Press

Faitha Nahmens publishes an interview with Elisa Silva on the occasion of her participation in the XX Architecture and Urbanism Biennial in Chile in an article in the digital magazine Climax, December 9, 2017. She introduces the text with the following lines: “Venezuela was distinguished in the XX Architecture and Urbanism Biennial in Chile with the project City Planting by Fudep Venezuela, Citibank and Enlace Arquitectura. Her ideas change lives in Caracas, with a focus placed on the barrios and their integration into the urban life of the Capital, always in hand with the necessary social hinge.”

The Catalogue for the XX Architecture and Urbanism Biennial in Chile “Diálogos Impostergables”, edited by Felipe Vera and Constanza Larach, features the project City Planting. The publication is a compilation of projects by architects, academics, activists and government agencies from 26 countries. Material related to urban concerns and the construction of our future cities is discussed. The dynamics concentrate on topics of the common, identity, vulnerability, social inclusion, resources and the future. City Planting is presented in the activist category in segment “the common”.

Cheo Carvajal interviews Elisa Silva as one of his fourth guests in a series of reflections about Caracas and her 450^th anniversary, in the digital publication Prodavinci, August 16^th 2017. The article speaks of Elisa´s approximation to working in informal settlements and the need to integrate these territories in city dynamics, in addition to improve their living conditions: “It is not so much about transforming small spaces as it is about transforming the city we have in our heads. That is what City Planting is addressing, not only because it’s the type of intervention we can build with the resources we have, but because it produces an important social impact in the production and care for spaces.”

The publication “Radical 50 Latin American Architectures”, edited by Miquel Adriá and Andrea Griborio of Arquine Publishers, compiles 50 projects buit between 2010 and 2015 by architects and groups of architects in Latin America. The book foregrounds architectures for public use and highlights participatory processes and the community´s investment to build spaces. 

The Sabana Grande Boulevard Pavement is part of a photographic series in the Spanish journal El País March 13th, 2017, under the title "50 rebels of Latin American Architecture" - Austere works with social engagement that form part of a selection by Miquel Adriá in his recent book "Radical - 50 Latin American Architectures." 

Prodavinci published an article by Elisa Silva titled "Social Inclusion allows cities to be more efficient and sustainable." Social Inclusion and Equity are not only the manifestations of a more just society, they are also critical conditions for sustainable development. 

El Nacional publishes an article on Enlace Arquitectura´s work regarding the Cartography of the Caracas Slums presented at the IV Research Conferences of the Venezuelan Studies Section of LASA Latin American Studies Association on November 21, 2016. The article highlights the study´s projections of future population growth in slums and the number of people that must be relocated to do eminent geological risk.  

The digital publication arquitectura + acero features an article on the Multi DeCo Storeroom and storage project in Guatire, Miranda State Venezuela that highlights how the project´s "simple plan rationally organizes the site´s available space with an efficient occupation, enabling the operation of 16 independent spaces." 

Plataforma Arquitectura publishes an article on the research work by Enlace Arquitectura on CABA - Cartografía de los barrios de Caracas 1966-2014. The publication is the result of a mapping exercise of all the informal settlements in Caracas and traces its grown through a period of 28 years. The article emphasizes how research not only revealed that half of the population in Caracas lives in informal settlements, even though in terms of territory they occupy one fourth of the urban footprint. The work also quantifies the differences in zoning laws applied to planned areas versos informal ones.

Prodavinci publishes an article written by Elisa Silva on CABA-  Cartografía de los Barrios de Caracas 1966 -2014. Enlace Arquitectura and Grupo SSA recently published a book that maps the growth of the informal settlements in Caracas over a period of 28 years. The data was produced through four key maps 1966, 1984, 2000 and 2014 and focuses on each of the 18 larger slum agglomerations known as Physical Planning Unit (UPF for its initials in Spanish) and 52 smaller ones known as Isolated Units, (UA) through maps, tables, graphs, diagrams and texts. They register growth patterns, the occupation footprint, population and density. In addition to maps, essays document the historical implications of absences in the formal city´s cartography.