Abstract:

The Nodo La Floreana project is situated in a rural context undergoing urbanization in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, within the Chocó Andino region—a high-biodiversity ecosystem protected as an Area of Conservation and Sustainable Use (ACUS). In this territory, the imposition of urban-origin housing models has led to a progressive loss of rural identity, biodiversity, and local productive systems, weakening the relationship between community, landscape, and traditional ways of life.

Faced with this problem, the proposal is conceived as a system of environmental protection supports and community engagement, where communal housing operates as an articulating and containing threshold between the existing community and the natural reserve. Architecture is no longer understood as an isolated object, but rather as an active territorial infrastructure capable of mediating between conservation and habitation, curbing urban sprawl and strengthening the community's relationship with the natural environment.

The project integrates residential, productive, and educational systems, incorporating diverse typologies and community spaces that promote intergenerational inclusion. It relies on tectonic systems using local materials, which integrate passive ventilation and fluid transitions between interior and exterior spaces, ensuring adequate environmental conditions for inhabiting a humid tropical context. Following this logic, the proposal suggests new forms of rural living through co-habitation