The second part of the initial collaboration between the two universities consisted of the visit of Professor Santiago del Hierro Kennedy who was in Athens between March 28 and April 6, 2017. During this visit we organized the following events: “Projecting the Amazon: Urbanism and biodiversity” A lecture by Prof. Santiago del Hierro Kennedy in which he … More The PUCE exchange with NTUA in Athens
I must confess: I was already overworked! I thought to myself that what was unfolding these days was so dense in information and activities, that no one single person could possibly comprehend what was going on. What is then the meaning of such Mega events which set a goal that the human condition is unable … More Thursday October 20th, HIII closing day
During the official United Nations Habitat III conference and within the PUCE HIII official program, our PUCE-NTUA team organized in the auditorium of FADA/PUCE on October 20, “Weaving Chamanga – A Post-Disaster, Multi-Actor Design Process”. The goal of this event was to underline the importance of coordinating post-disaster work, highlighting as an example, specifically the … More ”Weaving Chamanga _ A Post-Disaster, Multi-Actor Design Process”: a participatory methodology Event
Tuesday October 18 I had made a mistake thinking tnat Richard Sennett was talking at the “Resistencia Habitat” at UCE today, Tuesday, which I paid dearly with time that went by…. On the other hand, I was realizing that a tiny break would help, so I went to a cafe to relax and get some … More Second and third days
The center of the city around Casa de la Culrura Ecuatoriana, including Parque El Ejido and many streets all around all the way to the National Assembly are closed off and armies of policemen, volunteers and guards swarm around entry and exit point, and accreditation control areas. After a testing of connectivity, sound and general … More First day at HIII
After two months of studio work at PUCE and two in situ workshops (one participatory design process and one validation meeting) we produced a proposal for Chamanga’s public space and park which adheres to the principles which emerged mostly out of the deliberations with people of the community, and express the consensus of the desires … More Chamanga’s public space design process
How can we understand participation? How can we introduce it in the design process? The Arnstein ladder of participation still serves as a reference to such questions. A participatory design process takes into account to various degrees the design ideas, aspirations and desires of the recipients. It incorporates not only those, but also ideas about … More Participatory design process for the public space of Chamanga
Actuemos Ecuador is a collective of architects which sees its role not only as designers, but also as community activators. Their work -and our participation- in Chamanga, consisted on the design and construction of a community space for Nueva Jerusalen, a community within the larger community of Chamanga, afflicted by the April 2016 earthquake. A … More Being part of the construction of Casa Comunal de Chamanga
San José de Chamanga in the province of Esmeraldas is a village located on the Pacific Coast of Ecuador. The earthquake of 7.8 which took place on April 16 of 2016 had major consequences on the lives of people and their living settlements. The toll in human lives in the country was more than 650 … More San José de Chamanga: A Multi-actor Reconstruction Process
Our group just got reinforced by three more PUCE students, Isabel, Santiago and Christian. So together with Rosita, and the Greek students Anneta and Sofia, we are a team of six students, plus the three coordinators of our design workshop at the coastal community of San José de Chamanga, Santiago del Hierro, Coordinator of MDUT, … More Setting up shop at the PUCE library
Experiencing the post disaster condition or capturing images can never be enough to understand the 58” experience – Nature’s power.
First week in Quito – first time in Ecuador – first time in South America! This week had actually a lot of “first times” for me in various aspects and experiences. It was a week full of surprises and contradicting emotion. After a couple of hard initial days of accustoming into a completely new environment I … More Settling in Quito
NTUA @ HIIΙ 