Angaben zur Professur

Lehrstuhl 

Professur H. Klumpner

Typ 

Professur für Architektur und Städtebau

Standort 

ONA

Webseite 

www.klumpner.arch.ethz.ch

Assistierende 

Melika Konjicanin, Alejandro Jaramillo Quintero, Diego Caresuela-Wiesmann

Kontakt E-Mail 

konjicanin@arch.ethz.ch

Angaben zur Entwurfsklasse

Typ 

Entwurf V-IX

Thema 

Urban Culture Infrastructure in Medellín/COL, Integrating Ecology, Connecting Communities

Beschreibung
des Entwurfs-programmes 

How can architects foster urban culture through infrastructure? How can climate corridors impact social and ecological resilience? How can we imagine the future of architecture in Medellín? Medellín, once considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world, has transformed into a global model of social urbanism and innovation. Now, it is recognized for its resilience and urban regeneration, serving as an example of how cities can reconnect communities and nature through design. Efforts to restore the relationship between the city and its natural environment through green and blue corridors have improved the quality of life in surrounding areas through architectural and urban interventions. Students will design architectural prototypes for programs along Medellín's blue and green corridors, integrating urban infrastructure for cultural initiatives, public spaces, and sustainable mobility over time. Through their proposals, they will explore how design can strengthen ecological networks, foster inclusion, and transform Medellín’s blue and green corridors into a model for resilient urbanism. Keywords: urban design, architecture, resilience, urban transformation, social urbanism, green and blue corridors, ecological restoration, mobility, public space, biodiversity, inclusion, community infrastructure, cultural regeneration, urban culture infrastructure, Quebrada la Iguaná, sustainable development, climate adaptation, connectivity, urban prototypes, environmental sustainability, landscape integration, regenerative design. By 2025, Medellín is set to become a global leader in environmental urbanism, with its Cinturón Verde (Green Belt) initiative linking 20 kilometers of green and blue corridors, transforming the city into a model of ecological integration and sustainable urban growth. Once known for violence and inequality, Medellín has reinvented itself as a pioneering city in urban regeneration. Today, it stands as a model of resilience, navigating the challenges of rapid urbanization while fostering social equality and environmental sustainability. As Medellín grows, balancing urban expansion with the preservation of its natural environment is crucial. The city’s green urbanism with the projects like the Río de la Vida and Cinturón Verde, restore ecological systems and incorporate them into the urban landscape. These green and blue corridors not only mitigate climate change impacts but also reconnect communities to nature. Medellín’s transformation is not only physical—it is rooted in social inclusion. The city uses infrastructure to reduce inequalities, exemplified by the Metrocable, which connects hillside communities to the city center, and the development of parks, libraries, and public spaces in informal areas. As of 2024, Medellín is recognized as one of the most innovative cities in Latin America, with over 50% of its public transportation system now being powered by sustainable energy. In response to these challenges and opportunities, the design task focuses on the La Iguana green and blue corridor—a water stream that begins at 2,900 meters and descends to the Medellín River at approximately 1,400 meters elevation. The central goal is to design strategies for linking fragmented urban and natural spaces, enhancing both ecological and social resilience. The design prototypes developed along this corridor must foster community engagement, promote environmental justice, and address the needs of vulnerable populations. As the city itself consists of 16 administrative communes, La Iguaná corridor can be seen as 17th. Medellín’s vision for the future—where infrastructure, public space, and ecological corridors work interconnected—demonstrates how cities can overcome past struggles and lead the way in sustainable urban development. Through these initiatives, Medellín sets an example of how urbanization can be approached in a way that promotes social culture, environmental restoration, and resilience for future generations. Source: World Economic Forum. (2021, August 25). Colombia’s Medellín plants green corridors to beat rising heat. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2021/08/colombias-medellin-plants-green-corridors-to-beat-rising-heat/

