Landscaping the Amazon | Universidad Simón Bolívar

2013 – 2014

Institution:

* Universidad Simón Bolívar

Course:

* Studio Abroad (Master Level equivalent)

Case Study:

* Venezuelan Amazon Forest

Teaching Staff:

* Ignacio Cardona / Instructor

* Carlos Olaizola / Instructor

Group of 26 students of architecture.

*

This Studio understands architecture as a device to improve the socio-ecological conditions of fragile environments. The case study is Turi Däjä, an aboriginal village in the middle of the Amazonian forest. This ancestral settlement lies at the foot of Autana Tepui (a tepui is the iconographic geological formation in the Guayana Highlands, the planet’s oldest geological structure).

But, this beautiful ecosystem is under threat. Paradoxically, the original inhabitants have been destroying the forest for millennia because they have been harvesting the land through the conuco (a traditional agricultural system that exploits the soil through monoculture production.)

The Studio seeks to design biodegradable structures to serve agriculture while collecting water to facilitate the fertilization of the forest. These architectural devices also serve as a center for child education on sustainability with traditional educational methodologies of the shaman/disciple relationship.