Al Borde Studio ORO Editions

Country: Ecuador

University: School of Architecture, Indo-American Technological University, UTI, Ambato.

Professors: David Barragán, Pascual Gangotena, Marialuisa Borja, Esteban Benavides.

Duration: 2015–17

Studio timeline: Research, four weeks; Design, four weeks; Prototyping, four weeks; Design adjustment for construction, two weeks; Construction, four weeks.

Students: 125 students over five academic semesters. Location of the projects: Ambato, Ecuador.

Clients or organizations: Rural and suburban communities and families of students.

Al Borde Studio is the name that the Ecuadorian architecture firm of the same name has given to its academic participation in a number of universities in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, under various formats and modalities. During the years 2015, 2016, and 2017, this group led a design-build studio at the Indo-American Technological University, UTI, located in Ambato, two hours from Quito. This studio, for fourth-year students, built over two and a half years more than fifty buildings or small-format interventions in outlying areas of Ambato and nearby rural areas.

Each instance of the course received twenty-five students who worked individually or in small groups, posing architectural design problems relating to their daily lives. To respond to the selected theme, they managed economic and material resources, involved family members and acquaintances, chose sites and programs, built and used the new spaces, all in a record time of four and a half months. Each project involved the application of varying strategies, the use of heterogeneous materials—bamboo, wood, metal, concrete, bricks, glass, straw, etc.—local technologies, and the development of lightweight programs: viewpoints, rooms, meditation spaces, reading spaces, among others. In some cases, students continue to use these constructions today, a situation that provides them with firsthand experience of carrying out maintenance, alterations, or extensions.

In its design-build studios at UTI, Al Borde emphasized work outside the classroom, trying to erase the difference between academia and professional practice. It asked its students to move outside of their comfort zone, making the best of situations with significant limitations to bring new projects to life. It invited the participants to confront everyday reality, understanding the architectural project as a positive challenge. Finally, it acted as a facilitator between the students and the community, stimulating work with the local people and the extraction of knowledge from habitual practices.

Donors and financial support: Students, communities, private companies.