Análisis de elementos vernáculas para formular estrategias de diseño arquitectónico enfocadas en la sostenibilidad. Caso de estudio: Agua Blanca - Ecuador

Abstract

The study of sustainable architecture faces several limitations such as the tendency towards artificiality, the lack of comprehensive studies and the inclination for cities, leaving aside the active role that rural settlements can play in contemporary society (Correia, Dipasquale, & Mecca, 2014). Consequently, this work proposes an analysis of the vernacular environment - a rural community of the Ecuadorian coast called Agua Blanca in the province of Manabí - trying to find the lessons of sustainability rooted in local practices and adapted to current needs to finally apply them in a house design. For this scope, specific houses were evaluated under environmental, social and economic parameters. This comprehensive study was based on the VerSus methodology, which proposes several principles that facilitate the recognition of the values and qualities of vernacular habitats, linking it with the sustainable (Correia, et al.,2014). The results indicated that the aspect with the most favorable parameters is economic, followed by social and environmental aspects. The community faces a process of transformation between the traditional and the contemporary, expressed above all in the introduction of industrialized materials. However, maintaining the traditional and environmental context is paramount, since it depends on maintaining tourism and community ties that are a key point for the continuity of Agua Blanca. On the other hand, this work contributes in the study of rural coastal areas that suffer a lack of recognition as part of a cultural and historical legacy that in Ecuador is usually directed to regions of the sierra. Maintaining this identity should be the basis for the growth of this region where architecture plays an important role.