Silvia Arango/en

Silvia Mercedes Arango

Datos generales

Nombre	Silvia Mercedes Arango
Fecha de nacimiento	28 de septiembre de 1948
Nacionalidad	Colombiana }}
Ocupación	Arquitecta
Estudios universitarios	Arquitecta en la Universidad de los Andes
País de nacimiento	Colombia }}
Ciudad de nacimiento	Bogotá

Silvia Mercedes Arango is an architect from Bogota and a researcher of the history of architecture in Colombia, recognized for her numerous publications such as Ciudad y arquitectura. Seis generaciones que construyeron la América Latina moderna (City and Architecture: Six generations that built modern Latin America) and Evolución del Espacio Público en Bogotá en el siglo XX (Evolution of Public Space in Bogotá in the Twentieth Century). Her work is noted for its search for the unique values that distinguish architecture in Latin America. She is currently a professor in the master's program in history and theory of art, architecture, and the city at the National University of Colombia, Bogotá.

Biography

Silvia Arango was born on September 28, 1948, in Bogotá. She completed her training as an architect at the Universidad de los Andes, from which she graduated in 1972 to go on to Europe where she engaged in postgraduate studies in England and France. She returned to Colombia in 1977 and dedicated herself to doctoral research, with a thesis titled Evolution of Public Space in Bogotá in the Twentieth Century, which garnered honors and opened the way to a teaching career in 1978. Her career would turn out to be prolific in developing methodologies and educational programs in the country and abroad. Besides her contributions to the academy in the field of teaching, she has also published books and articles that have become references for both Colombian and Latin American architecture, such as Ciudad y arquitectura. Seis generaciones que construyeron la América Latina moderna (City and Architecture: Six generations that built modern Latin America), published in 2012. "The research took Silvia Arango Cardinal fifteen years to complete, during which she traveled through Latin American cities and explored historical works of city architecture, monographs, case studies, books, magazines, and theses, as well as holding interviews, conversations, consulting specialists, and paying special attention to the reading and interpretation of graphical documents, a source dear to the Colombian researcher."

Artistic Career

Silvia Arango's career in architecture research has been notable and is considered a contribution in the field of academia. Her research and writing have permitted the rigorous study of the architectural and urban history of Bogota and Latin America.

From the first moments of her career, Arango demonstrated her fascination with research, as revealed in “Historia de la Arquitectura en Colombia” (History of Architecture in Colombia), her first published book, considered the most complete work of research on the subject. Thanks to its analysis, historiographic concepts, and critical stance, it became a reference text on national architectural values. Her knowledge has led her to become a juror for architectural biennials and to direct various projects.

She is currently a full-time professor in the master's program in history and theory of art, architecture and the city at the National University of Colombia, Bogotá, and directs the Research Group on Art and Architecture Issues in Latin America (GISTAL).

Characteristics of her work

Her work is known for its innovative take on the idea of architecture, analyzing it beyond aesthetic criteria or innovation and seeing it in terms of its usefulness for the construction of livable spaces within a city.

Arango’s research is sociological, lending importance to the relationship between spaces and human beings, very critical of the role of construction. Her work attempts to explain why architecture should be at the service of citizens and how it has been transformed by the history of places.

Featured Publications

• 1989: Historia de la Arquitectura en Colombia (History of Architecture in Colombia), Editorial Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• 2000: Historia de un itinerario (History of an Itinerary)
• 1969: Ciudad y arquitectura: seis generaciones que construyeron la América Latina modern (City and Architecture: Six generations that built modern Latin America), Fondo de Cultura Económica
  • 2012: Crítica, Arquitectura y Ciudad (Criticism, Architecture, and the City), Editorial Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• 2015: Guía de arquitectura y paisaje. Bogotá y la Sabana = an architectural and landscape guide, Editorial Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Timeline

• 1948: Born in Bogotá, Colombia.
• 1972: Received a degree in architecture from Universidad de los Andes, the first step in a prolific academic life, with several postgraduate degrees and numerous texts and books published.
• 1974-1975: Received a graduated diploma in urban design from Oxford Polytechnic in England.
• 1975-1979: Received a master's degree from Universite Paris Xii (Paris-Val-De-Marne) for the thesis Proposed Evolution of Public Space in Bogotá in the Twentieth Century.
• 1977-1979: Received a doctorate in Urbanisme Et Amenagement from Universite Paris Xii (Paris-Val-De-Marne), for the thesis Proposed Evolution of Public Space in Bogotá in the Twentieth Century.
• 1987: Appointed director of the Museum of Architecture of the National University.
• 1989: Published her first book Historia de la arquitectura en Colombia (History of Architecture in Colombia), for which she won the National Architecture Award two years later, the first time that an academic text received the award.
• 1992: Obtained the National Architecture Award for the book Historia de la arquitectura en Colombia (History of Architecture in Colombia). Decorated with Medal of Teaching Merit by the National University of Colombia.
• 1995-1997: Obtained the Getty grant to develop the project Latin American Architecture, from 1939 to 1960 coordinated by Jorge Francisco Liernur.
• 1996: Member of the jury at the Pan-American Biennial of Architecture in Quito.
• 1997: Published the book Arquitectura de la Primera Modernidad en Bogotá (Architecture of the First Modernity in Bogota) with Fondo de Promoción de la Cultura
• 2000: Won the America Prize for Theory and Criticism at the Latin American Architecture Seminars in Puerto Rico.
• 2002: Published the book Historia de un itinerario (History of an Itinerary) with the National University of Colombia.
• 2008: Received a postdoctoral degree in architecture of urban and symbolic forms in the years 1880-1920 from Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM).
• 2014: Member of the jury in the first cycle of the Rogelio Salmona Prize, establishing criteria for winners the prize, awarded every two years.

See also

• Credential History.

Bibliography

• Colciencias. (s.f.). Scienti. Taken from "Hoja de vida Silvia Mercedes Arango de Jaramillo": http://scienti.colciencias.gov.co:8081/cvlac/visualizador/generarCurriculoCv.do?cod_rh=0000177040

• Escudero, A. (2012). Scielo. Taken from "Ciudad y arquitectura. Seis generaciones que construyeron la América Latina moderna": http://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/aiie/v38n109/0185-1276-aiie-38-109-00277.pdf

• Maestría en Historia y Teoría del Arte, l. A. (s.f.). Taken from "Docentes": http://www.maachistoriayteoria.unal.edu.co/docentes/silvia-arango

• Salmona, F. R. (2016): https://premio.fundacionrogeliosalmona.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=219

Credits

1.Research and text: Mónica Piragauta Roldán, mediator of Banco de la República museums and collections, for Banrepcultural.

2.Review and editing: Inti Camila Romero Estrada and Diana Marcela Salas Solórzano. Public and Educational Services, Art and Other Collections Unit (UAOC).

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