Indigenous Knowledge and Architecture: Canaima School

2004 – 2005

Project Leads:

Ignacio Cardona, Oberdan De Lucia

Team:

Gibrana Rincones, Ana Armas, Esteban Tenreiro, Clara Chorro, Enzo Logo, Francesco Marcacci, Carlos Gomez, Javier Márquez

Consultants:

Indigenous Community of Canaima; Constructora Lovinco

Client:

Ministry of Tourism, Venezuela

Location:

Canaima National Park, Venezuela

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This project emerged from a conflict between the Indigenous Pemon community of Canaima and a school project initiated by the Ministry of Tourism without adequately engaging local architectural traditions and relationships with the territory. Architecture became a means of negotiation, using participatory design to reconsider the project with the community.

Through a series of workshops with the Pemon community, the school was redesigned to articulate Indigenous architectural knowledge with contemporary construction techniques. Developed collaboratively with a traditional Pemon builder, the proposal explored a hybrid architecture that could provide the durability required for a public school while maintaining relationships with Indigenous culture, building practices, and the landscape of Canaima.