The Memory of Urban Traces in Rogelio Salmona’s Architecture for Bogotá

The urban composition of Bogotá, like that of most Latin American cities, was determined by the orthogonal grid imposed by the Spanish conquistadores in the early sixteenth century. The traces of pre-Hispanic roads and settlements, shaped by the topography, were overlaid by this new abstract layout. In some cases, these traces re-emerge as irregularities and imperfections within the urban fabric. Rogelio Salmona’s (1927-2007) architectural projects for Bogotá work with these irregularities as a means of evoking the historical memory of the city. In his project for Nueva Santafé (1985-1987), the traditional colonial block is subverted through the introduction of diagonal urban pathways that break the orthogonal grid and open direct views toward the Andes mountains, establishing a renewed dialogue with the historic landscape. Similarly, in the Eje Ambiental Av. Jiménez (1998-2000), Salmona re-evokes the memory of the lost Vicachá River, sacred to the pre-Hispanic Muisca people who inhabited the region. This one-kilometer-long linear plaza penetrates the city center, reminding citizens of the presence of a millenary past. The detailed confguration of the brickwork enriches the spatial experience and lends new dignity to the city’s historical layers. Salmona’s work for Bogotá demonstrates how architecture can evoke and reinterpret urban traces from different historical eras, revealing their enduring signifcance as compositional and symbolic elements within the contemporary city.