Thesis

Museum of Human Rights and The Venezuelan Diaspora

Thesis, Fall 2019 - Spring 2020

Caracas, Venezuela

The proposal for the museum comes from the idea of the importance of remembering history in order to not be doomed to repeat it. This place stands as a beacon of hope, a light that constantly shines and can be seen from everywhere in the city. To bring back the community and revitalized the city through the thought of intersections and connections.

The site is located in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela; towards the east of the city lies an old private airport, La Carlota, that went through many decades of change. To the north is the highway Francisco Fajardo, it has become an iconic place where protesters have marched from the early 2000s to present day. Its topography is flat due to its main purpose allowing ample of space to be transform into a memorial park.

The museum is separated in three parts: The Dark Age, The Fighting Age, and The Freedom Age.

These volumes of light are the transition between the different museum spaces, bringing in clarity in a space of thought and reflection of what was learned in the previous room.

At its core, the museum comes together at different intersecting levels: through the people walking outside, those using the plaza spaces, and those inside the museum exploring the history. The corner tower becomes a lantern of hope to the city and guide to the highway in front.

The layers of the facade of the building include the structure, a truss, the windows, using translucency and transparency for controlling the light in and visibility; lastly, the perforated screen, varying in size depending on the room of the museum, also controlling the amount of light and the visibility inside.

West Elevation: Connection to the city

Floor Plan: The project consists of 4 floors, with one of them being underground. It has three museum rooms, a lobby, box office, indoor and outdoor auditoriums for multiple types of events, a library containing all the resources related to the period, back house offices, and lastly roof terraces.

A view into the public space at the ground level where the multiple levels intersect. People above in the museum can look down into the museum plaza and people below can also peer into the movement inside the museum.

The museum’s center of intersection consist of a plaza below ground level to connect into the Araguaney’s tree path, it also serves as a open auditorium to host mutiple types of events.

The south entrance of the museum is also a place for congregation with the views of The Avila. The floor to ceiling windows is where the library is located.

Another view of the different levels of interactions there are between the people inside the museum and outside in the public space.

People exploring all the public spaces and views of the museum like the terrace at the top of the museum.

The Fighting Age room is the middle part of the museum. Has the highest space for windows to line up to the present locations of where the protest took place.