QUITO, FLEXIBLE GRID AND ECOLOGIES

In Una Urrea en Los Andes, Pablo Perez explains the curious condition where the "intended rectangular tabula rasa" contrasts the dominant and imprecise geography of the city. Mountains, volcanoes, rivers, and gullies define Quito's landscape, and topographical difficulties have traditionally been a central obstacle to urbanization in many Latin American countries. Spanish colonizers were the first to remap the territory as an even, mathematical space, ignoring existing pre-colonial conditions in an attempt to recreate the order of cities they understood. The development of a static grid as a utopian manifestation has become as Colin Rowe describes an "object to contemplation" or an "image to be adored," rather than a "directly applicable instrument to seriously alleviate social order." Looking closely at the urban structure of Quito, the artificial grid has traces of the pre-existing topography in the slight bends of the otherwise ideal colonial structure. However, utopian desires for predefining space do not reflect, nor can they contain a cities complex topography, and culture in flux. This thesis highlights the conflict between the European grid and the geographical agents in Quito's historic city center. It proposes flexible ecological urbanism, where an adaptable grid integrates Quito's natural and built environments, viewing architecture (culture) through a lens of nature. An Ecology center and research park are the catalysts to redefining the interaction between an organism and its constructed environment.