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Architects: Juan Carlos Bamba, Natura Futura Arquitectura
- Area: 70 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Francesco Russo
Text description provided by the architects. Context. In Ecuador, several centuries ago, the Babahoyo River and its floating houses became one of the main gathering, storage, and resting points on the commercial route for merchants and farmers between the cities of Guayaquil and Quito, using a construction system with greater resilience and adaptability over the years.
Currently, the river is no longer a commercial waterway, reducing the number of floating structures from 200 to 25 and increasing the risk of their extinction, despite being recognized as Intangible Heritage of Ecuador.
During the last few years, the governments have developed housing solutions for relocation and displacement, declaring the riverbanks as a risk zone, without considering the consequences on the socio-cultural dynamics based on fishing, boat manufacturing, and river transportation.
The inhabitants of the remaining 25 houses feel the need to preserve their connection with their territory, despite the unsatisfied basic needs and the absence of public policies that promote the care of their habitat.
The objective is to propose a model of floating housing for Mr. Carlos, Mrs. Teresa, and their youngest son. A family that has been living on the river for over 30 years and uses the immediate ecosystem as their main resource.
Carlos repairs wooden boats, while Teresa prepares traditional food, which is sold to local communities. The housing they lived in presented a critical condition in its structure and provision of basic services, preventing them from carrying out their livelihood activities in a dignified and sustainable manner.
Processes and techniques. A survey is conducted of their current living spaces and an inventory is made of the existing furniture and their uses. Through interviews with Carlos and Teresa, the problems, needs, and possible solutions are further explored, with the aim of utilizing them.
La Balsanera proposes extending 2m on each side of the current platform (6mx7m) to enhance the productive environments of the inhabitants. The structure consists of modular frames every 2m built with local wood, forming a gable roof, creating storage spaces and sufficient height for the enhancement of natural ventilation and lighting through its wooden lattice boundaries.
The existing location of private and social spaces such as the living room, dining room, kitchen, and bedrooms is preserved in the center, while two strips are added to the ends; one for service and two for productive purposes, where the boat workshop, dry toilet, laundry, toilet, and shower are located. The platform ends towards the river with a productive terrace where the possibility of extending the traditional food service, social gathering, and anchoring of tourist boats is generated.
Management and approach. The SAT (Sharjah Architectural Triennial) calls on architecture teams to develop an exhibition that values the importance of scarcity, reuse of resources, and the appreciation of ancestral techniques based on nature in the Global South, including the Natura Futura studio, which in collaboration with Juan Carlos Bamba decides to use the resources commonly used in ephemeral constructions and later discarded to design and build the first sustainable floating house in Babahoyo, Ecuador with the aim of recovering the tradition of inhabiting the river.
La Balsanera explores possible floating solutions that recover local artisanal techniques while enhancing the active and productive participation of occupants in vulnerable communities, where it is urgent to strengthen their resilience and sustainability to initiate the generation of public policies that allow, for the first time, traditional habitat on the river.
