This studio is a pilot project at UCD focusing on village development in Chiquirines, Guatemala. Located in the western lowland region near the Mexican border, the small village of Chiquirines is home to approximately 2,000 inhabitants but is expected to grow 500% due to the building of a medical facility nearby.
Currently, the area is plagued by extreme poverty and prone to annual flooding of up to 1 meter. Clean water, electricity, proper sanitation, and adequate housing are scarce to none. The major economic driver of the community is a large corporate banana plantation and little else.
The studio worked in partners and for the first part of the semester the focus was on infrastructure. My team focused on community development and providing a system to foster personal investment and incentives for each technology proposed by the other teams. The villagers could use micro loans to choose which technologies they would like to invest and learn about. By giving the power back to the people to choose, a sense of pride and ownership of their community can be fostered.
The second part of the term focuses on a housing model. We chose to pursue a town-center live-work housing model. The concept behind the housing model was to provide low-cost wall types based on function, environment, and flexibility. The model is meant to be formed over time as the community begins to see economic growth. Bamboo although abundant, is not used in construction. Instead, CMU is the preferred building material. In order to appease local culture as well as introduce a more sustainable and lower cost building method hybrid wall types are heavily emphasized. Furthermore, sustainable amenities such as passive cooling, onsite food production, flood management, and potable water storage are integrated into the site.
Term: Spring 2012
Instructor: Fred Andreas
Studio Partner: John T. Hillyard