Torre David, a 45-story office tower in Caracas designed by the
distinguished Venezuelan architect Enrique Gómez, was almost complete
when it was abandoned following the death of its developer, David
Brillembourg, in 1993 and the collapse of the Venezuelan economy in
1994. Today, it is the improvised home of a community of more than 750
families, living in an extra-legal and tenuous occupation that some
have called a vertical slum. Where some only see a failed development
project, U-TT has conceived it as a laboratory for the study of
informal vertical communities. In exhibitions and a book, the
architects lay out their vision for practical, sustainable
interventions in Torre David and similar informal settlements around
the world. They argue that the future of urban development lies in
collaboration among architects, private enterprise, and the global
population of slum-dwellers. U-TT issues a call to arms to their
fellow architects to see in the informal settlements of the world a
potential for innovation and experimentation, with the goal of putting
design in the service of a more equitable and sustainable future. With
the aim of developing the debate over Torre David and similar sites in
other cities, U-TT has created this web page to document and encourage
a local and global discussion.
