Design: Daniel Bermúdez
Design Team: John Oscar Pinzón, Stan Van der Maas, Jorge Pardo, Mónica Hernández, Fredy Fortich
Structural Engineering: PCA, Armando Palomino
Acoustics Design: ADT Daniel Duplat
Theater Consultant: Akustiks, Jaume Soler.
Sustainability: Arquitectura & Bioclimática, Jorge Ramírez
Electrical Engineering: SM&A, Jaime Sánchez
Text: Alberto Escovar
Following the Master Plan developed for the Colegio Nueva Granada, Bermúdez Arquitectos proposes a building at the geographical center of the campus that serves as the heart of the school campus and accommodates the performing arts center and main cafeteria. The ground floor level includes a service driveway that lineally crosses the entire building volume, accessing each section. The main level accommodates the cafeteria and theater on the rear side of the slope, and the rooms on the front, offering panoramic views and excellent natural lighting conditions. On top of the rooms a green terrace is located, while a second, smaller café is placed above the theater, at the height of the adjacent sports fields. The project makes efficient use of the sloping terrain, gaining space for new programs and restoring the lost green areas with roof gardens and terraces in direct relationship with the surrounding landscape. The employed brickwork, also present in the existing school buildings designed by Guillermo Bermúdez, establishes a harmonious dialogue with the direct context.
This major cultural complex, sitting on Bogotá´s eastern mountains, combines knowledge acquired in previous cultural and educational projects and constitutes a renewed, time-spanning encounter between Daniel and Guillermo Bermúdez.