Across South America, architecture endures through the materials it uses, those that persist over time. Bamboo, brick, wood, and concrete appear across regions, connecting climate, labor, and culture in ways that ensure their persistence through generations. Their continuity does not depend solely on preservation or heritage. It depends on use.

In this context, cultural memory does not reside primarily in monuments or images, but in practice. It survives in repeated gestures: laying bricks, tying guadua joints, assembling wood frames, casting slabs that anticipate another floor. These actions are transmitted less through manuals than through participation. Over time, they form systems of knowledge embedded in habit and necessity. Materials endure not because they symbolize the past, but because they continue to work.

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Bogotá is a metropolis that celebrates the convergence of different architectures, reflecting a significant part of Colombia's diverse culture and geography. Limited by the Eastern Hills, it is not only one of the highest capitals in the world, reaching almost 2,600 meters above sea level, but its history dates back to its foundation as the center of the New Kingdom of Granada in the year 1538.

This guide aims to provide an overview of its colonial, modern, and contemporary architecture, highlighting its main buildings and architectural points of interest. From its civic spaces to renowned public projects such as museums, libraries, and cultural centers, this list of 30 sites showcases works by modern architects like Rogelio Salmona and Germán Samper, as well as contemporary ones like Equipo Mazzanti and TAB. We hope it helps you get to know the city!

Located in the Teusaquillo neighborhood, in the northeastern sector of Bogotá, the Virgilio Barco Library forms a complex integrated by the Simón Bolívar Metropolitan Park and the Virgilio Barco Library Park. The consolidation of the social, recreational, and cultural development center displays the library a particular approach between the built work and the natural capital environment. Through its tour, it progressively reveals the solution of a program designed to form a cultural and landscape ensemble omitting its position within the city.

Recognized as one of Rogelio Salmona's emblematic works, its circular forms open to the environment attract between 60,000 and 65,000 visitors a month. Initially, it was to be called the Simón Bolívar Park Library, due to its proximity to the metropolitan park, but because of the patronage it received from former Colombian president Virgilio Barco, it ended up taking his name.

For much of the world, this past year was spent within the confines of our homes, undoubtedly blurring the lines between our public, professional, and private lives and transforming our living spaces into places of work and productivity. This transformation of spaces and how they are used is nothing new in the world of architecture as countless spaces take on various roles beyond what they were originally designed for--a fact reflected in their layout, design, and the materials used within them.

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Located on the north-eastern edge of downtown Bogota, Colombia, the Postgraduate Building of Jorge Tadeo Lozano University has become the hallmark of the campus, serving as the university's main gateway.

The greats of twentieth-century Colombian architecture were regarded for their genuine interest in brick. To this day, many of Colombia's iconic neighborhoods are filled with brick buildings. 

Below, a selection of stunning Colombian brick projects —available in this My ArchDaily public folder as well.

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