Torre David in Caracas, Venezuela exemplifies socially organic architecture in its non-descriptive form of human occupation. Opposite of this occurrence is the Modernist approach of social housing through formal organicism. While a settlement such as Toulouse le Mirail by Candilis-Josic-Woods conforms human settlement to their utopian idealism and social organicism based off of the biomimetic “stem,” Torre David is an instance where informal occupation is characterized on an individual basis, tailored to the needs of the inhabitant. Aesthetically, Torre David stands as proof of individual tastes as various occupations produce unlikely spacial configurations in a wide variety of color palettes. To quote Urban-Think-Tank; “When the modern city does not adapt to the people, the people will adapt to the city.”
Max Harden
RESEARCH RESOURCES
Fry, Adam. “Torre David: vertical slum? | Pulsamerica: Impartial, Direct, Independent | The Impartial Latin American News Link.” Pulsamerica: Latin American News, Politics and Economics . http://www.pulsamerica.co.uk/2012/10/25/torre-david-vertical-slum/ (accessed September 16, 2013)
Adam Fry gives an introduction into the irony of the informal community occupied within the physical framework of a failed economic system. This article also begins to explain the organizational patterns and roles taken on by the community inhabitants.
Torre David Trailer. 2012. http://vimeo.com/49094660.
The video Trailer to “Torre David,” by Urban Think Tank, presents an insider look into the informal configurations within this vertical community. Evident in this video are different programmable uses and individual patterns of habitation.
