An Illegal Casino in Venezuela Is Now a Cultural Hub With a Really Wild Balcony

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 restructured facade creates a permeable skeleton that adds a layer to the building’s exterior, yet it’s also part of the interior, blurring the barriers of the enclosed environment," says Marcos Coronel, one of PICO’s cofounders. The design is meant to disrupt the building’s curtain wall, a "real estate aesthetic" that creates "a condition of false comfort that’s not natural in the tropics," adds Coronel. 

The balcony, which was completed in 2019 in just six weeks, marks the first step in the planned overhaul of the building’s exterior. PICO’s design process followed Casino Caracas’s gradual growth model that emphasizes sustainable, practical, and low-cost construction with minimal waste.