Description:

The Great Colombian Park is a declared heritage complex, composed of four cultural properties of national interest (BIC, in Spanish) with the highest level of conservation established by the Ministry of Culture. It is located less than two kilometers from the Colombia-Venezuela border, a place of social, political, and environmental tensions that requires reconciliation actions.

It commemorates the signing of the 1821 constitution, which gave life to the union of American countries known as the Gran Colombia, and it is also the birthplace of General Santander, a key figure in the independence movement. One of the BIC within the park is the museum house that bears his name.

To reconnect the heritage complex, a longitudinal structure (Rift) and a series of transversal structures (Weaves) are proposed. These two structures organize the park’s uses, composition, and recognize forms of connection at different scales.

The project’s design was awarded through a public competition in 2012 and has been implemented in different phases over the past ten years. It seeks to understand heritage from a broad perspective, considering both the built and natural elements as part of a whole, and interprets sustainable construction policies focused on preserving heritage values through three actions:

1. Promoting accessibility to heritage: The proposed interventions aim to physically recover the BIC through restoration while also redefining their meaning. This includes reorganizing the park’s paths, combining pedestrian itineraries with the inclusion of small, low-impact mimetic infrastructures that use different strategies to respectfully integrate with the ensemble, encouraging appropriation and fostering new uses in a space that had become unsafe and socially segregated.
2. Reconnecting natural and urban systems: Pre-existing environmental values in the park are recognized, such as an old canal that has dried up due to mismanagement by neighboring urbanizations, and the park’s tree ensemble, which includes over 80 century-old royal palms. Additionally, there is a focus on connecting the park with the urban center of the municipality by acknowledging the urban fabric and incorporating transversal crossings with safe pedestrian passages over the high-traffic roads surrounding the complex, mitigating pedestrian accidents.
3. Working with the community: The project has been executed in different stages over ten years, with the latest stage being the largest and most extensive. This has allowed for engagement with neighboring communities and facilitated participatory processes that have led to modifications to the originally presented project.

The revival of vernacular construction traditions, the use of local materials, educational initiatives, and participatory processes have enabled early adoption by the local communities.

Various social groups residing in the park’s vicinity are beginning to embrace this new urban living environment, attributing their own significance to the care and rehabilitation of tangible and intangible heritage.