Hello, I am currently in the final semester of my undergraduate studies in Architecture. For this portfolio, I have selected the projects that, as a student, have allowed me to delve into the transformative power of architecture on society, its environmental and cultural impact. I constantly wonder how projects can influence the landscape, a territory, a community, and overall, life itself.
Age Origin
Contact Phone
23
Medellín, Colombia
camila22higuita@gmail.com
+57 3136235300
Maria Camila Higuita Loaiza
EDUCATION
2018 - 2024 (ongoing)
National University of Colombia
Ninth semester, Architecture
PRESENTATIONS
2023
Academic event ‘Thinking the Country’
National University of Colombia
Presentation:
Palenquera Community House
2024
XX Sustainability Congress
Aveiro, Portugal
Presentation: Palenquera Community House, the blurred boundary between the public and the private
Proposal for an educational center for the NGO Teach On the Beach
2023
Alacero Challenge, Brazil
Proposal for an educational center in steel structure
VOLUNTEERING
TECHO
Housing Construction
Latin American non-profit organization
2019 - present
LANGUAGES SOFTWARES
Autocad
Revit
Sketchup
Photoshop
Illustrator
In design
Vray
Lumion
Office
Native Spanish English (Certification C1)
LITERARY CENTER Piedad Bonnet
COMMUNITY CENTER Tricentenario
COMMUNITY HOUSE Palenquera
HOUSE EDUCATIONAL CENTER
Teach on the beach
PARK
LINEAR
Jesús Nazareno
Maria Camila Higuita Loaiza
LITERARY CENTER
Piedad
Bonnet
Location: Suramericana Neighborhood, Medellín
Year: 2023-2s
Semester: 9
Collaboration: Juan Pablo Camargo
Professors: Luis Guillermo Hernández, Eleazar Gómez
The facility aims to provide ample spaces focused on teaching Colombian and international literature, which must be preserved and transmitted for the preservation of art. The project is named after the renowned Colombian poet, novelist, and playwright Piedad Bonnett.
Located on Colombia Avenue (one of the main thoroughfares in the city of Medellín), the project seeks to bring together populations of all ages through reading. Appreciating its strategic location that links it with universities such as Luis Amigó, Salazar y Herrera, U. Nacional, and the existing Pilot Public Library.
1. Architectural Proposal 2. Pilot Public Library 3. Carlos E. Restrepo Boulevard
4. Jorge Robledo School 5. Medellín River
Maria Camila Higuita
How to INHABIT
through reading?
The project’s hermetic appearance on the exterior is due to as it is a corridor with high vehicular density and public transportation neighborhoods such as Los Colores, Calasanz, and Robledo. designed around the ritual of reading, with areas dedicated
Circulation Diagram Literary Workshop Perspective
Area
the high noise pollution in this area, transportation routes connecting it to Robledo. Meanwhile, internally, the project is to children, youth, and adults.
The structure is designed to minimize the intrusion of the interior space thanks to two cores of load-bearing walls and 2 main columns that transmit the loads to the subsoil. The rest of the structure is suspended by the metal box containing tension rods on its facades (2 on each). This allows the richness of the interior space in the Literary Center not to be conditioned by the structure.
Maria Camila Higuita
The use of brick both inside and outside the project is due to its cultural relationship with the city of Medellín, as well as its local availability, reducing costs in transportation. Other materials such as GRC were used on the upper part of the facade due to their versatility in molding. These, along with steel and glass, allowed for a uniformity in the project’s language.
With the purpose of weaving both sides of the Medellín River and bringing life back to it, the project of the community, sports, and cultural center is proposed as a main gear that connects the existing facilities in both neighborhoods (Tricentenario and Palermo).
The project includes spaces such as a market, library, gymnasium, workshops for traditional knowledge, among others, that allow the population from both sides of the river to be linked through architecture.
1. Palermo Neighborhood
Maria Camila Higuita Loaiza
Longitudinal Section
the hillsides of Medellín?
Maria Camila Higuita
Existing Public Space: Interrupted Flows
The architectural proposal as a receptor and connector of the city
The formal approach of the building is based on a large square that extends from the Palermo neighborhood along the riverbank and connects with the metro through a bridge building, which attracts pedestrian flows from this mass transit system.
The project also aims to bring people closer to the river through architecture, with the goal of dignifying its value as a city articulator and as a life agent. The river is a source of history, natural wealth, and culture that it is our responsibility to protect.
Maria Camila Higuita
Construction Detail - Facade Section
1. GRC panel cladding
2. Concrete roof slab
3. Structural steel tubular profile 0.75 x 0.3m
4. Floor finish in PVC sheets
5. Mezzanine slab in steel deck
6. Tempered glass panel 0.05m
7. Aluminum profile 0.06m, matte black finish
8. Ceiling in aluzinc sheets
9. Galvanized steel C-profile 0.02m
10. Microperforated aluminum screen panel 0.02m
11. Exposed concrete wall
12. Public pavement in draining pavers
Cross Section
North Facade
East Facade
Maria Camila Higuita
Market Perspective
Sports Scenario Perspective
Maria Camila Higuita Loaiza
COMMUNITY HOUSE
Palenquera
Location: San Basilio de Palenque, Cartagena, Colombia
Year: 2024
Semester: 8
Self-designed presentation for the XX Sustainability Congress, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Location Plan, San Basilio de Palenque
1. Main Square 2. Architectural Proposal (Community House) 3. Traditional Palenquera Houses
The project aims to recognize the value of intangible heritage such as music, dance, traditional medicine, and gastronomy of San Basilio de Palenque (the first free town of slaves in America), declared cultural and intangible heritage by the UN in 2005. This is achieved through a community house that acknowledges the preserved African traditions.
The main issue found in this territory is that the lack of qualified community spaces has hindered the development of cultural practices. The project is therefore based on researching the physical and spatial qualities of the traditional Palenquera house, from construction methods to preserved African traditions, in order to present an architectural design.
Perspective section A-A’
intangible heritage through architecture?
Maria Camila Higuita
Isometric View of Palenquera Houses
The Palenquera house lives like the hearth
inward, the courtyard
The central circulation axis divides the functions of the house and connects the public street with the privacy and intimacy of the courtyard.
Maria Camila Higuita Loaiza
Inner courtyard
The void as the space’s articulator, main stage for activities.
The porch: Transition threshold Relationship between the exterior and interior of the project
Community kitchen area Eating as a collective act, of relating to others and to the surroundings.
10. Exterior corridor/access for people with reduced mobility
Maria Camila Higuita
EDUCATIONAL CENTER Teach on the beach
Location: Busua, Ghana, Africa
Year: 2023
Semester: 7
Collaboration: Juan Pablo Camargo, Valeria Echeverry, Daniel Chica
The idea of the educational center arises from the interest in promoting educational strategies for children’s development through the creation of a welcoming and functional space for the community. Its objective is to establish connections between local residents and volunteers through attractive spaces that offer openings and views to the outside, abundant vegetati-
tion, and the use of local materials. The project is based on the creation of five architectural spaces that can be structured independently and in stages. These spaces are connected by a main path designed to collect rainwater through the roof slopes, while respecting voids as articulators of community activities.
