Elisa Silva has been selected as one of 100 women leaders acknowledged this Saturday, March 11 at 7:00 pm at La Concha Acústica de Bello Monte.

This year´s Wallenberg Symposium at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture focused on equity in architectural education through mentorship. Elisa Silva, in representation of FIU, was among the invited panelists together with Andrew Chin of Florida A&M University, Edmund Akima Brackeen from IIT, Bradford Grant of Howard University, Coleman Jordan from Morgan State University, Stephanie Pilat from the University of Oklahoma and Carmina Sánchez at Hampton University among others. It took place at the Ann Arbor campus on January 30, 2023. 

Elisa Silva presents the publication Pure Space: transformations of public space in spontaneous settlements in Latin America in the classrooms of the Department of Architecture of the Ciudad Juárez Autonomous University on September 20, 2022, together with professors Héctor Rivero Peña and Cecilia Hernández Fonseca. The lecture was part of the "Architecture and Emerging Contexts" program of the Master of Architecture.

As part of the exhibition "Common, community driven architecture" a conversation on the topic of "Public space in common" was held between Yvan Detraz from Bruit de Frigo, Bordeaux, Felipe Ferrari of Plan Común, Paris and Elisa Silva from Enlace in Caracas. It was moderated by Fabrizio Gallanti, director of Arc en Rêve center d'architecture, and took place on September 16, 20222, at the Entrepôt, Bordeaux France.

On Thursday, May 12, the exhibition "Biennale Meets ROMA" was inaugurated in Burgau, Germany, in the exhibition spaces of the firm ROMA. This represents the second time the gardens and public spaces of La Palomera can be viewed by the public, along with pieces by Patti Anahory, Michael Malzan, and Jesse Reiser. Enlace Arquitectura’s installation focuses on the spatial and cultural richness that already exists in the barrio. It both celebrates and acknowledges what constitutes a fundamental part of the city, where more than half of caraqueños live.

The exhibit features maps of 6 vulnerable neighborhoods in South Florida that are the result of student research and conversations with neighbors. They show the simultaneous superposition of buildings in three times: 1. Those of the past that have been demolished, 2. Those of the present, and 3. Future projects aimed at a public of greater economic affluence and different from the current population.

The Advisory Council of the City of Barquisimeto CCCB presents a virtual discussion moderated by Architect Franco Micucci September 27 and 28, 2021, focused on rethinking and reflecting on the city post-covid in terms of new forms of connectivity and urban mobility. Elisa Silva along with architects Luciano Landaeta, Julia King, Jorge Pérez, Lorenzo González Casas and David Gouverneur participate in the discussion.

The Escola da Cidade in Sao Paulo, Brazil invites Elisa Silva to participate in the open course Architectures of the Global South on Saturday September 18, 2021, which aims to expand the repertoire of contemporary architectural practice by considering the urgent needs of new perspectives, fundamentally counter-hegemonic. The course focuses on the practice of architects in the Global South, revealing the complexities behind each developed project.    

Elisa shared the experience of La Palomera, the program Integración en Proceso Caracas and the exhibition at the Architecture Biennial in Venice.  

In observance of the Week of the Architect 2021, Maria Virginia Millán is invited to present a lecture by the National Coordination of Architecture Students of the Rafael Urdaneta University, where she presented “Access to the Complete City: Transformations of public space and recognition of the city." María Virginia shared part Enlace Arquitectura's work promoting the right to the city and the integration of barrios, creating links with the community and their recognition as part of the city.

Elisa Silva is invited to participate in a review of the magazine Manifest titled "Bigger than big: Phantom infrastructure" together with the editor of the magazine Anthony Acciavatti, the professor of architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Sharif Kahatt and Mauricio Quirós Pacheco, professor at the University of Toronto, who served as moderator. Elisa's contribution centered on her article “Communal land, culture and production through mezcal producing communities in oaxaca’s central valley by Elisa Silva.”

On March 23, 2021 Elisa Silva is one of the panelists in the Latinx event Spring '21 Roundtable Series, an inter-university collaboration initiative by NOMAS of the Yale School of Architecture.

Elisa presented the lecture "Grafted, hybrid (in)complete" as part of the public lecture series at Princeton University School of Architecture on March 18, 2021. After an introduction by Dean Monica Ponce de León, Elisa presented the work of Enlace Arquitectura in the barrio La Palomera over the course of the last 5 years and the evolution of the office's practice, methodologies and focus.

