“River Memory” Project: Rethinking the Relationship Between Urban Space and Water Systems

The Intersection of Public Art and Ephemeral Architecture

The concept of “River Memory” exemplifies the convergence of public art and ephemeral architecture, where temporary structures serve as a medium to rethink the role of urban spaces. This approach does not aim to create permanent landmarks but rather to explore the potential of a site and its capacity to host renewed cultural activities that respond to the evolving needs of the city.

Temporary Intervention as an Urban Tool

Instead of relying on fixed solutions, the project uses temporary intervention as a flexible urban strategy. This type of intervention activates underutilized or marginalized spaces for limited periods, opening the door to diverse cultural experiences without imposing permanent changes on the urban fabric.

Decentralization of Cultural Activities

On another level, the project introduces the idea of decentralizing cultural uses, so that events are not confined to specific areas of the city. In this way, various neighborhoods gain the opportunity to host cultural activities, promoting spatial equity and expanding the scope of community participation.

Revitalizing Urban Spaces

Ultimately, such initiatives are seen as tools for revitalizing urban spaces through culture, rather than merely isolated art or architectural projects. They redefine the relationship between residents and place, transforming public space into a temporary interactive platform capable of creating urban experiences with tangible social and cultural impact.

Water as an Urban Design Tool

This proposal is based on studying the natural water systems in the city, particularly rivers, as vital infrastructure often overlooked within urban development. Understanding these natural systems offers an opportunity to grasp the city’s dynamics more deeply and to connect urban planning with environmental characteristics that have long shaped the area’s identity.

The Dynamic Nature of Rivers

The water systems originate from the eastern hills and are characterized by their flexibility and adaptability to varying spatial and temporal conditions. These dynamic features make rivers a source of inspiration for designs that can change and adapt, rather than relying on rigid structures that fail to reflect environmental shifts or evolving community needs.

Incorporating Fluidity in Design

Building on these natural phenomena, a concept was developed for a flexible modular covering that can be adjusted according to site and time requirements. Its materiality embodies fluidity, allowing the design to mimic the movement of water and embrace it as both an aesthetic and functional element, enhancing the interaction between the architectural structure and its surrounding environment in a way that reflects the spirit of the savanna and the city’s natural history.

Designing Flexible Multi-Use Units

Based on conceptual guidelines, a flexible architectural unit was developed with defined dimensions: 6 meters in length, 8 meters in width, and 5 meters in height, featuring unidirectional expansion controlled by the upper dome. This design allows the unit to be utilized in diverse urban contexts, such as streets, plazas, and playgrounds, while adapting to different spatial configurations without requiring permanent changes to the surrounding environment.

Modular Assembly System

The structure relies solely on dry connections, enabling it to function as a modular element that can be easily assembled and disassembled. This feature enhances usability flexibility, allowing the unit to be divided to activate multiple urban spaces simultaneously, offering a dynamic urban experience suited to different activities without affecting the existing urban fabric.

Removable Architecture and Its Temporary Impact

Due to the absence of permanent anchors, the structure can be installed even in heritage environments without causing irreversible damage. This approach highlights the concept of removable architecture, where the structure appears and disappears as needed, leaving its mark only in the city’s collective memory and emphasizing the relationship between temporary design and impactful urban experience.

Embodied Water Behavior Indoors

The interior atmosphere of the project seeks to represent the behavior of water in an abstract manner, drawing inspiration from the movement and continuous flow of rivers. A model resembling a “phantom river” is suspended within the canopy, serving as a visual symbol that links nature with architectural space in a contemplative way.

Movement as a Design Element

Here, water is seen as a dynamic material composed of constantly moving particles. This concept is translated into the ceiling through the installation of approximately 15,000 pieces of blue fabric. These elements create a sense of continuous movement, interacting with air to produce subtle shifts that mimic the dynamics of natural water.

Light and Transparency to Enhance the Experience

With a transparent polycarbonate canopy, the interior atmosphere becomes ever-changing, relying on the interplay of light, shadow, and transparency. This interaction between light and materials creates a rich sensory experience, reflecting the essence of the river in an abstract form and giving visitors a tangible sense of fluidity and movement within the interior space.

Site as a Functional Testing Element

Bicentenario Park was chosen as the site for the initial installation due to the diversity of its environment and its design challenges. The park is located between Independence Park and the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art and is characterized by the absence of a clear spatial order and a variable topography, making it an ideal setting to test the project’s ability to adapt to irregular urban spaces conditions.

Adapting to the Place

The project reflects the concept of analogical adaptation, where the structure conforms to the site’s terrain in a manner reminiscent of a river flowing through a valley. This approach enhances the harmony of the temporary structure with its surroundings and provides a smooth urban experience despite spatial challenges.

Cultural Activities and Temporary Sustainability

During the four-week implementation period, the project hosted a variety of cultural activities, including food events, circus performances, and artistic and theatrical presentations. The project will continue at this site throughout the first half of 2026 before moving to other locations in the city, establishing itself as a mobile cultural infrastructure capable of revitalizing urban spaces in a flexible and temporary manner.

Public Art as a Transformative Element

The “River Memory” project goes beyond being merely a temporary structure, becoming a public art sculpture. This approach reflects the idea that ephemeral architecture can engage with the city’s daily rhythms, creating a sensory experience that transcends the traditional functional purpose of temporary structures.

Ephemeral Architecture and Reconnecting with the Environment

Through its temporary and adaptive design, the project aims to reconnect the city with the memory of its natural rivers, fostering interaction between residents and their surroundings. Here, the transformative role of culture is evident, as architecture and art can revitalize urban space and create shared experiential moments that enhance awareness of place and the city’s natural history.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The “River Memory” project can be seen as an important step in exploring the relationship between ephemeral architecture, public art, and urban space, particularly in the capacity of temporary structures to activate specific areas and provide diverse cultural opportunities. On the positive side, the project offers a model for experiencing design flexibility and adaptation to irregular topography, demonstrating the potential to temporarily move cultural activities across different city neighborhoods, which can serve as inspiration for future projects based on temporary structures.

However, several reservations arise when viewed from the perspective of applied architecture. First, reliance on flexible, modular units that can be assembled and disassembled may limit long-term sustainability and reduce the project’s capacity for continuous integration within the urban fabric. Second, the experience related to rivers and water remains largely symbolic rather than directly functional or educational, which diminishes the immediate benefits for the community from the surrounding water infrastructure. Third, the temporary nature of the project makes measuring its social and cultural impact limited in the short term, and it may be challenging to assess its ability to permanently influence residents’ behaviors or their connection to place.

Despite these reservations, valuable elements can be drawn for future projects: utilizing flexible units as tools for design testing before implementing more permanent projects, enhancing interaction between art and the natural environment in an experimental way, and focusing on integrating educational or awareness-raising components about water and the environment into the experience. In this way, the project can serve as a knowledge base and a tool for redefining the concepts of temporary architecture and urban space planning in a manner that more fully integrates functionality and aesthetics.