Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities

Lars Müller Publishers 2012

Torre David, a 45-story skyscraper in Caracas, has remained uncompleted since the Venezuelan economy collapsed in 1994. Today, it is the improvised home to more than 750 families living in an extra-legal and tenuous squat, that some
have called a “vertical slum.”
Urban-Think Tank, the authors of Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities, spent a year studying the physical and social organization of this ruin-become home. Richly illustrated with photographs by Iwan Baan, the book documents the
residents’ occupation of the tower and how, in the absence of formal infrastructure, they organize themselves to provide for daily needs, with a hair salon, a gym, grocery shops, and more. The authors of this thought-provoking work investigate informal vertical communities and the architecture that supports them and issue a call for action: to see in informal settlements a potential for innovation and experimentation, with the goal of putting design in service to a more equitable and sustainable future.

Design: Integral Lars Müller
16.5 x 24 cm, 6 ½ × 9½ in, 416 pages, 406 illustrations, hardcover (2013)
ISBN 978-3-03778-298-9, English

News coverage:

• The Guardian: Architecture books of the year – review, December 8, 2013
• Financial Times: Best books of 2012, December 3, 2012
• Archidose, August 10, 2014

Order this book at Lars Müller Publishers, your local book store or at Amazon.