Impermanent Substrates: Restorative Infiltrations in the Interstice
Alejandra Fajardo

SHORTLIST STUDENT PROJECTS | Student Projects

Project Description

An architectural project that responds to the ecological and social transformation brought about by the Hidroituango dam. The proposal is based on modular, floating, and self-sufficient systems that allow for territorial regeneration through architectural infiltration devices. These structures are designed to be non-permanent, adaptable, and constantly evolving, respecting natural flows and promoting biodiversity.

The technical approach incorporates solutions such as adaptive crops that optimize water use, waste treatment, restoration of biological corridors, and floating spaces that facilitate the aquatic mobility of communities and species.

Project Concept

The proposal seeks to reconfigure rigid infrastructures into living systems through interventions that foster harmonious cohabitation between humans and non-humans. Through environmentally sensitive architectural devices, the degraded territory is reactivated as a resilient ecosystem, where water, biodiversity, and collective memory intertwine in a healing narrative, evoking the image of a habitable waterfall. In this way, architectural design is asserted as a transformative agent, capable of regenerating landscapes and communities from a sustainable, dynamic, and contextually grounded perspective.