Gateways of the city of Barquisimeto
November 1998This project was developed in “Micucci Treviño Arquitectos Asociados” to improve and recuperate the access to the metropolitan area of Barquisimeto. The definition of the spaces in which we access the city will be recognized among its immediate context as a public space, as a park, as a symbol and as a monument.
The concept of gateway derives from the understanding of the infrastructure of the city, such as freeways, avenues, and streets. The latter define borders and limits for the city, as well as changes of transition from the country to the city. This will appeal to architecture, sculpture and landscaping design to enhance this situation according to the geographical conditions of the site.
Each of both gateways are monuments that reveal architectural, urban and cultural values of the city, inscribed in each of the twelve towers in shape of a letter that spells the name of the city “Barquisimeto” used to simulate in the distance the skyline of the city. The east gateway is sited on the mouth of a valley, in which we projected twelve abstract thin square-based prisms. Contrary to the gateway of the east, the gateway of the west is sited over a small slope in a very flat region. It describes both a figurative and a graphic symbol that draws the name of the city as well as the values of the region such as music, fauna, rivers, arts and crafts, architecture and others.
Both monuments have been created with a similar structure and formal criteria but respond to different sites. As vertical elements the towers are composed by a concrete base, that levels the topography, its body that describes the letter inscribed in brick supported by a metal structure, and the final element that highlights the top of the tower. The image of the gateways are perceived in the distance with contrasts and voids allowing light to manifest itself.
