Matthew Cook
Methods and Analysis
Narrating Bogotá: An inhabitation and transformation of the narrative of the Rio Arzobispo
For my graduation project I redesigned a small urban stream in Bogotá, Colombia. I created a series of water plazas, useful public spaces that flood, storing the water of afternoon tropical thunderstorms. I wrote this brief following a detailed and novel period of research. I developed and used a form of narrative investigation I call Narrative Inhabitation where I wrote from the city’s point of view. Using this technique I investigated the city, growing to understand its strengths and weaknesses. This process lead me to my site, my programme and aided me in creating its design.
This project repairs a neglected area of the city, it increases public space and provision for walking and cycling. It brings nature into the city and creates a place for the different communities bordering the stream to meet and interact, to use the features of the landscape rather than being cut off by them.