Colombia has two finalist projects in the 2021 AZ Awards

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The 2021 AZ Awards have announced their finalists. Two Colombian projects are among the finalists in two of the twenty-two award categories. Both projects—the La Perseverancia Vertical Activation Installation and the La Concordia Amphitheater—emerged as architectural proposals for economic reactivation in Bogotá, developed by the firms Taller Architects, SCA, and Colab-19.

The architectural proposals that emerged during the long-awaited economic recovery of the Colombian capital demonstrate that it is possible to propose bottom-up solutions to latent and urgent issues. Operating with only the outdoor occupancy guidelines and biosecurity measures mandated by the national government, the Bogotá- and Rotterdam-based firm Taller Architects, alongside SCA, decided to lead these proposals. This collaboration gave Colab-19, a practice operating remotely, the opportunity to design these temporary structures to address the pandemic crisis.

Organized by Azure Magazine, the awards program recognizes excellence across 22 categories in both architecture and design. This year, more than 1,200 entries were submitted from 57 countries. These were evaluated by a jury comprising Patricia Urquiola, Ini Archibong, Susannah Drake, Sou Fujimoto, Adelaide Testa, Paul Filek, Karim Rashid, Barbara Bestor, Marc Ryan, and Gilles Saucier, who selected the finalists.

In the Architecture – Temporary and Experiential Installations category, the Vertical Activation Installation in La Perseverancia is a finalist.

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The initiative by the SCA and Taller Architects not only marked the beginning of Colab-19, but also milestones such as becoming finalists in the AZ Awards, which motivate us to continue pursuing #arquitecturaporlavida. -Germán Bahamón, founding partner of Colab-19. 

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In the Social Good category, La Concordia: Amphitheater, also located in Bogotá, is a finalist.

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After more than 320,000 jobs were lost during the quarantine, these two traditional market plazas in Bogotá sought support from local authorities in order to reopen. We asked ourselves: how could we maximize the limited outdoor space they were allowed to use in each plaza? [...] Community workshops led to discussions to create a solution that responded to the specific needs of each plaza. [...]  This is how a temporary scaffolding structure was proposed with three main objectives: biosecurity standards, economic recovery, and an optimistic message. - Taller Architects

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Ultimately, both proposals achieved their goals, prompting authorities to extend the initial project timelines and funding to maintain the initiative. You can vote for the projects at this link.