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Miraflores Refuge

Part 1 Project 2025
Ana Catalina Builes Ospina
Pontifical Bolivarian University | Colombia
Miraflores, a hillside neighbourhood in Medellín with a strong cultural identity, faces the persistent challenges of urban inequality. The expansion of informal settlements has fragmented its public spaces, weakening community ties and limiting access to shared places of encounter. This reality necessitates an intervention that reconciles landscape, community, and the wider city.

This Refuge draws upon the metaphor of a rock, a symbol of permanence, sanctuary, and connection to the mountain. Rather than a sealed mass, it is envisioned as a form sculpted by time, wind, and light. Its interior is carved out by voids, slits, and fissures that admit natural light, generating shifting atmospheres and spaces for exploration. This same design logic is extended into the surrounding public space, where platforms inspired by the contours of the rock invite varied forms of use and inhabitation.

The proposal aspires to restore a shared ground in Miraflores — a place that encourages play, reflection, and social interaction. Like an open refuge, the project seeks to protect and embrace, allowing children, young people, and adults to feel in harmony with their environment.


Tutor(s)

2025
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