Category: South America

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Greenhouse Atelier

The Greenhouse Atelier, designed by al bordE, in Machachi, Ecuador is a shelter designed to express the powerful reflection of nature in the client’s paintings. The atelier is a “bubble” suspended between stone walls and rammed earth.

The existing space between walls, ground and bubble, protect the space from absorbing the humidity of the moorland. Additionally the first sun rays heat a radiator system that increase the temperature of the air gap. This heated air enters the space making it thermally comfortable. In the afternoon the main façade absorbs the sun heat, saving it in the solid floor of the workshop releasing the heat during the night.

[ More at Arch Daily ]

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Terra 2012

The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) are pleased to announce that the XI International Conference on the Study and the Conservation of Earthen Architectural Heritage, Terra 2012, will be held in Lima, Peru, from April 23rd to 27th, 2012. The main theme of the conference will be “Conservation of Earthen Architectural Heritage against Natural Disasters and Climatic Change” and more than 500 specialists in the fields of earthen architecture are expected to attend.

The conference will provide a unique and invaluable opportunity to discuss and exchange information on the latest advances in the research and conservation field. Moreover, participants will learn about the cultural identity of earthen architecture in Latin America and be able to observe firsthand conservation issues in Peru, a country with a long and rich tradition of construction with earth.

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X Seminario Iberoamericano de Arquitectura y Construcción con Tierra

X Seminario Iberoamericano de Arquitectura y Construcción con Tierra Salto (Uruguay) del 8 al 13 de noviembre de 2010. Tematicas del seminario: Diseño contemporáneo de las arquitecturas de tierra, innovaciones en los componentes constructivos, capacitación y transferencia de las tecnologías y arquitectura de tierra en el contexto del desarrollo sostenible. Auquellos interesados en presentar un trabajo pueden enviar un resumen extendido del articulo de ponencia y/o el resumen de un póster gráfico, hasta el día 14 de mayo de 2010. Todos los resúmenes serán evaluados por la Comisión Científica. Más información del programa, cronograma, actividades e instructivos para la presentación de ponencias en www.siacoturuguay.blogspot.com

Organizan: Universidad de la República (UDELAR) – Regional Norte, Sede Salto (UDELAR)
Auspicia: PROTERRA
Apoyo institucional: Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN – Argentina)
Adhieren: Centro Universitario de la Regional Este (CURE – UDELAR) – Fronterra – Celebratierra – Embajada de México en Uruguay – Intendencia de la Ciudad de Salto

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TerraBrasil 2010 – A Call for Abstracts

The third annual Brazilian Congress on Architecture and Earth Building, also known as TerraBrasil 2010, will take place in the city of Campo Grande, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), Brazil from August 31st to the September 3rd, 2010. The Congress is being organized by the Structural and Civil Engineering Department (DEC/CCET) of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, in partnership with the TerraBrasil Network (Rede TerraBrasil).

ABSTRACTS
Abstracts are being accepted and should be emailed to terrabrasil.art@gmail.com , up until March 10th, 2010, according to the abstract format available for download at www.terrabrasil2010.wordpress.com

THEMES
Scientific papers will be accept in any branch of knowledge linked with the theme “Architecture and Construction with Earth”, and will be classified under the following areas:

1. Building Materials and Techniques
Contributions and improvements to the state of art, materials` specification, new techniques development, equipments, standardization for codes and performance – structural, durability, suitability,and comfort.

2. History, Conservation, and Heritage
Reviews, discussion, and contributions on conservation theories, revival techniques, rehabilitations, and new materials` adaptations to the codes.

3. Contemporary Architecture
Discussions on new challenge — productivity, building details, costs, materials` interface, adaptations, and appropriateness.

4. Education, Formation, and Qualification
Discussions and contributions on the practices, experiences and models of technology transference, databases, and curriculum.

5. Sustainability
Holistic approach of sustainability and its multiple dimensions — environmental, social, cultural, economic, and political. Discussions and constributions on the life-cycle analysis, including social and economic, empowerment, community cooperation, and Chagas` disease.

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Earthquake Proofing Traditional Peruvian Houses

Since 1970, Peru has been hit by five powerful and deadly earthquakes. The latest struck Peru’s coast exactly two years ago with a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter scale. It fiercely shook the capital Lima, but its devastating epicentre was about 200km (124 miles) to the south, near the town of Pisco, a small fishing port built largely of adobe – mud bricks which Peruvians have used for thousands of years. For Peruvian engineer Marcial Blondet, it was the devastating quake in 1970 that first motivated him to develop earthquake-resistant buildings, particularly for those who could least afford them. Mr Blondet and his team found a solution in an industrial plastic mesh used by mining companies to hold back earth on slopes. It is strong, cheap and easy to use. Securely enveloping a normal mud-brick home in the mesh can prevent the walls from collapsing in an earthquake. The building wobbles but it does not fall down.

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Casa Entre Muros: A House Between Walls

The Casa Entre Muros, built in Tumbaco, Quito, Ecuador and designed by al bordE Arquitectos (David Barragán and Pascual Gangotena), was generated from the starting point: “There is always another way of doing things and another way for living”. Far from the pollution of the city, the house is set in the hillside of the Ilaló volcano in a indomitable land. It’s limited by two streams opened to the landscape of the valley. A cut in the sloping land helps to generate a platform for the project and also to get enough raw material to build the massive party walls.

The waving form as a result of this cut in the land, defines the position and order of every wall. The succession of rammed earth walls and the different heights of the roof caused the division of the house even for the activity or the user. To avoid the domino effect, the party walls break their parallelism solving the structure and strengthening the character of each space within. A long corridor is used as an element that isolates the project from their immediate neighbours and reinforces the autonomy of every space.

This architecture aims to highlight the nature of the material elements that compose it, promoting the aesthetic, formal, functional and structural qualities as well as the maximum respect of the environment.

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Tecnobarro and Quincha Metálica

Usualmente, cuando se habla de construcción con tierra cruda, se piensa inmediatamente en la construcción con “adobe”, sin embargo ambos términos no son sinónimos: el adobe es una de las tantas técnicas de construcción con tierra. Entre algunas de ellas destacan las tradicionales y más utilizadas en nuestro país, como lo son el tapial y la quincha, y otras técnicas mixtas nuevas, como el denominado tecnobarro y la quincha metálica.

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Proyecto Hornero

Proyecto Hornero es un grupo interdisciplinario que aborda la construcción con materiales naturales y el manejo sustentable de energía. Surgió en mayo del 2002 como iniciativa de un grupo de estudiantes de Agronomía y Arquitectura de la Universidad de la República (UdelaR), respondiendo a la situación generada por el tornado que destruyó infraestructuras de la zona granjera del sur de Uruguay. [ Blog ]