There’s a co-dependency that exists between heritage and crumbling buildings, as one cannot exist without the other. This is the story of Lima. On one hand there’s World Heritage Lima, a city that is rooted in thousands of years of history, layered atop one another, showcased through its grid pattern, underlaying Pre-Hispanic Paths, building techniques and narrow alleys. On the other hand, there’s the Lima in crisis, that of collapsed and collapsing buildings, gentrification and facadism, people losing their homes and nothing they can do to save them.

The ethics of architectural preservation often do not align with the need to preserve cultural and social practices.

This project will outline interventions that speak to the paradoxical state of Lima’s bricolage architecture: materials, patterns, and strategies of enhancing buildings, void, and public space. Through reinforcement, the project calls for surgical incisions that echo the built fabric, with an incremental spirit of infills, subtractions, and adaptive reuse for the city and its people.