Elisa Silva presents the lecture “Ordinary Acknowledgement” at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Design at the University of Toronto, where she reflects on community participation strategies and the formulation of an inclusive approach to design through the work of Enlace Arquitectura in the barrio La Palomera in Caracas Venezuela. Part of this work will be exhibited at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition Biennale di Venezia 2021.

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María Virginia Millán and Sofía Paz were interviewed to the ENCERRADOS program by ENADIITV Arquitectura y Diseño in Mexico, where they talked about the work of Enlace Arquitectura and Enlace Foundation. They shared work experiences in the barrio La Palomera, the door-to-door solid waste collection program and the transformation of the Casa de Todos annex into an open center for the local community and all of Caracas. They also discussed awareness strategies regarding spatial inequality and other pressing social and environmental challenges in Venezuela.

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On Wednesday, July 29, 2020, Grupo Marmoca organized a virtual event to celebrate the 2020 edition of the Day of the Architect DDA. The targeted audience includes architects, design professionals and students.

Elisa Silva, along with a panel of invited architects from Venezuela, Colombia and the United States, including Farid Chacón de Nomadas and Carlos Andrés Betancur from Opus, shared comments and impressions about the implications of Covid 19 on contemporary life and space. 

On July 27, 2020, María Virginia Millán participated in an interview with journalist Graciela Beltrán through her live program via IGTV to talk about aspects of Caracas’ anniversary celebration. Enlace Arquitectura shared a video titled “Celebrate the Complete City” through its social media networks, inviting people to rethink the way the city is perceived, and to consider the relevance of celebrating Caracas´ anniversary including the barrios. 

Technologically complex building systems presented in the guise of innovation by the "developed" world's industry are certainly admired in the Global South. And yet in spite of the aspirational tendency to copy and appropriate all things new that come from the "north", the brick (or block) continues to be the most suitable and frequent way for people and communities to build in Latin America. 

The exhibition includes the work, experiences and lessons of the Integration process Caracas program that began in the informal settlement La Palomera in November 2018. Its objective has been to invite all citizens to get to know La Palomera through its culture, its sancochos (a Venezuelan stew), its spaces and its people. Audiences are also invited to question the negative stigma that exist with respect to the barrio and to see it with a renewed gaze, so that it may be discovered, understood and recognized as a living and vital place for the city.

“Nothing Out of the Ordinary” took place on October 12, 2019 in a run-down, abandoned structure in La Palomera, as part of the program Integration Process Caracas IPC. The community of La Palomera invited the IPC team to help them initiate the structure´s recovery process, which was sparked by a celebration of art and culture attended by neighbors of La Palomera  and visitors from the entire city.

Enlace Arquitectura´s San Juan María Vianney Church is among the 17 finaliastas of the XI Iberoamerican Architecture and Urban Design Biennial, celebrated in Asunción Paraguay, October 5-11, 2019. It was selected among 997 projects from 22 participating countries from Mexico to Chile within the American continent, as well as Portugal and Spain.

On Saturday, July 13, the Founder’s Celebration was held in the Santo Domingo sector of La Palomera, Baruta Municipality, as part of the program Integration Process Caracas. The purpose of the event was to disseminate the unacknowledged urban history of a this part of the city. Founders of La Palomera and their descendants shared the stories and anecdotes of how the settlement's process began.

The San Juan María Vianney Church in Media Legua, Venezuela is selected one of 32 finalists of the XI Ibero-American Architecture and Urban Design Biennial from a pool of 997 projects representing 22 countries. It will be exhibited at the Biennial in Asunción Paraguay between October 5 and 11, 2019.

"Art, Pedagogy and City" is a series of events that are part of the project Integration Process Caracas. The discussions promote recognition of the barrio as part of the city.

This Thursday, April 25, we will have our fourth meeting titled "Transforming the city from the classroom." Teachers and educators from different schools and levels (both from inside and outside the barrio) are invited to talk about what recognition means. The event will culminate in brainstorming and planning sessions on the notion that “the barrio is city”.

We offer participants round trip transportation, refreshments and participation certificates. The event will begin in Plaza Bolívar de Baruta followed by a walk to the Concentration 094 School, in the La Cruz sector of La Palomera, where we will reflect on the nature of the city, followed by a workshop. The activity will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will end at 11:30 a.m.

