PEOPLE
In an exclusive conversation with MuzWaa Magazine, David Barragán, the co-founder of the award-winning Quito-based architecture and design practice Al Borde, dives deep into the power of participatory design and the role of architecture as an agent of change in society.
By Smita Patil
15 October 2024
As part of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2023, Al Borde designed a threshold space at the Al Qasimiyah School utilizing locally-sourced materials, such as palm tree mats and timber, to reflect regional identity | Image by Danko Stjepanovic, Courtesy of Sharjah Architecture Triennial
David Barragán measures his work singularly through its real impact, steering clear of any accolades that seek to box up the multifaceted work of his Quito-based architectural practice Al Borde into neat labels. Since its inception in 2007, every project the Ecuadorian firm has taken up, be it a school for the fishing community on the city outskirts, or a moving stage for a political march, reflects an agile dexterity in thought and action rooted deeply in empathy for the people, understanding of the context, and an open, questioning attitude towards aspects of practice that most contemporaries consider a mandate, including the very notion of what constitutes a resource.
Esteban Benavides, Maríaluisa Borja, David Barragán, and Pascual Gangotena, Partners at Al Borde | Image Courtesy of Al Borde
Esteban Benavides, Maríaluisa Borja, David Barragán, and Pascual Gangotena, Partners at Al Borde | Image Courtesy of Al Borde
Led collectively by Barragán, Pascual Gangotena, Maríaluisa Borja and Esteban Benavides, Al Borde has already received widespread national and international recognition, including the Lafarge Holcim Award Acknowledgment for Latin America in 2014 for their project “House Under Construction,” which emphasises the importance of human resource in architecture. The architects worked with consultants to craft a non-monetory model of development for this urban revitalisation project, enabling the refurbishment of housing in the historic city center for residents with limited financial means.
The firm has worked extensively in Latin America, but the impact of their work transcends boundaries. Their exhibits at prestigious international festivals, including the Sharjah Triennale in 2023, the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism in 2021, and the Venice Biennale in 2016, are a testament to this. All partners at the firm are also actively engaged in architectural and design education across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Here, too, their approach questions the status quo to create unique possibilities for working together, as a true collaborative, and realising projects in real-time, for real aspirations, in real contexts — empowering students with skillsets and attitudes they can carry forward much beyond the academic realm.
MuzwAa sat down with Barragán in September this year to discuss the firm’s ethos and vision for the future. Here are selected, edited excerpts from the interview:
Smita Patil: The English translation of your firm’s name, Al Borde, reads as “On the Edge.” Would you say that translation is correct? And if so, what edge are you referring to?
David Barragán: Yes, the translation is correct. When we set up our practice, we realized that we live in a context with so many challenges — and we thought that maybe the best way to express that context would be with our name. That’s why we chose “On the Edge” because we saw that if we push our limits in each project, if we move beyond the comfort zone, this is the spirit that we want to transmit to our client and want to live with. Always on the edge, always moving out of the comfort zone. For us, it’s the best way to find new approaches, to break dogmas, to always change — to give us the opportunities and freedom to change.
It motivates us to move, to work, and to be aware that we have to think well through each step to face new challenges. Especially right now, when we have so many crises worldwide, and architecture is just the summit of the iceberg.
In 2017, the studio co-produced the documentary Do More With Less exploring the practices of Ecuador's post-bankruptcy crisis generation of young architecture studios and showcasing their innovative approaches to the role of the architect in society | Video Courtesy of Kliwadenko Novas
SP: Can you talk a bit about your ethos of “Do More With Less,” and how you operate within a landscape where people are unaware of architectural design in its conventional sense?
DB: When you study architecture, not only in Ecuador or Latin America, but everywhere, you see that everything is focused on only a few parts of society. To hire an architect or architectural services is a sort of luxury. That’s why there is a lot of informality in our context. But, at the same time, architecture is a very strong tool to create an impact on the territory, to create a breaking point.
We realized that if we can work outside the traditional scope of architecture and move our efforts and strengths to a broad area, we can actually create more impact. We realized how important it is to understand that architecture is a right. You have to have the right to access design. Because design can transform the existing conditions. That’s why, little by little, we widened our scope of work.
Also, our practice is connected to the context. So we discovered that we have to face [approach] the projects doing more with less. Otherwise, it's going to be impossible. We always face the same challenges everywhere — a lack of budget, materials, commitment from the municipalities, a lack of policies. All of this created a spirit that if you have a chance to do something, you have to give your best, and try to multiply all resources to create the projects and the impact we are pursuing.
In the aftermath of the devastating 2016 earthquakes in Ecuador that left around 73,000 people in need of shelter, Al Borde collaborated with El Sindicato Arquitectura to develop a culturally sensitive rural housing prototype that matched the cost of state-provided homes but was more attuned to the needs of the inhabitants and the regional context | Image Courtesy of JAG Studio
The post-earthquake dwelling prototype is built from repurposed materials originally used in the construction of the German Pavilion for the Habitat III conference, held in the region around the same time; the entire pavilion was designed as a kit of raw materials that could be disassembled and used for the dwelling | Image Courtesy of El Sindicato Arquitectura
SP: In addition to understanding the context, it’s very interesting to see how you work with communities towards solving their problems, rather than taking a top-down approach. What do you think is the place of empathy in architecture or the design process?
DB: In our specific approach, empathy is a must. Without empathy, we can't do anything. Because we are working in very difficult conditions, you first need to create a bond with the community. If you don’t, it’s extremely difficult to produce any kind of project.
