Summary of the workshop
In 2020, the Guatemala Visiting School will offer a transcontinental journey focused on the comparative study of Urban Flow and the use of Public Space in three radically different locations that could be considered paradigmatic examples of Central America and Europe, regarding such topics: Guatemala City, Antigua (Guatemala), and London.
The aim of the workshop is to let the students unveil some of the principles that lead to very different models of street activity and community life, by providing them some conceptual frameworks as well as new technological tools to be applied to the different case studies.
Questions such as pedestrian flow and street life, safety, modes of urban transport and mobility, social interaction, urban density, mixed land use or retail, will be discussed and analysed through the lenses of different technologies and methodologies. Students will learn how to use Geographic Information Systems to visualize and analyse some of these variables. They will also apply aerial mapping techniques, using drones and photogrammetry to get orthophotos and models of some urban areas, images that will support further analyses.
In London, students will visit remarkable offices of architecture and urbanism and relevant projects related to the topic of the workshop.
Where and when?
The 2-week workshop will take place from 8 to 20 June 2020, at two different locations. We will start in Guatemala, and during the first week we will have an intensive workshop focused on the analysis of urban flows and public space in Guatemala City (the largest city in Central America) and Antigua Guatemala (the former capital of the country, an extraordinarily interesting colonial city), hosted in the Francisco Marroquín University campus.
Then, we will travel to London where the second week of the workshop will take place. There, the students will continue their analysis, contrasting findings and drawing conclusions valid for improving urban design in such different locations. At the Architectural Association students will receive some reviews, tutorials and lectures from different tutors and, eventually, they will have a public presentation of the work developed.
Counting of people in Granary Square, London.