes throughout the city.

http://www.transmilenio.gov.co/nuevapagina/home_english.htm