Retrospeksi Rogelio Salmona
Rogelio Salmona, arsitek kondang Kolombia yang pernah menjadi asisten Corbu (Le Corbusier) ini saat ini profil dan karyanya tengah menjadi topik utama Majalah Architecture & Urbanism (a+u) Jepang edisi Maret 2008. Di situ oleh Ken Tadashi Oshima and Oscar Arenales-Vergara, hasil wawancara April 2007 saat Mr. Salmona masih sehat ditulis kembali (Beliau meninggal Oktober 2007 lalu, obituarinya ditulis pula di NY Times). Melihat karyanya yang didominasi oleh pemakaian bata merah dengan permainan geometris yang menawan, berlanggam modern namun juga mampu menunjukkan representasi ke-Kolombia-an, terasa banyak memberi inspirasi arsitektur negara berkembang. Cocoklah pula bila Beliau menjadi simbol eksistensi arsitek Amerika Latin, bersama Oscar Niemeyer (Brazil), Luis Barragan (Mexico), dan Carlos Raúl Villanueva (Venezuela).
A sort of symbol for South American architecture, whose genius is best expressed in his work in the city of Bogotá, Rogelio Salmona was born in Paris on April 28, 1927 to a Spanish father and a French mother, but moved to Colombia as a child. He always identified himself as Colombian, having grown up in Teusaquillo, an area of Bogotá with brick faux Tudor houses. Salmona began studying architecture at the National University of Colombia but interrupted his studies in 1948 and moved to Paris where he worked with the master architect Le Corbusier for nearly ten years. Also he collaborated in some projects under the direction of the architect and designer Jean Prouvé. At the same time, he continued his academic formation and studies of the history of modern art with Jean Cassou at the Louvre, and took part in the sociology of art program directed by Pierre Francastel at the Sorbonne’s École des Hautes Études.
His professional experiences were further enriched by study-related travels to throughout France as well several Mediterranean countries in Europe and North Africa. At the end of the 1957 he returned to Colombia and with other important architects in Bogotá founded a group whose main objective was to create viable public space, a principal characteristic of all his work. Once based here, Salmona created a body of work inspired by building traditions ranging from those in northern Africa and southern Spain, where Moorish influences were present, to indigenous civilizations in the Americas that predated the arrival of Iberian conquerors.
In a career lasting over fifty years, Salmona’s new way of considering architecture dominated Colombia’s national architectural scene. His first projects were primarily concerned with urban planning and the use of spatial volumes and were characterized by his use of brick which quickly became one of his favorite building materials. At the beginning of the 1970s, as epitomized in the Bogotá Towers in the Park residential complex, the architect challenged the prevailing strict architectural typologies and started to gain international attention.
Beginning in the 1980s Salmona’s work began to receive recognition both in Colombia and around the world; in 2004 he was awarded the prestigious Alvar Aalto Medal. Despite urban planning that has made Bogotá into a model for other Latin American cities, Salmona still lamented the living conditions of the poor, blaming their lack of dignity in part on the deep class differences of the country’s society. Salmona has received several international and national awards and honours including National Prize for Architecture, Colombia (1986, 1988, 1990), Architect of America Award, Pan American Federation of Architects Ass., Costa Rica (1999), Prince Claus Award, Amsterdam (1999), Alvar Aalto Medal, Finland (2004), Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (2006) and Golden Lion Award, Venice Biennial for Architecture (2006). Rogelio Salmona died on October 3, 2007 in Bogotá. He was 80 years old.
