Allegory of peace

Allegory of peace is a profound analysis of the Colombian armed conflict. It presents a fundamental research of how we can truly achieve peace - and a response. As a Utopia, it activates the mind of generations consumed by war to envision what has become unthinkable: peace. In the rainforest, the structure embodies the peace-building process in Colombia.

The transition from war to peace is a complex process. Where the conflict ends, peace does not begin. As we can't remember a nation in peace, we must reinvent ourselves as a society to overcome the social and spatial boundaries defined by war. Previous to build peace, we must be capable of idealizing it. Thinking precedes action. In the absence of memory, utopias play a fundamental role - the fountainhead of peace. The architectural proposal is an allegory of peace. The vertical structure embodies the individual and collective process of ending war and building peace. The structure lies in the rainforest - a place free of ideology in the non-existence of government. The three-dimensional grid of guadua stretches across the rainforest stratification. It encloses five spaces in elementary shapes - the quintessence of architecture. The sequence is precise. Placed in dialogue with the rainforest vegetation, each one represents one step further to peace. The concrete foundation lies in the profound world of roots - realm of decomposition and the basis of life. Here, weapons are decomposed in the water. An inaccessible, impenetrable space like war itself. 1.THE ARMORY (DISARMAMENT): a permanent place of demobilization - the emancipation of war. Part of the inner self dies here. Among shrubs and herbs, the grave of violence. 2.THE LABYRINTH (CONFRONTATION): a place of reflection. A space of inner emptiness in the layer of individual trees. The first place of peace is the inner self. 3.THE TRIBUNAL (RECONCILIATION): a space of reconciliation in the dense layer of treetops. Mutually exclusive narratives of war collide in discourse. Forgiveness is a historic decision. 4.THE LIBRARY (EDUCATION): a place to reinvent ourselves. The reversal of war skills into peace skills takes place in an educational process. The inner emptiness finds new devotion. 5.THE PARLIAMENT (RE-/CONSTRUCTION): the flat level of an egalitarian society. The origin of democracy underneath the primeval tree. The relation between peace and freedom is tight. Architecture can change our paradigm. War and peace first arise in our heads.