Tribute to Rogelio Salmona- Art, Design and Architecture Exhibition

Rogelio Salmona is arguably the most influential architect in Colombian history. Being trained under the patronage of the father of modernist architecture, Le Corbusier, Rogelio Salmona quickly became a distinguished leader amongst architects in Latin America.

His unique vision, allowed him to become a world-renowned designer, and architect that engaged with pure geometric forms, scale, modularity, and natural landscapes. And most importantly, the romantic poetry of his compositions physically manifested in the built environment as a singular materiality that made up its projects, the brick.

This materiality, that was easily accessible due to amount of clay in Bogotá’s geography, gradually became the city’s iconography an identity for the Bogotanos due to Salmona’s influence.

A great example of this is the iconographic project of Las Torres del Parque.

Through this exhibition, 2 Colombian design firms Mo.Bo (Giorgio Badalacchi + Felipe Rodriguez) y Colab-19 (German Bahamon + Alejandro Saldarriaga) question how an architect like Rogelio Salmona would respond to the environmental problematics of our contemporary world.

The result of this investigation is a composition that reinterprets the principles Salmona’s work (Geometry, Modularity, Scale, & Landscape) through a new sustainable materiality: hempcrete.

Hempcrete, the material used in the exhibition, is a bio-composite material that contains a mixture of hemp, hurd and lime.

The structural properties are very similar to those of brick with are already incorporated with an insulation system. Thus, it is a useful material with a much lower environmental impact. The ability of capturing CO2 particles of hemp is extremely high due to its high and rapid crop production capacity, thus converting this new material into one capable of sequestering carbon. Hempcrete is an extremely efficient alternative for the use of bricks in construction.

Through the use of 72 hempcrete blocks (donated by Hempcrete UK) that simulate the brick’s modularity at a larger scale, the exhibition pays tribute to the legacy of Rogelio Salmona by reinterpreting his architectural language through a new sustainable materiality.

Rendering an atmosphere never perceived before.

The evolution of an influence.

We thank the Colombian Embassy, The Rogelio Salmona Foundation, and the Colombian Society of Architects for making this exhibition possible.

Host or Publisher Embassy of Colombia to the United Kingdom