Vivian Dembo, Installation view at Palazzo Mora, 2016.

My professional experience encompasses four decades focusing on architectural practice mainly in Caracas, a singular city surrounded by imposing mountains that define the borders of its sinuous and distinctive valley. Therefore, my designs aim to dialogue with that generous geography of amazing sights, influenced by the tropical nature of the outstanding Caribbean landscape. Since the mid 1950’s, this magnificent city aspired to reach the spirit of the modern language from functional and rationalist architecture to deserve an important place as a modern metropolis. An accelerated development has been shaken – among other things – by contradictory urban policies and a dramatic process of environmental destruction of its public spaces.
Today, Caracas reproduces a chaotic and disorganized territory, which constantly challenges me in every new project, amid what is currently a polycentric structure. It is an inspiring challenge, imposed by the need of building habitable spaces for common citizens in a constantly changing urban context. My passion for architecture, and the continuous learning derived from the understanding of infinite variables in this context, has led me to experiment with diverse construction alternatives and methods. It forces me, at the same time, to unveil the huge potential of a city that sprawls towards the mountains; it encourages me to defy conventional solutions and to submit new proposals where what is ludic and concrete, visceral and rational, smoothly integrate with each other. Caracas inspires me to propose efficient and versatile solutions, incorporating the splendor of the landscape and the motion metaphors as its arguments.
When I design for inhabitants of Caracas, I cannot ignore the particular topographical features of the city, fundamental design criteria among the architectural concepts that emerge from each of my projects. The environmental context definitely affects the emotionality in us, the Caraqueños, and demands a thorough and honest response to the difficulties and conflicts that it paradoxically presents to us in daily life. My architecture attempts to strengthen itself in front of the landscape and its potential visuals, taking advantage of every opportunity to honor the magnificent dominance of our omnipresent mountain, El Avila, and its surrounding hills. On this account, my single and multi-family houses are deliberately open towards the privileged perspectives of a glorious panoramic view. My interpretation always considers the transparency of large windows and openings, while simultaneously taking advantage of the unique weather, our lush vegetation, and the ever-changing shades of light. My design process takes the form-function equation to maximize structures, create efficient spaces, and join volumetric elements in an articulated game of integrated positives and negatives, which ultimately develop dynamic effects on the extended facades. Occasionally, it is important to break the surfaces or lines several times to get to the core of a new concept, the breaking of patterns or schemes. Free sketches are my finest working tools. It is in that medium where great ideas are born and where my users’ fantasies and my imagination come to life.