Elisa is part of a conversation initiated by Agustín Schang and Laura González that explores contemporary architecture models operating Across the Americas. The group was comprised by Julian Palacio, Jorge Ambrosi & Gabriela Etchegaray, Rafael Gamo, Elisa Silva and Maite Borjabad Lopez-Pastor.

We completed the construction of a small public space in Las Brisas - La Palomera that includes a bench more than 9 meters long and a hexagonal structure that works like a swing where children can see each other and synchronize their movements. Both rest under the shade of a large existing Possum tree. This place had previously been used to park cars, and through negotiations with its drivers we managed to free space to convert it into a public space. We are deeply grateful for the donations received from Juan Fernandes, Martin Prosperi, Juan Carlos Castillo and Tania Urvois.

After twenty weeks of work through the phases of community consultations, participatory design and construction, the Chapellin Plaza was inaugurated with the participation of neighbors and visitors. This project was funded by the Swiss Embassy in Venezuela through an alliance with Caracas MiConvive, an NGO focused on empowering and supporting communities in Caracas. Enlace Arquitectura led design and construction efforts together with local associations such as Asociación de Jóvenes Unidos AJU and the Don Bosco de Chaplain pre-school. A uniform pavement over 280 m2 of surface allow children and youth to play baseball, soccer and ride bikes. It has also been used for community festivities over the holiday season revealing an immediate appropriation of the renewed public space by neighbors. The public space was named Plaza Jorge Somaca after the leader of the association AJU, who sadly passed days before the project was completed.

Elisa Silva, currently Design Critic in Landscape Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design presents a lecture as part of the Landscape Department Fall 2018 lecture series titled “Territorial Inequality and the Urban Cassandras of our time” on October 29, 2018 at 1.00pm in Gund Hall Stubbins 112. 

+see video

The new church of Media Legua San Juan Maria Vianney was inaugurated (consecrated) by the Vargas State Bishop and the last four parish priests including Father Abelardo Bazó, who stood behind the church’s construction from the very beginning. Ricardo Silva, and Elisa Silva led the design and construction together with Rafael Monterrey and his family. Carlos Mero was responsible for the opening gates and lettering on the façade. The idea to build a church at the selected site initiated in April 2008 when the community approached Father Abelardo and presented their request. All materials have been purchased through donations and much of the work has been done pro bono. There are several details yet to be completed, but the church is functional and operative as of this moment.

During the fall 2018 semester, Elisa will be teaching an option studio titled “The Agency of Mezcal in the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico” at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The studio addresses the environmental, social and economic aspects that surround the growing opportunities for mezcal production in the Oaxaca Valley. Findings could serve as a thoughtful inquiry to guide the potential agency of mezcal in the region with viable holistic strategies. 

The publication “Downward Spiral: El Helicoide´s descent from Mall to Prison” edited by Celeste Olalquiaga and Lisa Blackmore will be presented at the bookstore Lugar Comun in Altamira Caracas, on Friday the 13th of July 2018. The event will be presided by Vicente Lecuna with the participation of several of the book´s collaborators including Elisa Silva.

We would like to invite you to the inauguration of the exhibition “Caracas in Three Historic Times” to commemorate the 450th anniversary of Caracas and the 50th anniversary of the Urbanism Institute. Enlace Arquitectura participates with the research project “CABA Cartography of the Caracas Barrios 1966-2014”. The exhibition is organized by the Extension Department at the FAU-UCV.
Place: Exhibition and Lecture Hall FAU UCV
Date: Monday April 23, 2018. 4:00pm

Elisa Silva was invited to speak at the VII Cisneros Foundation Seminar titled “Disruptions: Dilemmas Regarding the Image in Contemporaneity” curated by Ileana Ramírez. It considers art´s link with politics as it operates to construct new subjectivities, and encourage questioning of what Jacques Rancière called “the aesthetic and representative logic of art”. The event took place March 16 2018 at the Chacao Cultural Center. Elisa’s intervention centered on the relationship of Caracas’ inhabitants with the real city, denied and replace by a plutonic and narcissistic love that is disengaged and inoperative. A dysfunctional relationship and missed timing, as exemplified in Félix González Torres´ 1989 piece “Perfect Lovers.”

