The Group Manufacturing Heart Las Tejedoras in Ecuador, designed by architects José Fernando Gómez and Juan Carlos Bamba for a collective of ladies weavers, has gained the Mies Crown Corridor Americas Prize.
Situated close to the growing city of Guayaquil, the mission was designed by Gómez of Natura Futura and Bamba to offer an area for native artisans and act as a distinction to native city improvement that has resulted in deforestation.
“The profitable mission, the Group Manufacturing Heart Las Tejedoras, is infused with civic presence able to dignifying the whole neighborhood,” stated Mies Crown Corridor Americas Prize (MCHAP) jury member Maurice Cox.
“Acknowledging the importance of the neighborhood’s native constructing practices, the mission offers formal expression to native crafts and elevates their qualities.”
The 2-storey constructing consists of an oblong clay brick core that wraps round a central courtyard. Teak wooden helps maintain up an expansive roof that hovers over the vast majority of the construction and is open above the centre.
On every degree, passageways are uncovered to the weather and alternate between being absolutely open and tucked behind the brick partitions, whereas giant home windows have been coated with teak wooden screens.
The open-air design responds to the encircling local weather, encouraging mild and air to enter the constructing.
“With a design that pulls on native supplies comparable to teak wooden and clay brick in an intricate herringbone sample, the constructing’s structure not solely celebrates custom but in addition responds to the local weather, guaranteeing pure air flow and light-weight,” stated MCHAP.
Programming comparable to coaching areas, workshops, a retailer and neighborhood areas are positioned inside the constructing’s giant, open halls.
Its central courtyard was planted with native vegetation, comparable to guarumos and heliconias, to create a “micro-climate” that draws native birds and bugs.
“Situated close to Guayaquil, the place speedy city growth has resulted in deforestation, the middle serves as a counter-narrative, reintroducing native vegetation and fostering an surroundings that encourages biodiversity,” stated MCHAP.
The constructing gives house for the weavers, who had lacked an acceptable surroundings for his or her craft for years, and in addition serves as house for common neighborhood gatherings.
The weaving collective additionally participated within the development of the mission.
“The mission not solely gives employment in the neighborhood but in addition facilitates ability improvement by means of energetic participation within the development course of,” stated Cox.
“Notably, the construction stands as a bodily image of neighborhood, reflecting the contributions of the native girls in its development.”
Gómez and Bamba labored with the Ecuadorian group Younger Dwelling Basis on the mission’s improvement.
Conceived by the Illinois Institute of Know-how Faculty of Structure in 2013, the biennial MCHAP awards “excellence” in constructed initiatives all through the Americas, taking a holistic method that considers the combination of “pure, constructed, and human ecologies” in its recipients.
Earlier winners of the prize embody a Mexico Metropolis museum extension by Taller Mauricio Rocha and a “deceptively easy” faculty in Peru by Taller Mauricio Rocha.
The images is by JAG Studio.
