Caribbean Urbanism: From Garífuna Roots to the Layered City of La Ceiba, Honduras

Moises Carrasco — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0000

On the Caribbean coast of Honduras, lies the Leán valley, a narrow coastal strip lined by the Nombre de Dios Mountain Range to the South and the Caribbean Sea to the North. For a long time, this was the last frontier: dense jungle, swamps, no infrastructure, and difficult inland access. However, all of that started to change with the arrival of the Garífuna, who settled the area between the Danto and Cangrejal Rivers, setting the foundations of what would become the City of La Ceiba. An urban hub in the Honduran Caribbean whose history has been defined by migration waves: Central Americans, Afro-Caribbean people, Europeans, and corporate North America. These movements from all around the world did not merely contribute to economic growth, but actively produced the city's spatial logic, identity, and architectural form.

Cambará Instituto Explores Bamboo as a Medium for an Afro-Brazilian Architecture Rooted in Ancestry and Collective Practices

Romullo Baratto — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:38:00 +0000

A bamboo structure rises as a space of convergence between technique, ancestry, and collective practice. OCO is the first work by Cambará Instituto, an organization that grew out of the Arquitetas Negras Project. Conceived during an artistic residency at Cerbambu, in Ravena (Minas Gerais), with support from re:arc institute, the project brought together ten black women architects who, over seven days of immersion in July this year, worked alongside master builder Lúcio Ventania to explore the constructive and symbolic potential of bamboo. The process culminated in the presentation of the work at the 14th International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo.

Tag: afro-diaspora | ArchDaily

Caribbean Urbanism: From Garífuna Roots to the Layered City of La Ceiba, Honduras

Cambará Instituto Explores Bamboo as a Medium for an Afro-Brazilian Architecture Rooted in Ancestry and Collective Practices