That’s why, for us, participation is important. It has led us to understand the context, the community, and also led us to shift the vertical equation where the architect is on top and the client or the community is down. When we began to create this empathy, we began to access the local knowledge and immediately began to move the equation from the vertical to the horizontal. Everyone has something to share. And that moment, actually, is very special in each project, because each community member realizes that they can support the project in some way. Sometimes, that can be, ”I know how to build with the local bricks,” or knowing more about wood construction. Someone knows more about the process, or the community, the traditions, the identity, and so on.
In that way, participation allows us to be involved in the territory [region] very easily. Otherwise, it could be extremely difficult to connect to the site and to try to create appropriate projects for the specific conditions.
The House of Living Memory of Nuevo Amanecer, developed by Al Borde as part of their hands-on workshop at the University of Sciences and Arts of Latin America (UCAL), is a vital community space that pays tribute to the victims of internal armed conflicts, cultivating a shared sense of memory and resilience | Image by Eleazar Cuadros, Courtesy of Al Borde
SP: You have previously said that the scale of the project or its typology is not as relevant for Al Borde as the problem at hand, or the social issue that the design addresses. Can you explain this with a few examples of your work?
DB: Yes, we don’t mind the scale and typologies — we are trying to understand the impact of the project.
We only work with ongoing [live] projects. Because we are architects, just architects. Of course we work with all kinds of specialists, but we are only architects. So if we work with ongoing projects, it’s the best way to keep the project alive after our intervention.
At Nueva Esperanza [New Hope] School, for example, there’s a real need — there are parents who want their kids to receive better education. So, in that way, when architecture arrives, it’s kind of a boost in this process. When we work with an ongoing project, we are working with real necessities. Not inventing any kind of necessities or creating any kind of new demand in the context. Just the necessity that the community or the project has. And we try to solve that with architecture.
Designed by Al Borde and built in three phases with the Puerto Cabuyal community, the Nuevo Esperanza School is the first phase of the Three Hopes School, providing essential educational infrastructure in the rural Manabi region of Ecuador | Image Courtesy of JAG Studio
The school utilizes traditional materials and construction methods, with a timber floor on foundation piles, bamboo walls, a timber structure, and a roof of knitted straw "cade." The project's success stemmed from a collaborative exchange of the community's vernacular building knowledge and the architects' expertise, fostering a sense of ownership that allowed for independent expansions with minimal involvement of the architects | Image by Esteban Cadena, Courtesy of Al Borde
The school also acts as an important public space for the community, addressing a critical need in the region | Image Courtesy of JAG Studio
SP: Coming to the actual process of construction, it is very interesting to see how you use steel cables and slender steel sections in your projects, along with the more traditional materials like rammed earth, stones, bricks, and bamboo. And how, in so many projects, the light is so dramatic. Is the drama and contrast always intended?
DB: Our practice is not about having the same formal language; it’s about a tectonic approach that enhances the materiality of the site.
Material matters because you can read so much information in the walls, in the ceilings; you can begin to question yourself about where everything comes from. It [our work] is like an X-ray; we are not hiding anything under any kind of final finish in order to create white, perfect spaces. It’s not on purpose that we want to create something dramatic, but when you see it — because you are not used to seeing this kind of materiality — you find yourself in a very dramatic space.
We are always trying to measure, with models, how we can enhance this kind of material expression with light.
The Garden House in Quito, Ecuador, is constructed from adobe bricks made with soil excavated on-site. It utilizes living Lechero trees as columns, effectively leveraging the resources and the community’s expertise regarding this native species | Image courtesy of JAG Studio
SP: In the documentary that you co-produced, Do More with Less, Pascual, Partner at Al Borde, says, "Only because we create low-cost architecture, that does not mean that this is our merit. What we want, what we strive for, is to create good architecture. And good architecture with little."
While everyone today is certainly talking about holistic sustainability — which includes not just environmental, but also social and economic sustainability, which is intrinsically a part of everything you do at Al Borde — why do you think such a perception still exists?
DB: What is good architecture is a big debate. Maybe the main problem is in the schools of architecture. When I began to study architecture in 1999, when I saw all the books and the magazines, there wasn’t any reference to building in the vulnerable areas, in the outskirts. Architecture was only built in very good conditions, with a lot of budget. That’s why, I think architects and architecture are completely detached from politics and society. Since the beginning, the schools weren’t interested in dealing with architecture in a different context. Because it is extremely challenging to deal with any kind of project with low resources — and it’s extremely difficult to do good architecture in such conditions.
But today, there are so many people who are trying to break this model. And when you break your idea of what is architecture and where it is needed, we begin to understand different kinds of approaches. Good architecture should be part of common practice for everyone, at all scales, from an office building to a community center. There has to be a global commitment to using resources in a very useful way, because construction is responsible for a big percentage of the emissions.
I think the new generations are beginning to change the paradigm. In order to do this, we have to think less from a multi-national perspective, and begin to think more about cells — about interconnected cells creating more impact, working together and working in a network.
I think we can create a change. In Latin America, where I stay, I have seen many young, emerging practices working in a completely different way — they are more collaborative, trying to work with social development projects, and trying to understand economic sustainability. I think it's a shifting moment, and the new generations, slowly, more and more, are going to embrace different approaches, because we don't have more options right now. And I saw many similarities in rural areas in China and also in Southeast Asia. We are more similar in our practice than we thought, and in our necessities. I think the new solutions, not only for the present but also for the future, are coming from the Global South, because we are facing the challenges in a completely different way.
