Tower Artifact/Supply Logic The house of Mrs. Felicidad Jiménez is located in the interior of the na- tive forest of the coastal mountain range, in the El Carmín district of the Chanco community. This community has a high percentage of houses without access to public drinking water and, in this case, this affects the development of the house's productive activities such as irrigation for the vegetable garden or water for animal consumption. The main volume of the house contains the living area, bedrooms, and kitchen, connecting the sides with a storage room and a tool workshop. In the patio, a small vegetable garden is connected to a chicken coop, representing food self-sufficiency for the owner of the house. The current water supply system in this house is a network connected to a pond owned by a neighbor in the area, which makes it a completely dependent water resource. On the other hand, the morning fog coming from the coastal sector is a potential opportunity to obtain water to meet production needs. Arranged in vertical order, twelve modules form a tower twelve meters high and sixteen square meters in size on the first level. The artifact stands on the landscape like a fog-catcher, dialoguing with the area's vegetation. A series of truss-like modules are arranged on the sides of the artifact to brace the structure, in addition to two tensors that drop from the highest point and connect to an isolated foundation for each one. In this way, the water necessary to irrigate the vegetable garden and provide water for the owner's animals is obtained. Greenhouse Artifact / Productive Logic Located in the heart of the central valley in the town of Santa Cecilia, Retiro is the home of Mrs. Cristina Espinoza, who together with her daughter and hus- band grows various types of vegetables for sale and their own consumption. The house is distributed into two volumes: one for bedrooms and the living area, and the second for an independent kitchen located on one side of the corridor of the first volume. A greenhouse in poor condition has af- fected the family's economic development, because of inclement weather and the infrastructure's precariousness in this area, the construction has fallen into a deteriorated state that has affected the cultivation process. This situation presents the need to create an artifact that can ac- commodate the economic activity of this family throughout the year, taking into account an improvement in the initial construction that can better respond to the strong winds and frosts of the Central Valley area. Taking the same pre-existing dimensions as the design basis, sixteen modules are arranged to form the greenhouse artifact. In its only floor, the spaces are defined between two large areas: the first, a table area for growing vegetables, and the second, an extensive storage space for all the working implements. The truss modules are arranged on the roof, creating an open space for ventilation of the cultivation areas. Wire cable ties tighten and connect each module, stiffening the structure and embracing local constructive wisdom. On cold winter mornings, the family gathers under the roof of the storage area, while on warm summer afternoons, they open the doors to allow the gentle breeze from the Central Valley to enter the artifact's interior. Local Wisdom and New Building Techniques Rural Artifacts are defined as a combination of local architectural wis- dom and the design processes developed within the profession itself. Through a palette of user-friendly materials, wood being the predominant material, the typological design of each artifact takes into account the material and construction techniques of rural infrastructures, in order to create a participatory work between the architect and the inhabitant. It is not improvised construction or design without territorial relevance; each response alone is obsolete in the face of the real needs of the rural world. In this way, local identity is recognized as an inexhaustible source of profound critical theory for the architectural profession, which, together with professional development and new building technologies, creates a renewed multidimensional response to rural artifacts. !
THESIS
The architectural landscape surrounding the Maulina rural dwelling represents, from its primitive conception, a relationship between the domestic and the productive, leaving aside the idea that the house is only a place to live and becomes a place of work and self-sustenance for the inhabitant. Through a fragmentation of its spaces, a series of small and medium-scale infrastructures emerge which complement both the house's daily and productive tasks, describing the typological constructive language of the region at the same time. These buildings represent the constructive wisdom of the place since it is the farmer himself who builds them. Each of these structures has a specific use, from raising animals to storing food. Using the materials at hand, and without a previous design, the inhabitant displays a con- structive intelligence transmitted through generations that creates the first question about the role of an architect in a territory full of wisdom. Far from any architectural romanticization, the reality of these infrastruc- tures comes from a socioeconomic and cultural context determined by material scarcity and fragility, thus conditioning the functionality of these structures to meet the needs of rural life, limiting their use and, sometimes, reaching a point of obsolescence that endures throughout the landscape. The project seeks to recognize the main constructive characteristics of local architecture, in order to propose a system of pieces, modules, and assemblies derived from a typological reinterpretation that embraces the identity of the area, adding new building technologies and materials suitable for its construction. Thus, it is feasible to create new typologies of complementary artifacts using a project logic adaptable to the diverse rural contexts of the region, welcoming an economically viable model that integrates the lifestyles of its inhabitants, thereby responding to the diverse needs of inhabiting a rural territory. Artifact Bar / Common Logic The house of Mr. Modesto Vergara, owner and sole user of a large plot of land framed by trees and neighboring crops, is located in the interior of the San Clemente municipality, in the town of Bajos de Lircay. The house is configured as a compact system in the landscape's vastness, distributing the domestic programs in two independent volumes. The first house contains the living area, bedroom, and storage rooms, while the second is a storage space and kitchen that opens up onto a common esplanade between the two volumes. Don Modesto, who works as a horse caretaker for the neighbors in the area, welcomes the animals in an extensive esplanade on his property. From time to time, he holds practices in the horse arena adjacent to the caretaker's house, events that attract the local community, transforming the use of the house from private to communal. The main need of this case resides in the lack of adequate space to take care of the horses, which are located in an old warehouse behind the house. A series of fifteen wooden modules arranged in longitudinal order make up a two-level artifact, housing four stalls and a tool storage room on the first floor and a covered storage space for the animals' fodder on the second. The pillar and beam joints are supported by local wisdom through wire ties, which provide tension between each frame and unify the structure´s entire system. A tensioned mesh extends from its roof, providing a shaded space between the artifact and the house, welcoming the community character of the neighbors who visit the property during each event. Rural Artifacts Productive Infrastructure for Rural Housing in the Maule Region By: Francisco Vera Zúñiga
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AOA / n°51
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