Sunday, November 16, 2008
SITE
(from conversation with PATRONATO Engineer Carlos Rojas, 11.14.2008)
While Barrigon consists of six large farms (including Granjo Trapichito) spaced roughly 15 km apart, almost all of the its residents grow something on their land, including yucca, oranges, coffee, bananas, sugarcane, rice, pigs, and chicken, either to be sold at market or bartered for other necessities. The area has no electricity, and fresh water is received via aqueduct.
Several visitor cabins were recently constructed with community assistance on one of the larger farms. Using hand tools and locally obtained materials, each cabin was constructed for roughly $450.
Alejandro Rodriguez has set aside a 3,000 square meter piece of land for his project, along with pine, palm leaves (penca), and corrugated metal. While PATRONATO could provide generators and power tools for construction, it is Alejandro’s and our wish to use only vernacular methods, employing machetes and hand saws to cut, and vegetal ties to fasten.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
GAB 1.0 _ GRANJA TRAPICHITO
The Rodriguez Farm is part of a larger piece of land acquired by PATRONATO, a nonprofit land grant organization working with local subsistence farmers to develop sustainable agricultural methods and viable revenue generation methods. Many farmers have expressed interest in agricultural tourism, and some have even begun building visitor cabins on their properties. Alejandro has set aside a piece of his own land for the construction of cabins as well, but lacks funding, design, and construction ability. The Pilot Project of Global Architecture Brigades will be to provide all three of these. Global Business Brigades Carnegie Mellon is working with Alejandro to cultivate the logistical aspects of the project, including visitor experience, advertising, community involvement, and future expansion.
The cabins will be built using vernacular construction methods, and will use widely available local renewable resources. As they will lack electricity and running water, they will use passive methods to provide cooling, ventilation, cooking, cleaning, and waste disposal. Construction will be carried out not only by GAB, but also by the Rodriguez family and community volunteers. Community participation is critical to the success of the project, as it will greatly reduce construction costs, increase personal pride and investment in the project’s success, and allow for the education of other farmers in construction methods and business models for the development of their own projects. Construction assistance could be provided in exchange for the design and construction of cabins on their own properties.
The project is to be carried out in two stages, one of observation and assistance, the other of design and construction. Accordingly, our January 2009 will allow us to survey they site, conduct interviews with the Rodriguez family and other farmers, study and participate in vernacular building methods, and listen to and propose ideas for the design of agritourism eco-cabins. Upon our return to the
GAB
Creating these solutions within the current parameters that the field of architecture has set is simply not possible. Students of design must question, reconsider, and ultimately rewrite every aspect of design that culture has come to accept. Through this counter-cultural approach to design defiance, architecture can become something essential not to the few who want, but rather to the many who need.