A mobile pavilion made of bamboo and a board game dedicated to education around the urban planning process were among the projects highlighted from a design and architecture symposium held in Bogotá.

Helmed by Copenhagen philanthropic organisation Re:Arc Institute, the symposium gathered several global design and architecture studios to present projects aligned with the "Andean concept of 'buen vivir'", which the team said relates to a "symbiotic" relationship between nature and humanity.

Headed by a team including Space10 founder Carla C Hjort, designer Nicolay Boyadjiev and researcher Alice Grandoit-Šutka of the publication Deem Journal, the institute seeks to support community and environmental-driven design and architecture projects through a variety of funding initiatives.

Held in Bogotá's Museo Del Chico in March, Re:Arc's third symposium featured presentations from design studios and initiatives such as São Paulo-based Arquitetura Na Periferia, which seeks to educate women in construction techniques and Argentina-based Region Austral, a studio centred around community-based urban planning.

The international projects presented incorporated environmental stewardship, as well as community, with a particular focus on creating designs in collaboration with indigenous or local populations across the various countries represented.

Read on for six projects presented at the symposium.

Image by APLO

Veanve Intercultural Center, Colombia, by Mano Cambiada and APLO

Located in the Chocó region of Colombia, which is home to several Indigenous tribes, the Veanve Intercultural Center will act as a gathering space for the town of Nuquí and the broader community, including an annual festival that celebrates the migration of birds and whales that pass by Colombia's pacific coast.

Activist Josefina Klinger of Mano Cambiada and architect Pedro Aparicio Llorente of Colombia studio APLO are leading the project, which will include a telecommunications tower, a fire pit for gathering, music and recording studio, kitchens, gardens and housing. It is currently seeking funding.

Along with the Festival de la Migración, it aims to bring pride to the local indigenous communities which traditionally have been considered underserved by Colombia at large.

Photo courtesy Arquitectura Expandida

El bicho (The Critter), Colombia, by Arquitectura Expandida, Distreestyle and Golpe de Barrio

The bamboo El Bicho – or The Critter – was made in collaboration between Colombia architecture studio Arquitectura Expandida, activists Distreestyle and hip-hop group Golpe de Barrio as "a platform, a space for arranged or spontaneous meetings on the street or waiting for the weather to clear up".

Triangular in form and placed on wheels, the structure was installed in the outlying Bosa neighbourhood of Bogotá, which is populated with social housing. The project called attention to the lack of not-for-profit public gathering spaces.

"El Bicho was built with the philosophy of strengthening the daily rap meetings that young people organize every week in this space," said the team. "Thus, beyond its operational function, El Bicho is a manifesto for a collective and self-managed right to the city that questions the verticality of urban powers."