Hillsides of Memory (LAM)
Original title: Laderas de la Memoria (LAM)
A cultural center on the hillside of Palmitas Central that brings together formal education, rural education, culture and the local economy to strengthen peasant memory.
About the project
Laderas de la Memoria (LAM) is a response to the weakening of peasant memory in Palmitas Central, in Medellín. Young people migrate to the city, traditional houses are replaced by typologies that break with that identity, and those who today know farming and the muleteer tradition are the last generation to keep them. The project aims to keep that knowledge alive for those who stay and for those who return.
LAM adapts to the topography of the hillside to bring formal education, rural education, culture and the local economy together in one place. Its name sums up three dimensions: the hillsides as the support of the territory, learning as a community and intergenerational process, and memory as a living identity projected into the future.
From Calle 20 up to the Vía al Mar, the volumes step along the slope in terraces connected by pedestrian paths and a funicular. The program includes a library and rural archive, a tech hub and telecenter, cooking, ceramics and carpentry workshops, agroecological classrooms, gardens, a greenhouse and seed laboratory, a barter and farmers market, a community restaurant, a multipurpose hall, a bonfire area with tiered seating, and a parking area with a viewpoint.
The volumes rest on reinforced concrete columns and footings, with retaining walls and green roofs.