Carried-out by Ecuadorian collaborative and experimental architecture studio AL BORDE Arquitectos, this ingenious transformation of train cars into a dynamic cultural venue aims to significantly increase creative encounters within underserved communities.
As part of the reactivation of a train line, AL BORDE Arquitectos explores the possibility for an architectural intervention to be itinerant, willing to provide flexibility of use and greater accessibility to disadvantaged remote areas.
Keeping with social needs and specific local conditions, the architects employed inexpensive and commonly available materials in the design of a physical interface staging various cultural activities and engaging with framing beneficial interactions among users.
Describing its practice process as a ‘commitment to recombine preexisting elements in a sensible yet rational way’, the Quito-based studio addresses the multifunctional nature of such a project with a fairly basic intervention allowing for a highly operational efficiency.
As the architects considered the interdisciplinary collaboration as a crucial design tool, they worked alongside a number of industrial designers in order to facilitate the transformation of the train cars into a public venue, holding spaces suitable for both intimate theatrical presentations and work meetings.
Photos Cyril Nottelet
