The Lighhouse: Vernacular architecture that respects the traditional logics with lines of contemporaneity.
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From JAG Studio
The Lighthouse turns on as a small-scale housing solution, a flexible one-person proposal in
the center of Bahía de Caráquez, Ecuadorian coast, the highest seismic risk zone in
Ecuador.
The traditional architecture of the Ecuadorian fulfills the implicit demand in itself
The traditional architecture of the Ecuadorian coast meets the implicit demands in itself,
which have been forgotten by current practices, it’s presented through this contemporary
social dwelling, under a simple expression: vernacular architecture that respects the
traditional logics of the area with lines of contemporaneity.
Background:
Bahía de Caráquez is a small coastal city of approximately 20,000 inhabitants, which
belongs to the Sucre county, Manabí province. Its tropical-humid temperature oscillates
between 22 - 26 degrees Celsius. It's located in the northern section of the Ecuadorian
coast, a region that is part of the Pacific fire belt and it’s characterized by the concentration
of some of the most important subduction zones in the world, which causes intense seismic
activity.
In a 17 year period, Bahía de Caráquez registered two earthquakes of magnitude higher
than 7 degrees; cataclysms that ended up demolishing more than 60% of the city. After the
natural phenomenon of April 16th, 2016, hundreds of people were affected by the 7.8
earthquake that struck the north coast of Ecuador, including Cristina López de Guillem.
Cristina was already 79 years old and faced, perhaps, the most tough situation known to
man: the problem of housing, the right of the few.
Cristina lost her home and everything that it represented: this house was the center of her
housing and commercial activities. Her economic income was based from the rent and the
profits from the sale of clothing (house-commerce). She spent two years in Guayaquil,
waiting to capitalize to start the adventure that awaited the process, an adventure that began
with a very highlighted social-family problem. Her house-commerce property was a shared
asset with his nephew. Both owners had different demands regarding the new interventions.
After a long process of negotiation proposals, it was resolved to divide the irregular terrain
into two portions of the same footage in the Ground Floor, and equal dimension in the
façade, sharing a common staircase.