Abstract:

The project is located on the La Floreana Farm in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, within the sensitive Andean Chocó ecosystem. This territory faces degradation of rural living due to fragmented growth that disconnects housing from landscape, transforming the urban-rural fringe into a residual space that threatens ecological continuity.

In response, the Colectivo de la Semilla (Seed Collective) project is conceived as a support for environmental protection and community engagement. The collective housing operates as a territorial mediation strategy, redefining the edge through a functional duality: towards the city, it acts as a physical barrier containing urban sprawl; towards the nature reserve, it functions as a porous, elevated articulator that allows for the continuity of biological cycles.

The proposal transcends the residential aspect to operate as an integrated system that articulates productive, educational, and community programs, strengthening intergenerational social inclusion. Understood as territorial infrastructure, the project proposes a new way of co-inhabiting rural areas, supported by mixed construction systems of metal and local wood that promote adaptability and material efficiency.