The steel-frame balcony, an experimental design by PICO Colectivo, is the latest addition to the expanding cultural center in Caracas.
In downtown Caracas in Venezuela, PICO Colectivo has punched through the facade of a midcentury building to turn it into the host of their latest project, Parasite Balcony. Appearing like a new growth, the aptly named intervention is part of a greater urban revitalization effort to transform its host into Casino Caracas, a new cultural center for the arts.
The ten-story cultural center is named Casino Caracas after the building’s former life as an illegal gambling den. The adaptive reuse project began in 2013 under the joint leadership of various civic and cultural groups.