The project takes place on the island of Portete, located in the Province of Esmeralda - Ecuador, one of the sectors affected by the 2016 earthquake. As a result of this event, the 80 families who lived on the island were displaced to the mainland in an infrastructure that was not their customs and without any appropriate thermal conditions for the area. The endemic materials of the area such as bamboo, wood, toquilla straw and kade were replaced by zinc plates, blocks and concrete. The traditional construction of the area whose materials are easily accessible, cheaper and more sustainable have been stigmatized as low quality materials.
In this way, distancing the communities of the sector from accessing their own homes with traditional construction systems that are easily executed by having specialized labor in their family.
For 2.5 years, hand in hand with the community of Portete, we have been working for the revaluation of construction in bamboo and toquilla straw, renewable materials from the area with low environmental impact. The intention of the project was to develop 3 types of bamboo housing responding to different sizes of families in the area, their economic capacity and ease of execution to make it affordable. Open, flexible and adaptable spaces were proposed. The central idea of the exercise was to develop homes with high thermal quality. This quality will reduce the use of fans and air conditioning.
For the construction of the three housing prototypes, local labor was used, each house serving as a practical exercise to train the community in bamboo construction and toquilla straw weaving. Each home has its own sewage management system through a biodigester, biological filters and infiltration fields.
At a technical level, the houses were treated with different preservation and curing methodologies to evaluate their durability and to be able to carry out a real follow-up of the complications that the material may suffer in a humid and saline environment such as that of the coast.
We thought of a series of pieces that would allow experimenting with and reinforcing the Bamboo construction technique. Working with mixed techniques, between simple joints with metal pins or traditional joints with fish mouth or flute beak, a practical and efficient structure is achieved.
For the final finish, after several tests, the material used was an oil based on beeswax, which protects the material from UV rays and water.
TOQUILLA HOUSES is a project in which the technique is optimized to the maximum, to be the most efficient without neglecting quality or safety. A set of decisions and details that propose to resume construction in Bambú and Paja Toquilla from the objective of making it accessible to all. Currently in the area they have replicated the methodology, design and construction in 3 more homes.
Team:
Carolina Rodas, Carla Chávez, Felipe Donoso
Daniel Merchán, Jefferson Camacho
Diego Quilatuña, José Loyo
Material Used:
1. Facade cladding: Bamboo and Paja toquilla
2. Flooring: Wood
3. Doors: Wood
4. Windows: Pambil, wood and glass
5. Roofing: Paja toquilla, bamboo