The publication “Downward spiral: El Helicoide´s Descent from Mall to Prison” edited by Celeste Olalquiaga and Lisa Blackmore takes place the 17th of January 2018, at the Center for Architecture in New York. The book docents the historic and present legacy of a modern architecture monument in Caracas that has become an urban ruin due to its misuse and lack of maintenance. Elisa Silva is a collaborator in the publication with the essay “Mapping the Barrios of Caracas” based on the research “CABA Cartography of the Caracas Barrios 1966-2014”
Place: Center for Architecture, 536 La Guardia Place, Nueva York

Enlace Arquitectura participates in the event "El CalvarioOpen Doors" in its third edition 2017. Seven canopies trace the path through the barrio, suspended from windows, posts and fences in the neighborhood. Knitted fabrics of synthetic plastic fibers in various color combinations and sizes witness the passing of shadows, quotidian affairs and the barrio´s built morphology.
The installation was exhibited between December 2, 2017 and March 15, 2018.

Elisa Silva was invited to present the work of Enlace Arquitectura at SLOT Studio in Mexico City on the 4th of August 2017. "Mapping, intervening and integrating informal settlements in the city" included an overview of the publication "CABA Cartography of the Caracas Barrios" and the program "City Planting" sponsored by Citibank Venezuela and coordinated by Fudep Venezuela.

Impact Mezcal is a social entrepreneurship led by Bruxo Mezcal directors interested in returning the benefits of growing economic prosperity derived from an increased appreciation and demand for artisinal mezcal production. Enlace Arquitectura is leading the design of an integral program that will catalize beneficial ecological, social and productive processes for the community based on their existing culture, needs and participation.

Among the projects included in thepublication "Radical - 50 Latin American Architectures" by Arquine publishers, is the Sabana Grande Boulevard Pavement by Enlace Arquitectura 2011. The book was presented Friday March 10, 2017 during the Mextropolis event in Mexico City.

Prodavinci published an article written by Elisa Silva December 26th 2016, on public policy strategies for local governments that promote social inclusion incities.

The satelite map of Caracas at1:5.000 scale from the exhibition "CABA: Mapping 48 years of informal settlment growth in Caracas" was presented atthe Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA) Caracas - Venezuela, on the ocassion of the eventorganizad by the Instituto Metropolitano de Urbanismo Taller Caracas (IMUTC) of the Metropolitana Mayorship to evaluate projects for the celebration of the city´s 450 year anniversary.

Elisa Silva participates as aspeaker at the IV  Session on Venezuelan Studies of theLatinAmerican Studies Association LASA, together with proferosor Veronica Zubillaga and Manuell Llorens at the CIAP in Caracas the15th of November 2016, at 10:00am.

Architecture students of the Simón Bolívar Universtiy in Caracas, invite Elisa Silva to participate in a discussion about memory and identity togther with profesors Lorenzo González Casas and Orlando Marín at the university´sPavillion 5, Tuesday November 15th, 2016 at 5:30.

Elisa Silva (MArch I 02' +Wheelwright Fellow 11') is invited by Latin GSD to present thelecture "Mapping 48 years of informal settlement growth in Caracas"at the GSD - Harvard University Graduate School of Design - on Monday Sept 19th at 12:00 in Room 109. (Foreword by Anita Berrizbeitia).

Enlace Arquitectura received the X Salon Malaussena prize in the Urban and Environmental Design category for the Citi Foundation project “Planting cities” in collaboration with FUDEP.
Enlace Arquitectura was also awarded in the publication category for CABA Cartografía de los barrios de Caracas 1966-2014.

Enlace Arquitectura shares images of Multi De Co in its final construction phase.

Elisa Silva is invited toparticipate at the Permanent Forum on the City 2016 held on May 26th at 9:00 am in El Nacional news paper´s auditorium, where shepresents the research contento of CABA - Cartografía de los barrios en Caracas 1966 -2014.

Enlace Arquitectura togetherwith Citibank Venezuela and FUDEP are supporting 6 communities in Venezuela in the cities of Caracas, Valencia and Maracaibo totranform their urban environments into desirable and useful publicspaces. Through engagement in workshops, public space making eventsand participation in a competition for seed funding, comunnities acquire skills on how to formulate their own projects, how topresent them to their municipalities and how to take on selfmotivated urban transformation projects.

