Author of case study: Marcela Torres

Geopolitical location of space:
Carrera 4a No. 23-28
Bogotá, Cundinamarca

Extant? Yes

Architect:
Fundación Horizontal

Timeframe RJ/TJ process in this space:

La Casita has been operating since 2017.

Background information:

La Casita is the first restorative justice centre for young people in Colombia, with a space dedicated specifically for restorative justice purposes. The centre was the result of a collaboration between the Secretariat of Security of Bogotá, the organisation ‘Convivencia y Justicia’, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The space is also open to process cases selected by the Attorney General’s Office, involving young people in the city.

Is restorative justice actually taking place in this space?

Yes, restorative justice processes and encounters between young offenders and other actors take place onsite.

Is this space designed/arranged for safe listening?

Yes, the renovation of the interior space was adapted to foster safe dialogues, both one-one-one and collective encounters.

Who is the audience/the intended participants for this space?

Young offenders who live in Bogotá and have been invited to be part of a restorative justice process.

How or to what extent is this space public?

The site is a public house that belongs to the local municipal government. The space has specific working hours and it is closed at night.

La Casita was designed with the objective of creating a welcoming space for all citizens. Although the initiative was led by the local government of Bogotá, the façade renovation and interior design were done in such a way as to avoid creating an institutional environment.

Physical/factual description of space:

‘Casita’ is the Spanish word for little house.

La Casita occupies the second floor of a traditional house in the centre of Bogotá. The façade and the interior were redesigned to create a welcoming space and safe dialogue site for processes of restorative justice that involve young offenders. The design, which was created by Fundación Horizontal (a design collective from Bogotá), is centred on a geometrically-shaped pedagogical devices that enable dialogue between survivors and offenders. For Fundación Horizontal, designing for restorative practices should be guided by an understanding that spaces have to be adaptable to the different ways people occupy and live in their environments. Since restorative processes are dynamic and unique to each case, spatial designs should accommodate those singularities.

Through the use of curtains to modify the interior spaces of dialogue, the design aimed to provide opportunities to rethink and organise the users’ experience. The materiality of the objects and the use of light and sound allowed the space to be manipulated according to the varied perspectives and contributions of the participants. “The system is intended to create ever-changing dynamics and atmospheres” (Alcaldía de Bogotá, 2019).

From a design perspective, the curtains are particularly useful because they can be easily manipulated by the users, and additionally, they provide storage efficiency in a limited space. In their approach, Fundación Horizontal’s design team was interested in exploring how physical spaces condition individuals and their activities. Accordingly, they decided to create a pedagogical exercise, in which the curtain rails became a tool for configuring individual spaces that were used for meetings between the participating youth and the program facilitators.

Likewise, the furniture used in the space required the same flexibility to facilitate the dynamics of reconciliation, discussion, and sharing. The furnishings as well as the spaces needed to be flexible to respond to the changes in the dynamics of the restorative process. La Casita became an exhibition space where participants could  make their experiences visible to a broader audience. “A space that serves for the creation, compilation, exhibition and dissemination of narratives and the construction of memory”(Alcaldía de Bogotá, 2019).

The design also includes three pedagogical artefacts that help to enrich the individual restorative exercises and collective moments of reflection. The artefacts also serve to open the doors of La Casita, broadening its scope of activities to include other citizens and create mechanisms that foster empathy and co-responsibility between city residents and the beneficiaries of the program.

Analytical description of space:

La Casita was the first dedicated space centred on dialogue and active listening in the city of Bogotá, and the first house for restorative justice in Colombia. It became the pilot program for a national model that focused on youth responsibility with an objective of restoration (Tiempo, 2017). The space is currently used for workshops with social workers and psychologists, to achieve a purpose of social reintegration.

The design process was the result of an interdisciplinary group project that included designers, artists, psychologists, young offenders, and organisations such as Bogotá’s Secretariat of Security, Cohabitation, Fundación Horizontal, and Estudio Montenegro architects. The proposed modification of the space aimed to facilitate practices of reflection through spatial reconfiguration. The functions of the different spaces are aimed to support the various dynamics that take place in the house, including activities of diverse scales such as individual, dual or group interactions.

The project proposed three different communication pedagogies: (1) building recognition through narratives; (2) fostering reparation through the sharing of oral testimonies; and (3) individual social projection. These three tactics were represented by physical, mobile structures that enabled participants to carry out the proposed activities. For the design of these pedagogical tools, Indigenous knowledge was used as a guide, particularly in the use of  narratives for reparation, and the association of specific geometrical shapes for certain healing practices.