Archinect - The Global Studio

TGS - Analyzing the Data

2015-08-19T15:04:47-04:00

After we completed our series of games and exercised with the community we were faced with a wonderful problem... we have a lot of information to dig through. We had SD cards full of pictures of lot diagrams. We had pages of notes and gigs of movies. Thankfully, we also had Chris.

Chris dug through the data and, being the graphically organized man he is, laid out the results so that they could be quickly understood in a visually pleasing format. We could now look at all the data in one place and make connections between different concepts that were explored in different games. The result is that we could let the ideas of the community drive the design rather than making assumptions about how the community would like to live. Below are a couple of graphics showing the results of the lot and village exercises mentioned previously.

The sheet above shows some of the results from the village priority game. We see here that the highest priorities for this community is to have a health post...

TGS - Community Based Design

2015-08-19T12:26:17-04:00

Out of all the work we do, probably the most fun part is the community interaction. We believe passionately in making the community an integral part of the design process and try to involve as many stakeholders as possible throughout the project. While we have gotten to the point where it is almost second nature, we occasionally get asked why we do it and how….. So here is a quick rundown on the why and how with some examples of the process that we have been going through in Nicaragua.

The community design process consists of a series of exercises performed by both the design team and the community. The games and exercises serve the dual purpose of learning from the community and introducing them to the practice of long term thinking, working, and planning. Ultimately, the process should help the community take direct ownership and responsibility on the design of the village.

Goals – The Why

Learning

The exercises and games allow the design team to learn about the communities priori...

TGS - Site Analysis

2015-08-19T12:16:37-04:00

Site analysis allows the architect to look for design opportunities and understand what concerns to address when developing a project.

By researching our site’s climate, we begin to observe some defining characteristics of its specific location. In Nicaragua, the sun stays high up in sky year around, moving from a southern tilt in the winter to a northern tilt in summer. The weather stays consistently warm, with an average high of 32 degrees Celsius and an average low of 22 degrees Celsius. The wind also remains fairly consistent, averaging 4.56 m/s year around. Rain defines the region’s seasonal change, coming in heavily from May to October and creating a hot and humid tropical climate.

A closer look at the specifics of our site helps us understand where our development sits in relation to existing conditions. Defining the village border are steep slopes to the south and northwest, agricultural infrastructure to the north, and a potentially seasonal swamp area to the west. A p...

TGS - Design Foundation

2015-08-19T12:10:15-04:00

Christopher Perrodin is the latest addition to The Global Studio roster. Over the next couple of months, Chris is going to be helping us out on the new Agros village master plans and also driving the blog for a while. Here he is introducing us to the project....

A project’s success is often helped by thoughtfully identifying and breaking down the main drivers for the design. By parsing and packaging the initial areas of development, we then have a solid foundation upon which to tackle project complexities. For our approach to the two new villages, El Ojoche and Aguas Vivas, we have three initial design elements –the Basic Health Block, Site Analysis, and Master Plan. Each aspect helps to inform the design thinking of the others.

The Basic Health Block (BHB) comprises the primary component of the pre-development in a new Argos village. Our proposal balances survey input from the potential villagers, climatic design strategies, and our own research into basic preventative health ...

TGS - New Adventures

2015-08-19T12:05:55-04:00

Its been a long time in the making but we are finally working on the new village. Actually, two new villages. After looking at a multitude of sites in both Honduras and Nicaragua, Agros has selected two locations (using the handy dandy site selection guide we worked on last year) in the Matagalpa area of Nicaragua for two new villages to anchor their regional project. The first, El Ojoche, is scheduled to 'open' later this year. The second, Aguas Vivas, the year after that.

For the last couple of years, Agros has been undergoing a rigorous capacity improvement project. They have been working with consultants in land tenure, heath, human development, agricultural development and the built environment. We have been involved in consulting on the built environment part of that study and these villages will be the first to be built with the new development models in place. We worked with a lot of great people over the last couple of years and we are looking forward to seeing the teams i...