INTERSTITIUM – Cultural Activation Through Urban Voids

A layered urban strategy in Bogotá’s Las Nieves neighborhood that reclaims overlooked interstitial spaces—transforming them into vibrant cultural and communal nodes.

Type: Urban Design / Cultural Infrastructure

Project Title: INTERSTITIUM

Location: Barrio Las Nieves, Bogotá D.C., Colombia

Designer: Simon Tovar

Key Features

• Urban void activation through adaptive reuse of mid-block passages and alleys

• Integrated cultural programming including artist housing, schools, and performance venues

• Network-based planning connecting courtyards, theaters, and pedestrian corridors

• Emphasis on public life and community participation

• Sensitive contextual response that preserves neighborhood identity while introducing new uses

• Flexible open-air spaces designed for exhibitions and live performances

Set in the dense fabric of Barrio Las Nieves in Bogotá, Colombia, INTERSTITIUM explores how urban voids and mid-block passages can become catalysts for cultural resurgence. Rather than viewing these in-between spaces as leftover or unproductive, the project reframes them as opportunities for connection, expression, and community life.

The intervention builds a network of cultural spaces by threading together existing alleys, theaters, and inner courtyards within the neighborhood. This connective infrastructure houses a mix of programs, including:

• Artist residences

• A performing arts school

• Open-air theater

• Flexible exhibition spaces
  

These are carefully integrated to revive the area's historic cultural presence, offering a sensitive and context-aware transformation without displacing its local character.

By layering public and semi-public functions within the interstice, the proposal acts as a quiet yet radical gesture—activating hidden potential within the urban grain and redefining how we perceive and utilize in-between urban spaces.

Credits: Simon Tovar @simontovar_30