#local craftsman

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Chaki Wasi, Artisanal Center of the Shalalá Community / La Cabina de la Curiosidad

Completed in 2024 in Zumbagua, Ecuador. Images by Samanta Martinez, JAG Studio, Marie Combette. We are at the summit of the Quilotoa Lagoon,

 "Chaki Wasi's aspiration is to represent Andean culture through traditional vernacular techniques and serve as an educational platform to showcase a way of living in the Andean landscape. It is built with river stone foundations, a structure made of eucalyptus wood tied with cabuya (fiber from the agave plant), and supported with large dowels of chakra (small pieces of young eucalyptus wood).

The hammer used to drive the dowels was a large wooden mallet; all the fastenings are made with repeatedly used chakllas, and the large roof covering is made of straw. There is a vision of regenerating the community's land, living in harmony with nature, being carbon-positive, and returning waste to the earth. The future outlook is rooted in the wisdom and territorial knowledge of the past."

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Casa Luar / Coelho Neto Arquitetura

Completed in 2020 in Apucarana, Brazil. Images by Tatiana Galindo Fotografia. The owner asked for a house to behold the moon, the sun, and the stars. For that reason, we create a fixed vent that crosses the house...

“ We reused almost 90% of the materials from the existing house that was demolished, the wooden wall became the pool deck, the kitchen furniture and the doors of the house. The bricks of the old residence served as coating for the new walls. To complete the system, the house has solar heating and cisterns for reusing rainwater.”

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PANNAR Sufficiency Economic & Agriculture Learning Center / Vin Varavarn Architects

Completed in 2021 in Nai Mueang, Thailand. Images by Ketsiree Wongwan. Over the past decades, the world has encountered increasing challenges resulting from unprecedented rapid rates of technological advancements,...

What a roof! 

“ The activity center is placed as the landmark among the vast agriculture fields, It is designed as a large and open Pavilion to facilitate flexible usage of functions with natural lights and natural ventilation. The expansive and prominent roof made from locally grown bamboos helps to collect and drain rainwater towards small canals surrounding the building and in turn, redirect the water to feed other areas of the land before reaching the natural reservoirs for usage during the drought season. The natural color of earthen walls, resulting from an experiment with local craftsmen's skills and local soil further enhance  "sufficiency thinking and mindset" in adapting locally available materials and capabilities for modern usage.”

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Villa Icaria located in Sacedón

“ Villa Icaria located in Sacedón, Spain seeks to establish a new relationship between country and city, creating a meeting place, an opportunity to fill the rural environment with contemporary urban activities. Meticulously designed by Arquitectura al descubierto, its volumes are intertwined with nature on the banks of the Tagus. Its buildings and cavities describe this double quality. The stone, the rural organism and the shadow, give way to the glass, the light and the synchronic space. The floor of the building unfolds two hugs, who comes and who lives, creating a small town articulated around two courtyards-squares. These volumes alternate interior spaces of two types: those that are crossed by the landscape and those that are sheltered inside the stone volumes, capturing visual fragments. 

The entire construction is the work of local masons and local materials have prevailed in this return to the essential, the finishes are raw: the exposed concrete vaults, the rustic plastering of the interior walls and the polished concrete floors connecting with the logic of the rural. Permeability, spatial continuity and intimacy follow one another. The house aims, in short, to offer an alternative to the city, but linked to it; a place of return to the origins, creating a refuge where to develop the hyper-connected technological activity of the 21st century. The project includes different intentions -search for the best views of the river, conservation of existing trees, sustainability, self-sufficiency- to configure a whole with meaning.”

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Houzz Tour: A Home Built With Traditional Japanese Techniques

Local craftsmen shared building traditions that have been passed down the generations.

This is truly something worth your while. I am very pleased to be able to proudly share this work. Its so beautiful! Its poetry in construction!

Harihara

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Rwanda Cricket Stadium / Light Earth Designs

Completed in 2017 in Kigali, Rwanda. Images by Paul Broadie, Johathan Gregson, Light Earth Designs. The project is part of work undertaken by Light Earth Designs for the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation over a 5-year period on how Rwanda can...

[peoplesrenaissance-blog]

Kelly, a chronically homeless local craftsman, talks about supporting himself with the beadwork he sells in and around the park.