Concrete Geometries  —
spatial form & social relations

There was a tradition in 1950s Venezuela of visual arts interacting with architecture and the urban landscape. Vivid geometric patterns along motorways and on public buildings were part of the visual public unconscious and still radiate a sense of optimism. Gili’s intervention in a changing neighbourhood of Caracas builds on this. Painted metal plaques are placed around the area of newly built park in a seemingly random way. The work connects the new park physically and psychologically to its surroundings and this tradition, aiming to create a positive identification within the collective, affecting how residents perceive their own community. Jaime Gili is a visual artist based in London. Photography: Carlos G Rojas.

Changes in urban form will lead to changes in urbanity. This bold thesis is challenged by re-adjusting the geometry of the Palm Jumeraih, the built diagram of an exclusive luxury refuge, now the basis to imagine a socially integrated urbanity. ‘Re:form’ and ‘Re:block’ open up, connect and make permeable, ‘Re:lock’ and ‘Re:gain’ transform a culture of exclusion into a culture of thresholds and appropriation. ‘Re:plot’ cuts domiciles in half to allow for private and public alleyways, ‘Re:use’ turns the villas inside out to provide shaded courtyards. If the question is whether social cultures can be patterned through formal configurations of space, the Palm’s straight answer is yes.
SMAQ is a collaborative studio that operates in the field of architecture, urbanism and research.