Spine emerges from the experience of walking through the marginal neighborhoods of Medellín and from the analysis of documentation concerning the access routes that shape their public space. In this context, the main stairways and the smaller staircases built by residents to reach their homes are essential. The work Spine focuses on the articulation of these two constructive schemes and on how their convergence reflects a conception of public space that simultaneously responds to both individual and collective needs.

Several factors influence the definition of these spaces: the founding history of those neighborhoods, the steep slopes of the terrain, the socio-economic conditions of their inhabitants and their familiarity with construction processes managed by themselves.

Spine takes as its study area the neighborhoods of “Las Independencias”, in the upper part of “Comuna 13”. The definition of public space in these areas is a direct consequence of the processes of land invasion that gave rise to them in the late 1970s. This is significant because the access paths were never formally planned; their layout emerged instead from the random placement of shacks that gradually occupied the area. Combined with the topographical conditions of the zone, where slopes can reach gradients of up to 60%, explains why the network of paths and stairs becomes steep, winding, and labyrinthic.

A staircase is essentially a system, a kind of equation, that, through the combination of two variables, solves a given situation. The tread and riser of each step, and their infinite combinations, determine both the effectiveness of the ascent and the physical effort required. Yet while the terrain greatly determines the formalization of this architectural element, it is through the body, its capacities and limitations, that this reality is negotiated. Thus, the staircases that weave through this urban fabric are conceived through the experience of the body.

At the same time, the social conditions and economic means of the inhabitants shape the construction processes, techniques and choice of specific materials. Through a basic and intuitive knowledge of these materials, residents develop a uniquely effective language.

It is common, for example, to first build a house with ordinary wood and later replace it with more durable materials such as brick or concrete. The techniques used to build staircases solve practical problems in ingenious ways. The staircase thus becomes a malleable, flexible architectural scheme that easily adapts to given conditions.

The individual staircases that lead to each home not only facilitate access but, as extensions of the dwellings themselves, also display aesthetic qualities that grant them a certain identity. In this way, public space is, in part, the result of these individual contributions, which imbue it with meaning and confer upon it a social identity marked by resourcefulness and creativity.