Cities grow quickly with the increasing rural
population that immigrates in search of the opportunities
lost in the country, as a result of the lack of attention
from the governments to the rural areas.
This way, phenomena of limitless growth on the number of inhabitants
of the cities take place, originating disordered human establishments,
lacking all basic service.
This new "urban" population tries to solve for itself
the critical housing problem, invading the peripheries of
the cities, and in their desperation to acquire the "Right
of possession", they raise rustic housings, where guadua,
is the cheapest, lightest and most appropriate material for
the construction of these precarious cities, but forgetting
on building them, the wonderful tradition and care they would
put on them if they were built in their place of origin, making
these new neighborhoods a symbol of misery and poverty for
the country.
The basic materials for these housings are;
guadua in their multiple forms for floors, walls, roof structure,
etc.; wood for foundations, floor structure, doors and windows,
as well as other industrialized materials such as zinc, asbestos,
cement, etc.
The inhabitants of these marginal establishments suffer drastic
changes not only in their habitat, but also on their culture,
being introduced to the iron and cement civilization, characteristic
of the big cities, where the use of conventional building
materials is synonymous of development and high technology.
This new culture accepts Guadua or traditional
material constructions as" Emergent" or" Transitory",
until they can be substituted by something else "Durable"
and" Comfortable", hopes of an cheerful progress
that hardly ever comes true.
The incorrect use of the guadua, in marginal
establishments, has contributed to make this material a synonymous
of misery and delayed development for public opinion and especially
among construction professionals, who bear a total ignorance
of the botanical and mechanical characteristics of the vegetable,
as well as its appropriate use.
This antecedent along with a misunderstood
development that endorses new and strange techniques, which
are uneconomical and incompatible with the training of our
workers, take us to the necessity of revaluing the materials
and traditional techniques, by means of an improvement process
on the constructive systems that allows them to be used, and
accepted in our environment.
To recapture the guadua as building supply, and, to improve
the traditional construction methodologies, are indispensable
actions to solve the existing housing deficit.
The correct use of guadua as building supply
and the merger between native technology and new constructive
systems can offer excellent affordable solutions not only
for low-income communities, but also to all users.
This merger of technologies is the result of
investigations and experiences, which have evolved from successes
and defects.
In 1984, a new stage of experiences began in Ecuador 12-housing
program for shoemakers at La Floresta II undertaken by the
Colombian Architect Oscar Hidalgo Lopez.
The walls of these housings were of whole cane
structure, and covered by chopped cane, forming self-sustaining
panels, tied to each other and to the foundation; covered
with a sand-cement mortar, obtaining as a final result, housings
with a good aesthetic aspect and comfort.
This project brought about expectations and
teachings, allowing a constant and permanent real evaluation
through time and that they inspired new ideas that continually
evolved the constructive system, these expectations and teachings
have been incorporated by architect Jorge Moran Ubidia, Hernandez,
and some others in a series completed projects.
Some variants have been introduced to the system,
such as the wooden structure of the panels; the use of subflooring(barriers
against humidity), as well as mooring methods among panels,
several foundation types, roofing, etc.
At the moment the constructive system is paradoxically
used and accepted by high-income people or institutions, being
testimony of this, residential housings, schools, offices,
etc.
This paradox demonstrates that the good use
of the material, allows the creation of spaces of great aesthetics
and sober finishes, which also offer high levels of comfort
with a significant reduction of costs with regard to other
conventional construction systems.
Factors such as the ignorance on the appropriate
use of guadua, the interests of transnational companies and
of the production monopolies of conventional materials, the
laws and local construction ordinances, the little interest
of domestic housing and university institutions, among other
causes, have contributed to the fact that non-conventional
constructive systems had not become generalized, so as to
solve one of Ecuador‘s biggest social problem: housing.