Thematische und methodische Schwerpunkte 

Entwurf, Staedtebau, Landschaftsarchitektur, Handwerk, Visualisierungen

Lernziele 

While cities contribute to the highest CO2 footprints, they also hold the potential to most effectively bend the carbon curve and take Climate Action in achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Moving towards decarbonized ways of living and `Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe and resilient (SDG 11) will require behavioral and systems change in all sectors of life. Access to quality education (SDG 4), co-creating evolving frameworks for life-long learning, building capacity for transformative processes, strengthening and building new circular economies, making use of digital and analog tools, as well as how easy it is to access services in the city, are the foundation to design and maintain sustainable urban futures. In alignment with these principles, the central thesis of this Design Studio focuses on the conceptualization and design of innovative architectural and urban prototypes. These designs aim to address and respond to the complex challenges posed by green and blue infrastructure, climate corridors, informal settlements, urban densification, the circular economy, social sustainability, and the re-naturalization of urban landscapes. Through this approach, the Design Studio seeks to create solutions that meet immediate needs while contributing to the long-term resilience and vitality of urban environments. Students are introduced to tools and immersed in our Chair’s “method-design” to develop their prototypical design projects by: 1.) Base-Line: We design in a continuum of architectural, urban, and planning scales to collaboratively develop a basis for how the city is now. 2.) Mapping: By identifying existing and future challenges and opportunities, we take the role of stakeholders and visualize our demands and resources into three different scenarios. 3.) Concept Design: We develop an urbanistic synthesis and translate a concept into an evidence-based prototypical architectural project- intervention. 4.) Prototype Design: We present the synthesis of our process in time and space on different scales. We frame the design projects as a narrative, consequentially developed and communicated in analog and digital graphic representations. 5.) Upscaling: We test our project concepts and upscale prototypes through design-policy recommendations to make them transferable in Medellín and other cities. The design studio focuses on the transformative redevelopment of the city on three scales: A_Metropolitan Scale: 1:50.000 / Valle de Aburrá B_City Scale: 1:10.000 / City of Medellín C_Site Scale: 1:2.500 / Iguaná Corridor The driver for change in Latin America is architecture. We see this happening in cities like Medellín, Bogotá, Barrio Arajo, and São Paulo. Architecture is at the forefront of making transformations visible in preparation for a sustainable future. The next generation of designers is providing places of development, safety, and quality of life, which are essential for city governments. Architecture and Urban Design are translating these opportunities, entrepreneurship, and technologies into these cities. Changing the landscape and regenerating open neighborhoods is full of opportunities and architectural and natural beauty. From our Urban Stories lecture series, we have developed an urban toolbox that translates urban knowledge of internationally recognized development examples into strategic tools. We reference permanent and temporary strategies such as the destruction and re-construction of Berlin, Informal settlement upgrading in Capetown, Chengyecheon River Park, Seoul, Isarpark, Schlachthof / Munich, Corredores Verdes / Medellin or Cali, communal target-plan Zurich, closed highways in Sao Paulo or Bogota, etc. These spatial processes follow a widely known practice of consolidating a sequence of transformations and short-term strategies for long-term value production. Urban- and Landscape Design can create a measurable impact in cities by increasing social justice, health, and well-being. The development of robust frameworks adaptable to change enables processes for regeneration with long-term operational, environmental, and social benefits in response to global, local, and site-specific challenges. The role of architects is to imagine and model sustainable urban scenarios, recognizing new possibilities, and to create multidimensional transformative design strategies with long-term benefits for people and cities. Method-design We systematically engage students in the semester research topic, to unlock their potential and skills towards developing prototypical design resolution on an urban and architectural scale. Identifying, understanding and developing local stakeholder networks, so as to translate challenges into opportunities and negotiate diverse interests into strategic ideas for development, geo-references, inter-linked systems, diagrams and maps.We develop design concepts for urban prototypes on different scales, framed by a narrative of a process that is consequentially visualized and communicated in analog as well as digital tools. - Investigative Analysis/ Local Perspective: We register the existing; prioritizing challenges and opportunities through qualitative and quantitative information; mapping on different design scales and periods of time; configuring stakeholder groups; connecting top-down and bottom-up initiatives; idea mapping and concept mapping; designing of citizen scenarios. - Project Design: Synthesizing between different scenarios and the definition of a thesis and program between beneficiaries and stakeholders; we project process presentation as a narrative embedded in multiple steps; describing an urban and architectural typology and prototypes; defining an urban paradigm. - Domain Shift: We shift and translate different domains; testing and evaluating the design in feedback loops; and include projects into the Urban Toolbox.

LV-Nr. des Entwurfs 

052-1140-25

Zusätzliche integrierte Disziplin(en) 

063-0562-25L, 063-0762-25L

Unterrichts-sprache 

English, German

Arbeitsweise 

Individual and group work, thereof 3 to 4 weeks group work

Daten Zwischenkritiken 

08/04/2025

Datum Schlusskritik 

27/05/2025

Einführungs-veranstaltung 

18/02/2025; 09:30; ONA Studio, E25;

Zusätzliche Kosten 

CHF 150 (Schätzung, ohne allfällige Kosten für Modellbau und Seminarwoche)

Verfügbare Plätze 

24

Plakat des Entwurfs-programmes 

Plakat ansehen (PDF Datei)

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