Elisa participates as aspeaker at the Global Shaper´s Caracas event, on Wednesday December 2nd at the offices of Wayra, Xerox tower. The discussion topiccentered on "Reasons to live inVenezuela". She was joined by singer Laura Guevara, polititican Roberto Patiño and beer distributer Jesús Sánchez.

Elisa presented a lecture atthe BEA Gallery of the Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture at FIUon the content of her research for the Wheelwright Prize shereceived from Harvard GSD in 2011, and has continued to evolvesince then. The presentation identifies approximations to formulate public space through environmental strategies, infrastructure, pavement, buildings and activities as well as investment approachesto create public space interventions in informal settlements of Latin American cities.

Thursday September 24th was theopening of the exhibition "Pure Space: public space transformations in Latin American slums" at FIU´s Miami Beach Urban Studios Design Gallery. It presents Elisa Silva´s research for the Wheelwright Prize she received in 2011. The exhibition will be open until November 6th, 2015.

Enlace Arquitectura and HBC Corporation received theOnline Voting Award Prize of the Walk 21 Vienna Competition for thePuerto Encantado project in the category "Planning and Design ofPublic Spaces for Life." The Walking Visionaries Award highlightsnew ideas to promote the potential of walking in cities as afundamental part of citizen´s wellbeing.

Profesor Elisa Silva speaks at the "Sobremesa" eventsponsored by the Department of Architecture and Art of the Simon Bolivar University Tuesday June 15^th at 2:00pm. ProfesorMaría Mercedes Hernández will make the opening remarks.

The television program Soluciones Globovisión interviewed architects Elisa Silva and Ignacio Cardona on the urbanization of barrios at the grounds of Mesuca in the barrio of Petare.

CAF, development bank of Latin America and SIUS, Interdisciplinary Seminar for Social Urgency at the University of Buenos Aires inaugurate the exhibition "Latin American lessons in informal settlement rehabilitation".

The exhibition, curated by Elisa Silva, presents 15 slum upgrading case studies in the region. Rubén Ramírez, Representative director of CAF in Argentina, Juan Carlos Fried from SIUS-FADU, UBA and Flavio Janchez from FADU, UBA and Elisa Silva comented on the exhibition and the work of their institutions.

La Caja - Centro Cultural Chacao, Caracas

Between the 14th of September and the 30th of November, theexhibition "Proyecto Helicoide: Fantastic Visions" presents thework of several Venezuelan artists and architects invited to sharetheir statements or projections related to the little understoodmodern architecture legacy called El Helicoide. The piece by Elisa Silva titled "Section: San Agustín - Helicoide - Cota 905" formspart of the exhibition.

The exhibition Posible Helicoides: Fantastic visions, includesthe piece by Enlace Arquitectura titled "San Agustín - Helicoide -Cota 905". The show will be inaugurated on Sunday September 15,2015 at 11:00 am at the Caja- Visual Research Space of the CCCH -Chacao Cultural Center on the Tamanaco Avenue, El Rosal. Entranceis free of charge.

Vepica Headquarters received a LEED Silver Certification in December 2013. Enlace arquitectura was the LEED consultant for the project. 

Elisa Silva in collaboration with Enlace Arquitectura presentsan audiovisual exhibition titled "PURE SPACE", which focuses onurban, environmental and cultural operations that have been able tocreate public spaces in slums of Lima, Valparaiso, Medellin, Guayaquil, Rio de Janeiro and Caracas.

Place: Centro de Arte Los Galpones

The Espacio Foundation presents the publication "Public Spaces in the Barrios of Sucre Municipality" and inaugurates an exhibition at the Centro de Arte Los Galpones de Los Chorros.

The journal El Nacional publishes an article about thefinalist proposals for the La Carlota Public Ideas Competition totransform the Air Base into a Green Metropolitain Park thatfeatures "Pista Viva" by Enlace Arquitectura.

Enlace arquitectura participates in the exhibition on Sustainable Energy and Alternatives for the Future that takes placein the Ecological Gardens of Topotepuy with its proposal for the "Public Ideas Competition to transform the La Carlota military base into a Green Metropolitan Park"

Place: Topotepuy Gardens, Caracas Venezuela.

Enlace Arquitectura presents its proposal for the "Public Ideas Competition to transform the Air Base into La Carlota Metropolitan Green Park," in a public debate that took place in the Dr. Mauricio Ramia Auditorium of the Botanical Garden of the Central University of Venezuela.