Sobremesas is a modular table around which you share food and have a conversation, centering the act of social and intellectual exchange at the site of food driven culture. The project took part in the 13th Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (BIAU) which was celebrated in Lima, Peru in December 2024. It produces a space for communal gathering that is flexible and open for appropriation. These artefacts, designed and produced by salazarsequeromedina in collaboration with Leggett & Cahuas and the BIAU Curatorial Team (Elizabeth Añaños, María Arquero, Gary Leggett, Luis Rodríguez, Emilio Ontiveros, Jose Luis Villanueva), facilitate the meeting of diverse agents and community constituents around a table. The intention of these artefacts is to shift from the traditional role of a pavilion, that has ephemeral life and use, to a more ambiguous and open-ended infrastructural element that can be repurposed after the Biennale.
During the Biennale, it was installed in the format of an infrastructural device to support central events of the XIII BIAU such as “Sobremesas: Community Resilience and Healthy Living” and “Workshop on Food Security”. Both events brought to light the key role of la Red de Ollas Comunes as a central community agent that creates a network of care within vulnerable settlements in Peru.
The re-use of the Sobremesas after the Biennale by La Red de Ollas Comunes has been central for the design, scale and assembly. After the biennale, the artefacts were donated to two localities that are part of La Red de Ollas Comunes network for community use: Centro Cultural Comedor Comunal San Martín del Once in La Balanza, and Olla Manos Milagrosas in Manchay. For this reason, the artefacts have been designed as a prototype for a versatile modular system fabricated with locally sourced Tornillo wood, that can be easily assembled and disassembled, and transported. This allows for open ended appropriation, use and layout, that can adapt to diverse events and serve La Red de Ollas Comunes’s program, including markets, festivals, food security workshops, hydroponics, composting, and outdoor dining, meetings and classrooms.
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![A hillside community with colorful houses is visible in the background, with mist covering the upper part of the mountain. In the foreground, there is a row of wooden structures with bright yellow canopies, possibly for a public space or market setup.]()
The modular elements serve as public infrastructure for ongoing community programs. -
![A close-up view of wooden structures with circular cutouts at the base, supporting bright yellow canopies stretched by white poles.]()
Constructed from locally sourced Tornillo wood, the system is modular and adaptable. -
![A close-up view of wooden structures with circular cutouts at the base, supporting bright yellow canopies stretched by white poles. In the background, a hillside community with stacked houses and palm trees are visible.]()
Unlike temporary pavilions, the table serves as an open-ended infrastructural element that can be repurposed.
