Architecture in Colombia: A Sense of Place

Take 59 pages from a book on modern Colombian architecture and reproduce them as posters and you've got "Architecture in Colombia: A Sense of Place," or so it seems (the book was under glass). Be prepared to read a lot of small print, search for itty-bitty superscript, and sift through text to find the passages in your language (English, Spanish, or French) if you want an education on the past 25 years in building design in the South American country. If you enjoy the obfuscation of academia, you'll love the posters' explication of such things as "an architectural sense of place," which "materially and spiritually recreates the attributes of a reality... without the superficial contextualization" to "positively transform a reality by creating and recreating its life coordinates." Thankfully, the pictures are a little more accessible. The buildings featured in the exhibit are organized into seven categories, with names like "Dissolution of Limits" and "Re-encounter of the Public" and with each poster featuring a separate structure. For instance, within the category "Geography as Poetic Support," we find Casa Rio Frío, whose inspiration architect Rogelio Salmona found in a pre-Colombian poem. The lines "to enter the house is to enter the earth, to go up onto the roof is to go up into the sky" are translated architecturally into a series of open terraces to best appreciate natural surroundings. Along with notes on the aesthetics and functionality of the buildings, each poster contains a sizable photo — ideal for those with a recreational (rather than academic) interest and those with shorter attention spans. (Through October 31 at Broward County North Regional Library, 1100 Coconut Creek Blvd., Coconut Creek. Call 954-201-2600.)