Psychological and emotional impact of restoring a municipal environment
Every time a part of our home is restored, when we paint it, decorate it or fix the deterioration of the roof, walls or any other part, we feel happy, we feel like continuing to live in that space, right! That same feeling is being experienced by the population of the Sucre municipality in the state of Aragua, Venezuela, where I live.
The whole municipality has been restored from the inside with asphalting works, sewage, white water, green areas, lighting, landscaping, integral health, among others, and obviously there is still much to be done; however, the work is bearing fruit and now it is up to the administration and municipal management house that started this mission several months ago. This is the first time that such a complete and organic work has been done in this area.
In the past they only painted the façade and restored some things without major changes, but this annoyed the population because it was the only thing that the former heads of government (mayors) solved while everything else was deteriorating. With the current mayor things have been different and we have been able to see and verify that the resources obtained with our taxes are being invested where they should be; the turn now is of the Mayor's Office itself, all this work is having an impact on the quality of life of the citizens and the same public employees are motivated to carry out their functions, the management is more efficient, the employees are more friendly and everything works as it should.
The impact of the architecture and design that surrounds us is perceived in our state of mind, improving health and the common good, this is what is happening in my municipality, that is why people are no longer upset with the restoration of the town hall, rather they feel happy.
Details of the restoration
The place where the mayor's office is functioning is an old colonial style house, I don't know when it was built, I imagine that some historian will have those details and I promise to give them in a future publication because I will make a second part, today I just want to show how it has been the execution of the beginning of these restorations. Starting with the mayor's office the restorers decided to remove the original roof totally clearing the central garden and the offices, one of the things I like is that they kept the original structure and design and took advantage of walls and columns that could still be restored instead of tearing them down, but just by removing the roof you can see a significant change and there will be no more leaks to dry he, he, he, he, he.
On a personal note I would like to tell you that about 14 years ago I worked in this town hall, doing my university internship, I was working in the department of administration and finance as support to the treasurer of the municipality, because my career was a degree in administration and municipal management, during this time that flew by, I went into almost all the offices and they had nothing nice and pleasant that made me feel good, On the contrary, the office where I worked for several months was very tiny and there we had to share a room with 4 people and the safe, which was very big, took up a lot of space that we did not have, and as a personal anecdote I got to carry and touch the key to the mayor's office, the one that is pure gold and is shaped like the keys to old doors, it turns out that if they exist they are not a myth! And they really are gold, they weigh a lot, they are kept inside the vault or safe and only two people have the combination, the mayor and the treasurer and I was curious enough to put the key all over my body and play with it for a while, thanks to the fact that the treasurer let me be a child.
Going back to the restoration, the day I took these pictures I was running a lot of errands, but I couldn't resist to take the pictures and sneak inside to see inside, after the main entrance the first thing you can see are the columns of brick coloured chaguaramos that make a kind of imaginary division of the internal garden, interior design of the colonial style houses, There are in total 16 chaguaramos in a perfect square of 4 on each side, these at the top have a semi-arch that unites them, this garden is actually a small square with paths that converge in a central fountain, but this fountain is disabled and is used as a planter, in the photos you can see the bare sky of this institution, even the surrounding buildings that are not so close, they are literally half a block away, across the street.
I could not continue with the internal inspection he, he, he, he because the workers were already looking at me with a bad face and for my safety I preferred to observe from afar, so I went out and walked along one side of the town hall where you can see its large wooden windows with a cement rest and protected with iron bars, in the pure old style of the colonial era, At the end of the land of the mayor's office area begins what is the house of culture that is also being remodelled, all at the same time, to have a panoramic view and better appreciate everything, I walked to a shopping centre that is in front called multicentro and went up to the third floor to observe from above and take better pictures.
It is the first time that such a complete reconstruction and restoration work has been done in the governmental architecture of my town, at least that I remember, and I am already anxious to see how it all ends inside, I hope you have enjoyed this publication, we will read each other in the comments, thank you very much.
