Located at the midpoint of Bogotá's main axis, Calle 26 Avenue, the Bogotá Centro Administrativo Nacional, the CANhas symbolically charted its growth from the historic downtown to the airport and the international gateway of Colombia. With a footprint as large as the National Mall in Washington DC, this new city center will serve as the city's government headquarters, with additional mixed use programs of residential, educational, retail and cultural developments.
The new public axis achieves a unified system of green, infrastructural, and programmatic networks. It divides the site into three districts: an office zone that connects to the existing financial district; an institutional / governmental zone that is linked to the existing cultural spaces and recreational parks; and an educational campus connected to the existing university. These districts are unified by a green path that extends the meandering paths of the Simon Bolivar Park to the National University plaza at other end of the site. This park axis will be programmed with cultural attractions and a bike path that will extend to Bogota's highly successful pedestrian CicloVia network.
CAN is historically significant for two more reasons: OMA's proposal shifts the city's historic downtown center, which Le Corbusier masterplanned between 1947 and 1951 -- an early demonstration of the city's longstanding commitment to urban planning. The CAN masterplan will be the largest built institutional masterplan in Latin America after Oscar Neimeyer's Brasília, built in the 1960s.
Status.- Competition 2013.
Location.- Bogotá, Colombia.
Site.- 870,000 m².
Program.- 680 acres (2,750,000 m²) of total buildable area / 72 acres (29,000 m²) of Public Open Space.
- 982,000 m² Government Offices.
- 683,000 m² Residential.
- 650,000 m² Offices.
- 160,000 m² University Campus.
- 85,000 m² Cultural (including Museum of Memory).
- 75,000 m² Retail.
- 60,000 m² Hotel.
- 55,000 m² Hospital.
CREDITS.
Lead Designer/ Masterplanner.- OMA
Partner-in-Charge.- Shohei Shigematsu
Team.- Sandy Yum, Daniel Quesada Lombo, Yolanda do Campo, Denis Bondar, Ahmadreza Schricker, Cass Nakashi- ma, Jake Forster; with Isaiah Miller, Maria Saavedra, Andrew Mack, Sean Billy Kizy, Caroline Corbett, Christopher Kovel, Simona Solorzano
Local Architect.- Gomez + Castro
Mobility Consultant.- Carlos Moncada
Financial Consultant.- Oscar Borrero
Sustainability Consultant.- Esteban Martinez
Client.- Empresa Virgilio Barco