Pro Valentina Aguilar
ProKnowledge Lighthouse
Knowledge Lighthouse
2022
Collaboration with: Sofía Prado
The Knowledge Lighthouse is a vertical infrastructure that provides spaces to share the collective knowledge. It works as a landmark, source of activity, available to carry out processes that strengthen the sense of community based on the local knowledge of its inhabitants: ancestral, neighborhood-related, and environmental. Ancestral knowledge recognizes the lost historical memory of the neighborhood, the relationship with its ancestors, the Muisca people, and the place formerly known as Techotiba. Community knowledge represents an autonomous community, with skills that can be enhanced to improve the quality of life. Lastly, Environmental knowledge is seen as a necessity to reinforce the ties with the natural ecological structure of La Vaca Wetland through active learning and teaching.
The community engages 1:1 through facade modules thought from the three types of knowledge. Individuals can cultivate plants, assemble their own textiles, or draw on pivot panels to showcase their work. The interior facade becomes an element of identity for the community’s self- appropriation. Learning not only takes place in the construction of the facade but also in the teaching processes that derive and stack vertically within the project. Adults teach children using their skills. Grandparents keep tradition and ancestral knowledge alive in storytelling workshops. Additionally, by cultivating the vertical facade, knowledge about plants is shared. Collectives also have open spaces for dialogue, intended for specific workshops or talks.
The lighthouse provides a safe place at night, especially for women and pedestrians crossing the area. It lights up according to the activities and their corresponding uses during the day and night. As an artifact, it does not work on its own, instead, it works based upon its interior activities. A lighthouse built from the act of sharing knowledge within its own community. A light-house, a light-for people.
