TRAMA Magazine
ARCHITECTURE+DESIGN
140 YEAR 39
By: MarÃa Alicia Becdach, architect.
Location: Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Primer Lugar Concurso Internacional Universitario de Anteproyectos CIU HABITAT - Tema 1
La finalidad del concurso fue contar con propuestas innovadoras de intervención en asentamientos humanos que presentan problemáticas comunes para varias regiones del mundo. El concurso se denominó ´´Retos del hábitat popular en el sur global contemporáneo comunidades resilientes´´ y tuvo tres temas. El equipo de la Universidad de las Américas, UDLA, obtuvo el primer lugar en el tema ´´Arquitectura y Urbanismo para Asentamientos Humanos en Ecosistemas de Manglar en el Golfo de Guayaquil, Ecuador´´.
Current Situation
Puerto Roma is a community located in the Gulf of Guayaquil, 38 km from the city's port and 25 km from Puná Island. It has an approximate population of 1,800. Despite being a relatively small community isolated by waterways, it has a close-knit social fabric due to its peaceful and safe environment; factors that lead its inhabitants to choose to remain in unsanitary conditions incompatible with human habitation. It coexists with a mangrove ecosystem that is being negatively impacted by the settlement and shrimp farms in the area.
Threats
The threats include: lack of basic services and limited waste disposal; having a single economic source, carried out by the male population, crab harvesting; winter flooding and rising sea levels that create incompatibility with the human habitat; a population growth of 2.93% that is accelerated compared to Guayaquil's 2.5%; and the use of an informal, fragile construction system, without studies and unsuitable for the area.
Objectives
In alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals established in the Habitat III agenda, the proposal achieves a replicable and adaptable model for similar geographic and social contexts. It aims to create an equitable community by ensuring access to basic services; generate new employment opportunities through facilities that promote women’s inclusion and gender equality; coexist with the fragile ecosystem while respecting the mangrove environment; and achieve self-sufficiency through recycling systems, renewable energy sources, and waste treatment strategies.
Strategies
Key strategies include the use of solar panels and rainwater harvesting systems; the construction of an ecological hostel, a marketplace, and a community development center; elevated buildings with moisture-resistant materials, along with a buffer zone to mitigate flooding; providing optimal space for the development of the current population and future generations; and implementing an efficient construction system that is prefabricated, modular, and easy to assemble and transport.
Among the main strategies are the use of solar panels and rainwater harvesting; the construction of an eco-hostel, a market and a community development center; elevated construction with moisture-resistant materials, plus a buffer zone to mitigate flooding; providing optimal space for the development of the existing population and new generations; and a suitable, prefabricated, modular system that is easy to implement and transport.
Dwelling
Currently, the homes in Puerto Roma are directly affected by several problems. Fifty-five percent are overcrowded, with up to three families living in a single building, and an additional 13.6% have three people living in overcrowded conditions. Sixty-one homes are in poor condition, posing a serious risk to their inhabitants in the event of an earthquake; the rest are in fair condition. Flooding every winter renders the ground floors of buildings uninhabitable, forcing residents to take refuge on the second floor. Global warming could further exacerbate the situation due to rising sea levels, potentially submerging their homes. The homes lack access to basic state-run utilities. Residents have sought various temporary solutions, such as rainwater harvesting and solar panels, but these are insufficient to meet the current demand.
Eco Village Proposal
The concept is inspired by Puerto Roma's greatest strength, which is its sense of community, thus generating an equitable and productive community, whose objective is to be the new sustainable social, economic and ecological center for the communities of the area.
The master plan consists of 50 decagonal modules, each containing six housing units, with productive agricultural areas. At the core is a natural area that helps protect the homes from the sun. This grouping concept is based on the current model of mini-neighborhoods, a radial organization designed to create different urban centers within the community.
Equipment
The urban plan equitably manages facilities and services for different types of community gatherings. The urban project is entirely elevated above ground level to make it more resilient to flooding. The master plan includes five facilities that complement the proposed development for the community.
Eco-friendly hostel. Puerto Roma is limited by crab harvesting as its only economic livelihood; the hostel emerges as a strategy to reactivate the economic sector, promoting ecotourism and generating jobs.
Health center. Health within the commune is one of the biggest problems due to a lack of infrastructure. The Center is proposed to meet this need, contribute to development, and progressively integrate the community.
Market. Every day, community members must travel to Puna Island and Guayaquil to sell their products; the market will provide a space for them to do so.
Educational center. The establishment is insufficient for the 500 children and 600 adolescents of the commune; the educational center is intended to satisfy the desire to complete their studies and thus be able to complete their professional training in the future.
Community development center. 91% of women are unemployed; the Center focuses on women as its primary users, aiming to integrate them into the community and promote greater gender equality by providing them with another source of employment.
Basic Services
Each house can be equipped with the basic services required by each family. For water supply, rainwater harvesting is considered through sloped roofs, with storage in a daily-use cistern; excess water is directed to a reserve cistern for dry seasons.
For energy supply, three renewable energy sources are proposed: solar energy, consisting of expanding solar panels in each dwelling; wind energy, obtained through small wind turbines; and the replacement of diesel with biodiesel produced from composted organic waste, which would be used in household power generators.
Human waste treatment is based on dry toilets, where solid and liquid waste are separated: solids are used as fertilizer, and liquids are discharged into totora plantations for treatment. Regarding solid waste, a separation system is proposed: recyclable waste would be transported to Guayaquil for processing, while organic waste would be used for composting.
Architectural Specifications
There are four typologies of productive housing for standard families and two single-story typologies for households with members with disabilities or elderly individuals with limited mobility. In both cases, a flexible space is provided for production or commercial use.
The following aspects are defined: the placement of mandatory window openings to ensure ventilation in service areas, while the remaining openings are left to the discretion of each user.
The concept is inspired by Puerto Roma's greatest strength, which is its sense of community, thus generating an equitable and productive community, whose objective is to be the new sustainable social, economic and ecological center for the communities of the area.
Housing Proposal
The proposal is based on a progressive social housing model of the support type, consisting of a structural system that allows users to design the interior space and façade to reflect their identity. The structure is composed of friction pile foundations due to the soil conditions of the area, two prefabricated concrete panels where post-tensioned beams of the same material are anchored, and joists in the roof that allow for sloped ceilings to collect rainwater. Internally, the space adapts to the growth and needs of each family.
Productive housing.
Productive housing is based on providing spaces for shops or animal husbandry on the ground floor of the house. Each module of the six-house village has six productive spaces which, depending on their solar orientation, would be: fruit trees and aeroponic crops.