Caroline Anderson, Team GGA member, and Anusha Khansaheb, Master of Historic Preservation student at the University of Pennsylvania, investigated and presented new perspectives on Latin American Architecture to the NC State College of Design community.
Caroline and Anusha received the Linda and Turan Duda Travel Fellowship upon graduation from the NC State School of Architecture. During the summer of 2022, they traveled to Mexico City, Mexico; Medellín, Colombia; Quito, Ecuador; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. They chose these four cities for their unique political and historic circumstances that have resulted in rich architectural conditions.
While studying the architecture of the past in these cities, they asked the questions: What has been preserved and why? What narratives or identities do these acts of preservation serve? How does this play into collective memory? Likewise, by studying contemporary architecture in these cities they asked: What has changed and why? Who does the architecture serve? Who does it not? What identity is being created and what does that say about the cultural and political climate of today?
During their travels, they visited dozens of architecturally significant sites to gain an understanding of how the built layers of Latin American cities, from indigenous constructions through contemporary urbanization projects, reveal cultural attitudes and changing identities. They documented their travels with daily writings, sketches, and Instagram blog posts. Through exploration of the multifaceted cultural histories of these cities, they sought to understand how architecture, urbanism and preservation projects have been used to claim power and shape national identities.
