Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities

4.1/5 ( ratings)

Torre David, a 45-story skyscraper in Caracas, has remained uncompleted since the Venezuelan economy collapsed in 1994. Today, it is the improvised home to more than 750 families living in an extra-legal and tenuous squat, that some have called a "vertical slum."

Urban-Think Tank, the authors of Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities, spent a year studying the physical and social organization of this ruin-become home. Richly illustrated with photographs by Iwan Baan, the book documents the residents’ occupation of the tower and how, in the absence of formal infrastructure, they organize themselves to provide for daily needs, with a hair salon, a gym, grocery shops, and more. The authors of this thought-provoking work investigate informal vertical communities and the architecture that supports them and issue a call for action: to see in informal settlements a potential for innovation and experimentation, with the goal of putting design in service to a more equitable and sustainable future.

Language: English

Pages: 415

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers

Release: November 25, 2012

ISBN: 3037782986

ISBN 13: 9783037782989

Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities

4.1/5 ( ratings)

Torre David, a 45-story skyscraper in Caracas, has remained uncompleted since the Venezuelan economy collapsed in 1994. Today, it is the improvised home to more than 750 families living in an extra-legal and tenuous squat, that some have called a "vertical slum."

Urban-Think Tank, the authors of Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities, spent a year studying the physical and social organization of this ruin-become home. Richly illustrated with photographs by Iwan Baan, the book documents the residents’ occupation of the tower and how, in the absence of formal infrastructure, they organize themselves to provide for daily needs, with a hair salon, a gym, grocery shops, and more. The authors of this thought-provoking work investigate informal vertical communities and the architecture that supports them and issue a call for action: to see in informal settlements a potential for innovation and experimentation, with the goal of putting design in service to a more equitable and sustainable future.

Language: English

Pages: 415

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers

Release: November 25, 2012

ISBN: 3037782986

ISBN 13: 9783037782989

More books from Iwan Baan

Brasilia - Chandigarh Living with Modernity

4.5/5 ( ratings)

Wang Shu and Amateur Architecture Studio

4.1/5 ( ratings)

Saving Place: 50 Years of New York City Landmarks

4.1/5 ( ratings)

The Light Pavilion by Lebbeus Woods and Christoph A. Kumpusch for the Liced Poro Sity Block in Chengdu, China 2007-2012

4.4/5 ( ratings)

Zaha Hadid Architects: Heydar Aliyev Centre

4.2/5 ( ratings)

52 Weeks, 52 Cities

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Sea Ranch: Architecture, Environment, and Idealism

4.3/5 ( ratings)

Rate this book!

Write a review?